Complex organic molecules in organic-poor massive young stellar objects

¹ Leiden Observatory, Leiden University, PO Box 9513, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands
e-mail: efayolle@cfa.harvard.edu
² Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
³ Center for Radiophysics and Space Research, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853-6801, USA
⁴ The Centre for Star and Planet Formation, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Øster Voldgade 5–7, 1350 Copenhagen K., Denmark
⁵ The Centre for Star and Planet Formation, Niels Bohr Institute, Juliane Mariesvej 30, 2100 Copenhagen Ø., Denmark

Received: 22 November 2013
Accepted: 22 October 2014

Abstract

Context. Massive young stellar objects (MYSOs) with hot cores are classic sources of complex organic molecules. The origins of these molecules in such sources, as well as the small- and large-scale differentiation between nitrogen- and oxygen-bearing complex species, are poorly understood.

Aims. We aim to use complex molecule abundances toward a chemically less explored class of MYSOs with weak hot organic emission lines to constrain the impact of hot molecular cores and initial ice conditions on the chemical composition toward MYSOs.

Methods. We use the IRAM 30 m and the Submillimeter Array to search for complex organic molecules over 8−16 GHz in the 1 mm atmospheric window toward three MYSOs with known ice abundances, but without luminous molecular hot cores.

Results. Complex molecules are detected toward all three sources at comparable abundances with respect to CH₃OH to classical hot core sources. The relative importance of CH₃CHO, CH₃CCH, CH₃OCH₃, CH₃CN, and HNCO differ between the organic-poor MYSOs and hot cores, however. Furthermore, the N-bearing molecules are generally concentrated toward the source centers, while most O- and C-bearing molecules are present both in the center and in the colder envelope. Gas-phase HNCO/CH₃OH ratios are tentatively correlated with the ratios of NH₃ ice over CH₃OH ice in the same lines of sight, which is consistent with new gas-grain model predictions.

Conclusions. Hot cores are not required to form complex organic molecules, and source temperature and initial ice composition both seem to affect complex organic distributions toward MYSOs. To quantify the relative impact of temperature and initial conditions requires, however, a larger spatially resolved survey of MYSOs with ice detections.