Complex Organic Molecules in a Very Young Hot Corino, HOPS 373SW

Abstract

We present the spectra of complex organic molecules (COMs) detected in HOPS 373SW with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). HOPS 373SW, which is a component of a protostellar binary with a separation of 1500au, has been discovered as a variable protostar by the JCMT transient monitoring survey with a modest (∼30%) brightness increase at submillimeter wavelengths. Our ALMA target-of-opportunity observation at ∼345 GHz for HOPS 373SW revealed extremely young chemical characteristics with strong deuteration of methanol. The dust continuum opacity is very high toward the source center, obscuring line emission from within 0.″03. The other binary component, HOPS 373NE, was detected only in C ^17 O in our observation, implying a cold and quiescent environment. We compare the COM abundances relative to CH _3 OH in HOPS 373SW with those of V883 Ori, which is an eruptive disk object, as well as other hot corinos, to demonstrate the chemical evolution from envelope to disk. High abundances of singly, doubly, and triply deuterated methanol (CH _2 DOH, CHD _2 OH, and CD _3 OH) and a low CH _3 CN abundance in HOPS 373SW compared to other hot corinos suggest a very early evolutionary stage of HOPS 373SW in the hot corino phase. Since the COMs detected in HOPS 373SW would have been sublimated very recently from grain surfaces, HOPS 373SW is a promising place to study the surface chemistry of COMs in the cold prestellar phase before sublimation.

Keywords

• Star formation
• Astrochemistry