Issue |
A&A
Volume 694, February 2025
|
|
---|---|---|
Article Number | A166 | |
Number of page(s) | 14 | |
Section | Interstellar and circumstellar matter | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202452598 | |
Published online | 11 February 2025 |
The ALMA-ATOMS survey: Vibrationally excited HC3N lines in hot cores
1
School of Physics and Astronomy, Yunnan University,
Kunming
650091,
PR
China
2
Shanghai Astronomical Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences,
80 Nandan Road,
Shanghai
200030,
PR
China
3
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology,
4800 Oak Grove Drive,
Pasadena
CA
91109,
USA
4
Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Kunming University of Science and Technology,
Kunming
650500,
PR
China
5
Xinjiang Astronomical Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences,
150 Science 1-Stree, Urumqi,
Xinjiang
830011,
PR
China
6
Xinjiang Key Laboratory of Radio Astrophysics,
150 Science 1-Street, Urumqi,
Xinjiang
830011,
PR
China
7
Departamento de Astronomía, Universidad de Chile, Las Condes,
7591245
Santiago,
Chile
8
Chinese Academy of Sciences South America Center for Astronomy, National Astronomical Observatories, CAS,
Beijing
100101,
PR
China
9
University of Chinese Academy of Sciences,
Beijing
100049,
PR
China
10
Institute of Astrophysics, School of Physics and Electronical Science, Chuxiong Normal University,
Chuxiong
675000,
PR
China
11
Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Institute of Science Tokyo, Meguro,
Tokyo
152-8551,
Japan
12
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, National Institutes of Natural Sciences,
2-21-1 Osawa, Mitaka,
Tokyo
181-8588,
Japan
13
Department of Astronomical Science, SOKENDAI (The Graduate University for Advanced Studies),
2-21-1 Osawa, Mitaka,
Tokyo
181-8588,
Japan
14
Rosseland Centre for Solar Physics, University of Oslo,
PO Box 1029 Blindern,
0315
Oslo,
Norway
15
Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics, University of Oslo,
PO Box 1029 Blindern,
0315
Oslo,
Norway
16
Physical Research Laboratory, Navrangpura,
Ahmedabad
380 009,
India
17
Instituto de Astronomïa, Universidad Católica del Norte,
Antofagasta,
Chile
18
Max Planck Institute for Astronomy,
Königstuhl 17,
69117
Heidelberg,
Germany
19
Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute,
776 Daedeokdaero, Yuseong-gu,
Daejeon
34055,
Republic of Korea
20
University of Science and Technology, Korea (UST),
217 Gajeong-ro, Yuseong-gu,
Daejeon
34113,
Republic of Korea
21
Department of Astronomy, Eötvös Loránd University,
Pázmány Péter sétány 1/A,
1117,
Budapest,
Hungary
22
University of Debrecen, Faculty of Science and Technology,
Egyetemtér 1,
4032
Debrecen,
Hungary
23
Department of Mathematical Sciences, University of South Africa,
Cnr Christian de Wet Rd and Pioneer Avenue, Florida Park,
1709
Roodepoort,
South Africa
24
Centre for Space Research, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus,
Private Bag X6001,
Potchefstroom
2520,
South Africa
25
Department of Physics and Astronomy, Faculty of Physical Sciences, University of Nigeria,
Carver Building, 1 University Road,
Nsukka
410001,
Nigeria
26
I. Physikalisches Institut, Universität zu Köln,
Zülpicher Straße 77,
50937
Köln,
Germany
27
Kavli Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Peking University,
5 Yiheyuan Road, Haidian District,
Beijing
100871,
China
28
School of Physics and Astronomy, Sun Yat-sen University,
2 Daxue Road, Zhuhai,
Guangdong
519082,
PR
China
★ Corresponding authors; li.chen@mail.ynu.edu.cn; qin@ynu.edu.cn; liutie@shao.ac.cn
Received:
14
October
2024
Accepted:
16
December
2024
Context. Interstellar molecules are excellent tools for studying the physical and chemical environments of massive star-forming regions. In particular, the vibrationally excited HC3N (HC3N*) lines are the key tracers for probing hot cores environments.
Aims. We present the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) 3 mm observations of HC3N* lines in 60 hot cores and investigate how the physical conditions affect the excitation of HC3N* transitions.
Methods. We used the XCLASS for line identification. Under the assumption of local thermodynamic equilibrium, we derived the rotation temperature and column density of HC3N* transitions in hot cores. Additionally, we calculated the H2 column density and number density, along with the abundance of HC3N* relative to H2, to enable a comparison of the physical properties of hot cores with different numbers of HC3N* states.
Results. We have detected HC3N* lines in 52 hot cores, 29 of which show more than one vibrationally excited state. Hot cores with higher gas temperatures have more detections of these vibrationally excited lines. The excitation of HC3N* requires dense environments, and its spatial distribution is affected by the presence of UC HII regions. The observed column density of HC3N* contributes to the number of HC3N* states in hot-core environments.
Conclusions. After analyzing the various factors influencing HC3N* excitation in hot cores, we conclude that the excitation of HC3N* is mainly driven by mid-IR pumping, while collisional excitation is ineffective.
Key words: stars: formation / ISM: abundances / HII regions / ISM: molecules
© The Authors 2025
Open Access article, published by EDP Sciences, under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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