The physical and chemical structure of TMC-1. The spatial distribution and excitation conditions of carbon, oxygen, and sulfur bearing species: Depletion of CO and CS
Abstract
We present a detailed study of the physical and chemical structure of TMC-1 from the observed spatial distribution of HC3N, NNH+, CN, and their isotopologues, the O-bearing species C18O, C17O, CH3OH, CH3CHO, and H2CO, and the S-bearing species CS, HCS+, H2CS, and H2CCS. The well known filamentary structure of TMC-1 can be interpreted as a single cloud with a velocity gradient perpendicular to the filament, or less likely as due to the alignment of three independent clouds in the line sight with velocities of 5.3-5.7, 5.7-5.9, and 5.9-6.3 km/s. The main contribution to the emission of all studied C-bearing species is found at 5.83 kms/s. We conclude that the three velocity components are dynamically connected and that C-bearing molecules show a different behavior of their abundances compared to O-bearing species, which have emission peaks at 5.7 and 6.25 km/s, and appear at different spatial locations than cyanopolyynes and CnH and CnN radicals. The detection of 13C18O, with exactly the same line profile than that of C18O and C17O, excludes the possibility that the decrease of their emission at 5.83 km/s, could be due to self absorption or absorption by a foreground cloud component. Hence, as indicated by the spatial distribution of C18O and C17O, CO is significantly depleted at the velocities and positions where the emission of the carbon chains and radicals is found. This suggests that the emission of O-bearing species is coming from the external layers of the carbon-rich filaments. A comparison between S-bearing species and other molecules indicates that CS, CCS, HCS+, and H2CS are significantly depleted in the zone of CO depletion. A clear increase of the deuteration of several molecular species is found in the zones where CO and CS are depleted.
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BibTeX
@misc{cernicharo2026physical,
title = {{The physical and chemical structure of TMC-1. The spatial distribution and excitation conditions of carbon, oxygen, and sulfur bearing species: Depletion of CO and CS}},
author = {J. Cernicharo and B. Tercero and N. Marcelino and G. Esplugues and G. Molpeceres and M. Agúndez},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.19939},
eprint = {2610.19939},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.19939},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - The physical and chemical structure of TMC-1. The spatial distribution and excitation conditions of carbon, oxygen, and sulfur bearing species: Depletion of CO and CS
AU - J. Cernicharo
AU - B. Tercero
AU - N. Marcelino
AU - G. Esplugues
AU - G. Molpeceres
AU - M. Agúndez
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/14
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.19939
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.19939
AB - We present a detailed study of the physical and chemical structure of TMC-1 from the observed spatial distribution of HC3N, NNH+, CN, and their isotopologues, the O-bearing species C18O, C17O, CH3OH, CH3CHO, and H2CO, and the S-bearing species CS, HCS+, H2CS, and H2CCS. The well known filamentary structure of TMC-1 can be interpreted as a single cloud with a velocity gradient perpendicular to the filament, or less likely as due to the alignment of three independent clouds in the line sight with velocities of 5.3-5.7, 5.7-5.9, and 5.9-6.3 km/s. The main contribution to the emission of all studied C-bearing species is found at 5.83 kms/s. We conclude that the three velocity components are dynamically connected and that C-bearing molecules show a different behavior of their abundances compared to O-bearing species, which have emission peaks at 5.7 and 6.25 km/s, and appear at different spatial locations than cyanopolyynes and CnH and CnN radicals. The detection of 13C18O, with exactly the same line profile than that of C18O and C17O, excludes the possibility that the decrease of their emission at 5.83 km/s, could be due to self absorption or absorption by a foreground cloud component. Hence, as indicated by the spatial distribution of C18O and C17O, CO is significantly depleted at the velocities and positions where the emission of the carbon chains and radicals is found. This suggests that the emission of O-bearing species is coming from the external layers of the carbon-rich filaments. A comparison between S-bearing species and other molecules indicates that CS, CCS, HCS+, and H2CS are significantly depleted in the zone of CO depletion. A clear increase of the deuteration of several molecular species is found in the zones where CO and CS are depleted.
ER -