HCN and HNC observation toward three different phases of massive star formation

  • Jin, Mi-Hwa (School of Space Research, Kyung Hee University) ;
  • Lee, Jeong-Eun (School of Space Research, Kyung Hee University) ;
  • Kim, Kee-Tae (Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute(KASI))
  • Published : 2013.10.08

Abstract

It has been known that HCN is one of ubiquitous high-density gas tracer, and the abundance ratio between HCN and its Isomer, HNC sensitively depends on kinetic temperature in star-forming regions. Here we investigate the molecular abundance ratio toward three different evolutionary phases of massive star formation: Infrared Dark Clouds, High-mass Protostellar Objects and Ultracompact HII Regions. We obtained the abundances of HCN and HNC using optically thin H13CN and HN13C lines observed with the KVN single-dish telescopes and MAMBO 1.2mm and SCUBA $850{\mu}m$ continuum data. According to our results, the ratio of [HCN]/[HNC] increases statistically with the evolutionary stage, indicative of the effect of temperature. We also found a strong anti-correlation between the column density of molecular hydrogen and the HNC abundance.

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