A line survey of Orion KL from 325 to 360 GHz.

We present a high-sensitivity spectral line survey of the high-mass star-forming region Orion KL in the 325-360 GHz frequency band. The survey was conducted at the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory on Mauna Kea, Hawaii. The sensitivity achieved is typically 0.1-0.5 K and is limited mostly by the sideband separation method utilized. We find 717 resolvable features consisting of 1004 lines, among which 60 are unidentified. The identified lines are due to 34 species and various isotopomers. Most of the unidentified lines are weak, and many of them most likely due to isotopomers or vibrationally or torsionally excited states of known species with unknown line frequencies, but a few reach the 2-5 K level. No new species have been identified, but we were able to strengthen evidence for the identification of ethanol in Orion and found the first nitrogen sulfide line in this source. The molecule dominating the integrated line emission is S02, which emits twice the intensity of CO, followed by SO, which is only slightly stronger than CO. In contrast, the largest number of lines is emitted from heavy organic rotors like HCOOCH3, CH3CH2CN, and CH3OCH3, but their contribution to the total flux is unimportant. CH3OH is also very prominent, both in the number of lines and in integrated flux. An interesting detail of this survey is the first detection of vibrationally excited HCN in the v2 = 2 state, 2000 K above ground. Clearly this is a glimpse into the very inner part of the Orion hot core.

A molecular line study of NGC 1333/IRAS 4.

Molecular line surveys and fully sampled spectral line maps at 1.3 and 0.87 mm are used to examine the physical and chemical characteristics of the extreme Class I sources IRAS 4A and 4B in the L1450/NGC 1333 molecular cloud complex. A very well collimated, jetlike molecular outflow emanates from IRAS 4A, with a dynamical age of a few thousand years. Symmetric, clumpy structure along the outflow lobes suggests that there is considerable variability in the mass-loss rate or wind velocity even at this young age. Molecular emission lines toward IRAS 4A and 4B are observed to be weak in the velocity range corresponding to quiescent material surrounding the young stellar objects (YSOs). Depletion factors of 10-20 are observed for all molecules, including CO, even for even for very conservative mass estimates from the measured millimeter and submillimeter dust continuum. However, abundances scaled with respect to CO are similar to other dark molecular cloud cores. Such depletions could be mimicked by high dust optical depths or increased grain emissivities at the observing frequencies of 230 and 345 GHz, but the millimeter and submillimeter spectral energy distributions suggest that this is unlikely over the single-dish size scales of 5000-10,000 AU. Dense, outflowing gas is found to be kinematically, but not spatially, distinct from the quiescent material on these size scales. If CO is used as a chemical standard for the high-velocity gas, we find substantial enhancements in the abundances of several molecules in outflowing material, most notably CS, SiO, and CH3OH. The SiO emission is kinematically well displaced from the bulk cloud velocity and likely arises from directly shocked material. As is the case for CO, however, the outflow features from more volatile species are centered near the cloud velocity and are often characterized by quite low rotational temperatures. We suggest that grain-grain collisions induced by velocity shear zones surrounding the outflow axes transiently desorb the grain mantles, resulting in large abundance enhancements of selected species. Similar results have recently been obtained in several other low-mass YSOs, where the outflowing gas is often both kinematically and spatially distinct, and are illustrative of the ability of accretion and outflow processes to simultaneously modify the composition of the gas and dust surrounding young stars.

The molecular emission-line spectrum of IRC +10216 between 330 and 358 GHz.

We have conducted a spectral line survey of IRC +10216 using the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory to an average sensitivity of < or approximately 95 mK. A deconvolution algorithm has been used to derive the continuous single-sideband spectrum from 330.2 to 358.1 GHz. A total of 56 spectral lines were detected of which 54 have been identified with 8 molecules and a total of 18 isotopomers. The observed lines are used to derive column densities and relative abundances for the detected species. Within this frequency range the spectral lines detected contribute the majority of the total flux emitted by IRC +10216. We use the derived column densities and excitation temperatures to simulate the molecular line emission (assuming LTE) at frequencies up to 1000 GHz. The observed and simulated flux from line emission is compared to broadband total flux measurements and to dust emission assuming a power-law variation of the dust emissivity. We conclude that significant corrections for the line flux must be made to broadband flux measurements of IRC +10216 at wavelengths longer than approximately 750 micrometers.