Discovery of the second warm carbon-chain-chemistry source, IRAS15398 - 3359 in Lupus

Abstract

We have conducted a search for carbon-chain molecules toward 16 protostars with the Mopra 22 m and Nobeyama 45 m telescopes, and have detected high excitation lines from several species, such as C4H (N = 9-8), C 4H2(J = 100,10-90,9), CH 3CCH(J = 5-4, K = 2), and HC5N(J = 32-31), toward the low-mass protostar, IRAS15398 - 3359 in Lupus. The C4H line is as bright as 2.4 K measured with the Nobeyama 45 m telescope. The kinetic temperature is derived to be 12.6 1.5 K from the K = 1 and K = 2 lines of CH3CCH. These results indicate that the carbon-chain molecules exist in a region of warm and dense gas near the protostar. The observed features are similar to those found toward IRAS04368+2557 in L1527, which shows warm carbon-chain chemistry (WCCC). In WCCC, carbon-chain molecules are produced efficiently by the evaporation of CH4 from the grain mantles in a lukewarm region near the protostar. Our data clearly indicate that WCCC is no longer specific to L1527, but occurs in IRAS15398 - 3359. In addition, we draw attention to a remarkable contrast between WCCC and hot corino chemistry in low-mass star-forming regions. Carbon-chain molecules are deficient in hot corino sources like NGC1333 IRAS4B, whereas complex organic molecules seem to be less abundant in the WCCC sources. A possible origin for such source-to-source chemical variations is suggested to arise from the timescale of the starless-core phase in each source. If this is the case, the chemical composition provides an important clue to explore the variation of star formation processes between sources and/or molecular clouds. © 2009. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.