The evolution of complex organic molecules during star formation

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: Marchand, Pierre, Coutens, Audrey, Loison, Jean-Christophe, Wakelam, Valentine, Espagnet, Antoine, de Miera, Fernando Cruz-Sáenz
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2025
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author Marchand, Pierre
Coutens, Audrey
Loison, Jean-Christophe
Wakelam, Valentine
Espagnet, Antoine
de Miera, Fernando Cruz-Sáenz
author_facet Marchand, Pierre
Coutens, Audrey
Loison, Jean-Christophe
Wakelam, Valentine
Espagnet, Antoine
de Miera, Fernando Cruz-Sáenz
contents Complex organic molecules (COMs) are thought to be the precursors of pre-biotic molecules and are observed in many protostellar sources. For this paper we studied the formation of COMs during star formation and their evolution in the midplane of the circumstellar disk up to the end of the Class I stage. We used the Analytical Protostellar Environment (APE) code to perform analytical simulations of star formation and the Nautilus code to model the chemical evolution. Most COMs mainly form during the collapse or in the disk, except the lightest (CH3CCH, C3H6, CH3OH, CH3CHO, CH3OCH3, C2H5OH, CH3CN, CH3NC, C2H3CN, and CH3SH), which are significantly inherited by the disk from the prestellar phase. Over the first 150 kyr of the disk, the abundances of several COMs in the midplane vary negligibly (e.g., CH3CCH, CH3OH, and CH3CN), while others experience a variation of one order of magnitude (e.g., C2H3CHO HOCH2CHO, and CH3COCH2OH). Changing physical conditions also have an impact on the abundance profiles of COMs in the disk, and their inheritance. For example, increasing the temperature of the molecular cloud from 10 K to 15 K significantly promotes the formation of COMs in the prestellar phase, notably c-C2H4O and N-bearing species. Conversely, increasing the cloud mass from 2 Msol to 5 Msol only has a minor effect on the disk abundances in the early stages.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2509_15126
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle The evolution of complex organic molecules during star formation
Marchand, Pierre
Coutens, Audrey
Loison, Jean-Christophe
Wakelam, Valentine
Espagnet, Antoine
de Miera, Fernando Cruz-Sáenz
Astrophysics of Galaxies
Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
Complex organic molecules (COMs) are thought to be the precursors of pre-biotic molecules and are observed in many protostellar sources. For this paper we studied the formation of COMs during star formation and their evolution in the midplane of the circumstellar disk up to the end of the Class I stage. We used the Analytical Protostellar Environment (APE) code to perform analytical simulations of star formation and the Nautilus code to model the chemical evolution. Most COMs mainly form during the collapse or in the disk, except the lightest (CH3CCH, C3H6, CH3OH, CH3CHO, CH3OCH3, C2H5OH, CH3CN, CH3NC, C2H3CN, and CH3SH), which are significantly inherited by the disk from the prestellar phase. Over the first 150 kyr of the disk, the abundances of several COMs in the midplane vary negligibly (e.g., CH3CCH, CH3OH, and CH3CN), while others experience a variation of one order of magnitude (e.g., C2H3CHO HOCH2CHO, and CH3COCH2OH). Changing physical conditions also have an impact on the abundance profiles of COMs in the disk, and their inheritance. For example, increasing the temperature of the molecular cloud from 10 K to 15 K significantly promotes the formation of COMs in the prestellar phase, notably c-C2H4O and N-bearing species. Conversely, increasing the cloud mass from 2 Msol to 5 Msol only has a minor effect on the disk abundances in the early stages.
title The evolution of complex organic molecules during star formation
topic Astrophysics of Galaxies
Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.15126