Low-mass star formation in R Coronae Australis: Observations of organic molecules with the APEX telescope

Abstract

This paper presents new APEX submillimetre molecular line observations of three low-mass protostars, IRS7A, IRS7B, and IRAS32, in the R Coronae Australis molecular cloud complex. The molecular excitation analysis is performed using a statistical equilibrium radiative transfer code. The derived beam averaged fractional abundances vary by less than a factor of two among the three sources, except those of H2CO and CH3OH, which show differences of about an order of magnitude. The molecular abundances are similar to those typically found in other star-forming regions in the Galaxy, such as the ρ Oph and Perseus molecular clouds. There is a marked difference in the kinetic temperatures derived for the protobinary source IRS7 from H2CO (≈40-60 K) and CH3OH (≈20 K), possibly indicating a difference in origin of the emission from these two molecules. © ESO 2006.