The ALMA-ATOMS survey: Methanol emission in a large sample of hot molecular cores
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| Format: | Preprint |
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2026
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| _version_ | 1866915756350898176 |
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| author | Zou, Jiahang Liu, Tie Qin, Sheng-Li Peng, Yaping Xu, Fengwei Liu, Xunchuan Chen, Li Tang, Xindi Dib, Sami Li, Zi-Yang Liu, Hong-Li Juvela, Mika Sanhueza, Patricio Garcia, Pablo Lee, Chang Won Garay, Guido Das, Swagat R. Zhang, Yan-Kun Kim, Kee-Tae Lee, Jeong-Eun Liu, Meizhu Bronfman, Leonardo Kou, Zihping Yang, Dongting Wu, Gang Hwang, Jihye Meng, Dezhao Tang, Mengyao Chibueze, James O. |
| author_facet | Zou, Jiahang Liu, Tie Qin, Sheng-Li Peng, Yaping Xu, Fengwei Liu, Xunchuan Chen, Li Tang, Xindi Dib, Sami Li, Zi-Yang Liu, Hong-Li Juvela, Mika Sanhueza, Patricio Garcia, Pablo Lee, Chang Won Garay, Guido Das, Swagat R. Zhang, Yan-Kun Kim, Kee-Tae Lee, Jeong-Eun Liu, Meizhu Bronfman, Leonardo Kou, Zihping Yang, Dongting Wu, Gang Hwang, Jihye Meng, Dezhao Tang, Mengyao Chibueze, James O. |
| contents | Methanol (CH$_{3}$OH) is a key complex organic molecule (COM) in the interstellar medium, widely used as a tracer of dense gas and hot molecular cores (HMCs). Using high-resolution ALMA observations from the ATOMS survey, we investigate the excitation and abundance of methanol nuclear spin isomers and their relationship to chemical complexity in massive star-forming cores. We identify 20 methanol transitions, including A- and E-type lines in the v=0 state and E-type lines in the v$_{t}$=1 state, and detect 94 HMC candidates. Rotational temperature analysis under the LTE assumption yields average values of 194 $\pm$ 33 K for CH$_{3}$OH-E v$_{t}$=1, 178 $\pm$ 33 K for CH$_{3}$OH-A v=0, and 75 $\pm$ 33K for CH$_{3}$OH-E v=0. Emission from COMs other than methanol is detected in 87 of the 94 cores, with the CH$_{3}$OH-E v$_{t}$=1 line intensity showing a strong correlation with the channel detection ratio (CDR). These results demonstrate that CH$_{3}$OH-E v$_{t}$=1 lines are reliable tracers of HMCs and chemical complexity, and that the CDR provides a robust indicator of molecular richness. The temperature difference between A- and E-type methanol transitions is driven by anomalously strong J(2,J-2)$-$J(-1,J-1) lines, highlighting the importance of analyzing methanol symmetry types separately. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2601_18628 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | The ALMA-ATOMS survey: Methanol emission in a large sample of hot molecular cores Zou, Jiahang Liu, Tie Qin, Sheng-Li Peng, Yaping Xu, Fengwei Liu, Xunchuan Chen, Li Tang, Xindi Dib, Sami Li, Zi-Yang Liu, Hong-Li Juvela, Mika Sanhueza, Patricio Garcia, Pablo Lee, Chang Won Garay, Guido Das, Swagat R. Zhang, Yan-Kun Kim, Kee-Tae Lee, Jeong-Eun Liu, Meizhu Bronfman, Leonardo Kou, Zihping Yang, Dongting Wu, Gang Hwang, Jihye Meng, Dezhao Tang, Mengyao Chibueze, James O. Astrophysics of Galaxies Methanol (CH$_{3}$OH) is a key complex organic molecule (COM) in the interstellar medium, widely used as a tracer of dense gas and hot molecular cores (HMCs). Using high-resolution ALMA observations from the ATOMS survey, we investigate the excitation and abundance of methanol nuclear spin isomers and their relationship to chemical complexity in massive star-forming cores. We identify 20 methanol transitions, including A- and E-type lines in the v=0 state and E-type lines in the v$_{t}$=1 state, and detect 94 HMC candidates. Rotational temperature analysis under the LTE assumption yields average values of 194 $\pm$ 33 K for CH$_{3}$OH-E v$_{t}$=1, 178 $\pm$ 33 K for CH$_{3}$OH-A v=0, and 75 $\pm$ 33K for CH$_{3}$OH-E v=0. Emission from COMs other than methanol is detected in 87 of the 94 cores, with the CH$_{3}$OH-E v$_{t}$=1 line intensity showing a strong correlation with the channel detection ratio (CDR). These results demonstrate that CH$_{3}$OH-E v$_{t}$=1 lines are reliable tracers of HMCs and chemical complexity, and that the CDR provides a robust indicator of molecular richness. The temperature difference between A- and E-type methanol transitions is driven by anomalously strong J(2,J-2)$-$J(-1,J-1) lines, highlighting the importance of analyzing methanol symmetry types separately. |
| title | The ALMA-ATOMS survey: Methanol emission in a large sample of hot molecular cores |
| topic | Astrophysics of Galaxies |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.18628 |