Herschel Observations of Extra-ordinary Sources: Analysis of the HIFI 1.2 THz Wide Spectral Survey toward Orion KL II. Chemical Implications

Abstract

We present chemical implications arising from spectral models fit to the Herschel/HIFI spectral survey toward the Orion Kleinmann-Low nebula (Orion KL). We focus our discussion on the eight complex organics detected within the HIFI survey utilizing a novel technique to identify those molecules emitting in the hottest gas. In particular, we find the complex nitrogen bearing species CH_3CN, C_2H_3CN, C_2H_5CN, and NH_2CHO systematically trace hotter gas than the oxygen bearing organics CH_3OH, C_2H_5OH, CH_3OCH_3, and CH_3OCHO, which do not contain nitrogen. If these complex species form predominantly on grain surfaces, this may indicate N-bearing organics are more difficult to remove from grain surfaces than O-bearing species. Another possibility is that hot (T_(kin) ~ 300 K) gas phase chemistry naturally produces higher complex cyanide abundances while suppressing the formation of O-bearing complex organics. We compare our derived rotation temperatures and molecular abundances to chemical models, which include gas-phase and grain surface pathways. Abundances for a majority of the detected complex organics can be reproduced over timescales ≳10^5 years, with several species being underpredicted by less than 3σ. Derived rotation temperatures for most organics, furthermore, agree reasonably well with the predicted temperatures at peak abundance. We also find that sulfur bearing molecules that also contain oxygen (i.e., SO, SO_2, and OCS) tend to probe the hottest gas toward Orion KL, indicating the formation pathways for these species are most efficient at high temperatures.

Files

Additional details