The chemistry and spatial distribution of small hydrocarbons in UV-irradiated molecular clouds: the Orion Bar PDR^⋆,⋆⋆

¹ Grupo de Astrofísica Molecular, Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Madrid (ICMM, CSIC), Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz 3, 28049 Cantoblanco, Madrid, Spain
e-mail: s.cuadrado@icmm.csic.es
² Centro de Astrobiología (CSIC-INTA), Carretera de Ajalvir km 4, 28850 Torrejón de Ardoz, Madrid, Spain
³ Université de Toulouse, UPS-OMP, IRAP, Toulouse, France
⁴ CNRS, IRAP, 9 Av. colonel Roche, BP 44346, 31028 Toulouse Cedex 4, France
⁵ Observatorio Astronómico Nacional, Apdo. 112, 28803 Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain

Received: 9 July 2014
Accepted: 27 November 2014

Abstract

Context. Carbon chemistry plays a pivotal role in the interstellar medium (ISM) but even the synthesis of the simplest hydrocarbons and how they relate to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and grains is not well understood.

Aims. We study the spatial distribution and chemistry of small hydrocarbons in the Orion Bar photodissociation region (PDR), a prototypical environment in which to investigate molecular gas irradiated by strong UV fields.

Methods. We used the IRAM 30 m telescope to carry out a millimetre line survey towards the Orion Bar edge, complemented with ~2′ × 2′ maps of the C₂H and c-C₃H₂ emission. We analyse the excitation of the detected hydrocarbons and constrain the physical conditions of the emitting regions with non-LTE radiative transfer models. We compare the inferred column densities with updated gas-phase photochemical models including ¹³CCH and C¹³CH isotopomer fractionation.

Results. Approximately 40% of the lines in the survey arise from hydrocarbons (C₂H, C₄H, c-C₃H₂, c-C₃H, C¹³CH, ¹³CCH, l-C₃H, and l-H₂C₃ in decreasing order of abundance). We detect new lines from l-C₃H⁺ and improve its rotational spectroscopic constants. Anions or deuterated hydrocarbons are not detected, but we provide accurate upper limit abundances: [C₂D]/[C₂H] < 0.2%, [C₂H⁻]/[C₂H] < 0.007%, and [C₄H⁻]/[C₄H] < 0.05%.

Conclusions. Our models can reasonably match the observed column densities of most hydrocarbons (within factors of <3). Since the observed spatial distribution of the C₂H and c-C₃H₂ emission is similar but does not follow the PAH emission, we conclude that, in high UV-flux PDRs, photodestruction of PAHs is not a necessary requirement to explain the observed abundances of the smallest hydrocarbons. Instead, gas-phase endothermic reactions (or with barriers) between C⁺, radicals, and H₂ enhance the formation of simple hydrocarbons. Observations and models suggest that the [C₂H]/[c-C₃H₂] ratio (~32 at the PDR edge) decreases with the UV field attenuation. The observed low cyclic-to-linear C₃H column density ratio (≤3) is consistent with a high electron abundance (x_e) PDR environment. In fact, the poorly constrained x_e gradient influences much of the hydrocarbon chemistry in the more UV-shielded gas. The inferred hot rotational temperatures for C₄H and l-C₃H⁺ also suggest that radiative IR pumping affects their excitation. We propose that reactions of C₂H isotopologues with ¹³C⁺ and H atoms can explain the observed [C¹³CH]/[¹³CCH] = 1.4 ± 0.1 fractionation level.