Inventories of Rich Carbon-Chain Chemistry in Prestellar and Starless Cores in the Perseus Molecular Cloud

@misc{pokornyyadav2026inventories,
  title = {{Inventories of Rich Carbon-Chain Chemistry in Prestellar and Starless Cores in the Perseus Molecular Cloud}},
  author = {Anissa Pokorny-Yadav and Samantha Scibelli and Judit Ferrer Asensio and Yancy Shirley and Andrés Megías and Izaskun Jiménez-Serra},
  howpublished = {arXiv},
  year = {2026},
  month = sep,
  doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2608.05264},
  eprint = {2608.05264},
  archivePrefix = {arXiv},
  url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.05264},
}

TY  - UNPB
TI  - Inventories of Rich Carbon-Chain Chemistry in Prestellar and Starless Cores in the Perseus Molecular Cloud
AU  - Anissa Pokorny-Yadav
AU  - Samantha Scibelli
AU  - Judit Ferrer Asensio
AU  - Yancy Shirley
AU  - Andrés Megías
AU  - Izaskun Jiménez-Serra
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/09/18
PB  - arXiv
DO  - 10.48550/arxiv.2608.05264
UR  - https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.05264
AB  - Carbon-chain molecules serve as an important reservoir of reactive organic matter that will eventually be incorporated into protoplanetary disks, planets, and cometary material. Prestellar and starless cores are composed of cold (~ 10 K) and dense (~ 10^5 cm^−3) clumps of gas and dust within molecular clouds, and are nurseries for low-mass stars and planetary systems. Surveys of starless cores have focused on the study of complex organic molecules, COMs, whereas observations of carbon-chains in starless cores are limited. We analyze the carbon-chain inventories of 15 prestellar and starless cores in the Perseus Molecular Cloud. Using Yebes 40m single-dish observations, we detect CS, CCS, CCCS, HC_3N, DC_3N, and HC_5N in at least 10/15 cores and HC_7N in 4/15 cores. Our study also finds related isotopologues, where ^13CS, C^34S, C^13CS, CC^34S, H^13CCCN, HC^13CCN, HCC^13CN, HC^13CCCCN, HCC^13CCCN, HCCC^13CCN, HCCCCC^15N, and DCCCCCN are detected. We report detection statistics, compare column density ratios with Taurus, Serpens, and protostar sources, examine DC_3N/HC_3N deuterium fractionation, and investigate the relative abundances and correlations between cyanopolyyne (HC_nN) and sulfur-bearing (C_nS) carbon-chains. The diverse suite of species detected reveals the richness of carbon-chain chemistry in Perseus and illustrates how local environmental conditions, such as density, temperature, and proximity to protostellar activity, shape each core's molecular inventory and relative evolutionary phase. Our findings provide a glimpse into the carbon-chain reservoir of starless and prestellar cores in Perseus, which may ultimately be inherited by emerging protoplanetary disks and later integrated into planetary systems and biologically relevant material.
ER  -