CHEMICAL EVOLUTION OF RED MSX SOURCES IN THE SOUTHERN SKY

Abstract

Red Midcourse Space Experiment ( MSX ) Sources (RMSs) are regarded as excellent candidates of massive star-forming regions. In order to characterize the chemical properties of massive star formation, we made a systematic study of 87 RMSs in the southern sky, using archival data taken from the Atacama Pathfinder Experiment Telescope Large Area Survey of the Galaxy (ATLASGAL), the Australia Telescope Compact Array, and the Millimetre Astronomy Legacy Team Survey at 90 GHz (MALT90). According to previous multiwavelength observations, our sample could be divided into two groups: massive young stellar objects and H ii regions. Combined with the MALT90 data, we calculated the column densities of N 2 H + , C 2 H, HC 3 N, and HNC and found that they are not much different from previous studies made in other massive star-forming regions. However, their abundances are relatively low compared to infrared dark clouds (IRDCs). The abundances of N 2 H + and HNC in our sample are at least 1 mag lower than those found in IRDCs, indicating chemical depletions in the relatively hot gas. Besides, the fractional abundances of N 2 H + , C 2 H, and HC 3 N seem to decrease as a function of their Lyman continuum fluxes ( N L ), indicating that these molecules could be destroyed by UV photons when H ii regions have formed inside. We also find that the C 2 H abundance decreases faster than HC 3 N with respect to N L . The abundance of HNC has a tight correlation with that of N 2 H + , indicating that it may be also preferentially formed in cold gas. We regard our RMSs as being in a relatively late evolutionary stage of massive star formation.