Photochemical Evolution of Interstellar/Precometary Organic Material

Spectroscopic diagnostics of organic chemistry in the protostellar environment

A combination of astronomical observations, laboratory studies, and theoretical modelling is necessary to determine the organic chemistry of dense molecular clouds. We present spectroscopic evidence for the composition and evolution of organic molecules in protostellar environments. The principal reaction pathways to complex molecule formation by catalysis on dust grains and by reactions in the interstellar gas are described. Protostellar cores, where warming of dust has induced evaporation of icy grain mantles, are excellent sites in which to study the interaction between gas phase and grain-surface chemistries. We investigate the link between organics that are observed as direct products of grain surface reactions and those which are formed by secondary gas phase reactions of evaporated surface products. Theory predicts observable correlations between specific interstellar molecules, and also which new organics are viable for detection. We discuss recent infrared observations obtained with the Infrared Space Observatory, laboratory studies of organic molecules, theories of molecule formation, and summarise recent radioastronomical searches for various complex molecules such as ethers, azaheterocyclic compounds, and amino acids.

Carbon Dioxide in Star-forming Regions

We consider the gas-phase chemistry of CO2 molecules in active regions. We show that CO2 molecules evaporated from dust in hot cores cannot be efficiently destroyed and are in fact copiously produced in cooler gas. When CO2-rich ices are sputtered in strong MHD shock waves, the increase in atomic hydrogen, due to H2 dissociation by ion-neutral streaming, means that CO2 can be depleted by factors of approximately 500 from its injected abundance. We find that a critical shock speed exists at higher preshock densities below which CO2 molecules can be efficiently sputtered but survive in the postshock gas. These calculations offer an explanation for the low gas/solid CO2 ratios detected by the Infrared Space Observatory in star-forming cores as being due to shock destruction followed by partial reformation in warm gas. The presence of high abundances of CO2 in the strongly shocked Galactic center clouds Sgr B2 and Sgr A also find a tentative explanation in this scenario. Shock activity plays an important role in determining the chemistry of star-forming regions, and we suggest that most hot cores are in fact shocked cores.

Unraveling the 10 micron "silicate" feature of protostars: the detection of frozen interstellar ammonia

We present infrared spectra of four embedded protostars in the 750-1230 cm-1 (13.3-8.1 microns) range. For NGC 7538 IRS 9, a new band is reported at 1110 cm-1 (9.01 microns, and several others may be present near 785, 820, 900, 1030, and 1075 cm-1 (12.7, 12.2, 11.1, 9.71, and 9.30 microns). The band 1110 cm-1 is attributed to frozen NH3. Its position and width imply that the NH3 is frozen in a polar, H2O-rich interstellar ice component. The NH3/H2O ice ratio inferred for NGC 7538 IRS 9 is 0.1, making NH3 as important a component as CH3OH and CO2 in the polar ices along this line of sight. At these concentrations, hydrogen bonding between the NH3 and H2O can account for much of the enigmatic low-frequency wing on the 3240 cm-1 (3.09 microns) H2O interstellar ice band. The strength of the implied NH3 deformation fundamental at 1624 cm-1 (6.158 microns) can also account for the absorption at this position reported by ISO.