Search

The role of massive (≥ 8 |$\, {\rm M}_{\odot }$|⁠) stars in defining the energy budget and chemical enrichment of the interstellar medium in their host galaxy is significant. In this first paper from the Tracing Evolution in Massive Protostellar Objects (TEMPO) project we introduce a colour-luminosity selected (L* ∼ 3 × 103 to 1 × 105 L⊙) sample of 38 massive star-forming regions observed with ALMA at 1.3 mm and explore the fragmentation, clustering, and flux density properties of the sample. The TEMPO sample fields are each found to contain multiple fragments (between 2 and 15 per field). The flux density budget is split evenly (53 per cent–47 per cent) between fields where emission is dominated by a single high flux density fragment and those in which the combined flux density of fainter objects dominates. The fragmentation scales observed in most fields are not comparable with the thermal Jeans length, λ J , being larger in the majority of cases, suggestive of some non-thermal mechanism. A tentative evolutionary trend is seen between luminosity of the clump and the 'spectral line richness' of the TEMPO fields; with 6.7 GHz maser associated fields found to be lower luminosity and more line rich. This work also describes a method of line-free continuum channel selection within ALMA data and a generalized approach used to distinguishing sources which are potentially star-forming from those which are not, utilizing interferometric visibility properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context. The G31.41+0.31 Unbiased ALMA sPectral Observational Survey (GUAPOS) project targets the hot molecular core (HMC) G31.41+0.31 (G31) to reveal the complex chemistry of one of the most chemically rich high-mass star-forming regions outside the Galactic center (GC). Aims. In the third paper of the project we present a study of nine O-bearing (CH3OH, 13CH3OH, CH318OH , CH3CHO, CH3OCH3, CH3COCH3, C2H5OH, aGg′-(CH2OH)2, and gGg′-(CH2OH)2) and six N-bearing (CH3CN,13CH3CN, CH313CN, C2H3CN, C2H5CN, and C2H513CN) complex organic molecules toward G31. The aim of this work is to characterize the abundances in G31 and to compare them with the values estimated in other sources. Moreover, we searched for a possible chemical segregation between O-bearing and N-bearing species in G31, which hosts four compact sources as seen with higher angular resolution data. In the discussion we also include the three isomers of C2H4O2 and the O- and N-bearing molecular species NH2CHO, CH3NCO, CH3C(O)CH2, and CH3NHCHO, which were analyzed in previous GUAPOS papers. Methods. Observations were carried out with the interferometer ALMA and cover the entire Band 3 from 84 to 116 GHz (~32 GHz bandwidth) with an angular resolution of 1.2″ × 1.2″ (~4400 au × 4400 au) and a spectral resolution of ~0.488 MHz (~1.3–1.7 km s−1). The transitions of the 14 molecular species were analyzed with the tool SLIM of MADCUBA to determine the physical parameters of the emitting gas. Moreover, we analyzed the morphology of the emission of the molecular species. Results. The values of abundances with respect to H2 in G31 range from 10−6 to 10−10 for the different species. We compared the abundances with respect to methanol of O-bearing, N-bearing, and O- and N-bearing COMs in G31 with 27 other sources, including other hot molecular cores inside and outside the GC, hot corinos, shocked regions, envelopes around young stellar objects, and quiescent molecular clouds, and with chemical models. Conclusions. From the comparison with other sources there is not a unique template for the abundances in hot molecular cores, pointing toward the importance of the thermal history for the chemistry of the various sources. The abundances derived from the chemical models are in good agreement, within a factor of 10, with those of G31. From the analysis of the maps we derived the peak positions of all the molecular species toward G31. Different species peak at slightly different positions, and this, together with the different central velocities of the lines obtained from the spectral fitting, point to chemical differentiation of selected O-bearing species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report the discovery of a velocity coherent, funnel-shaped 13CO emission feature in the Galactic centre (GC) using data from the SEDIGISM survey. The molecular cloud appears as a low-velocity structure (VLSR = [ − 3.5,   + 3.5] km s−1) with an angular extent of 0.95° ×1°, extending towards positive Galactic latitudes. The structure is offset from Sgr A* towards negative Galactic longitudes; it spatially and morphologically correlates well with the northern lobe of the 430 pc radio bubble, believed to be the radio counterpart of the multiwavelength GC chimney. Spectral line observations in the frequency range of 85–116 GHz have been carried out using the IRAM 30-m telescope towards 12 positions along the funnel-shaped emission. We examine the 12C/13C isotopic ratios using various molecules and their isotopologues. The mean 12C/13C isotope ratio (30.6 ± 2.9) is consistent with the structure located within inner 3 kpc of the Galaxy and possibly in the GC. The velocity of the molecular funnel is consistent with previous radio recombination line measurements of the northern lobe of radio bubble. Our multiwavelength analysis suggests that the funnel-shaped structure extending over 100 pc above the Galactic plane is the molecular counterpart of the northern GC chimney. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]