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Molecular oxygen has been the subject of many observational searches as chemical models predicted it to be a reservoir of oxygen. Although it has been detected in two regions of the interstellar medium, its rarity is a challenge for astrochemical models. In this paper, we have combined the physical conditions computed with smoothed particle hydrodynamics simulations with our full gas–grain chemical model Nautilus, to study the predicted O2 abundance in interstellar material forming cold cores. We thus follow the chemical evolution of gas and ices in parcels of material from the diffuse interstellar conditions to the cold dense cores. Most of our predicted O2 abundances are below 10−8 (with respect to the total proton density) and the predicted column densities in simulated cold cores are at maximum a few 10−14 cm−2, in agreement with the non-detection limits. This low O2 abundance can be explained by the fact that, in a large fraction of the interstellar material, the atomic oxygen is depleted on to the grain surface (and hydrogenated to form H2O) before O2 can be formed in the gas-phase and protected from ultraviolet photodissociations. We could achieve this result only because we took into account the full history of the evolution of the physical conditions from the diffuse medium to the cold cores. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent observations have revealed the existence of complex organic molecules (COMs) in cold dense cores and pre-stellar cores. The presence of these molecules in such cold conditions is not well understood and remains a matter of debate since the previously proposed ‘warm-up’ scenario cannot explain these observations. In this paper, we study the effect of Eley–Rideal and complex induced reaction mechanisms of gas-phase carbon atoms with the main ice components of dust grains on the formation of COMs in cold and dense regions. Based on recent experiments, we use a low value for the chemical desorption efficiency (which was previously invoked to explain the observed COM abundances). We show that our introduced mechanisms are efficient enough to produce a large amount of COMs in the gas phase at temperatures as low as 10 K. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims. Ionized carbon is the main gas-phase reservoir of carbon in the neutral diffuse interstellar medium (ISM) and its 158 µm fine structure transition [CII] is the most important cooling line of the diffuse ISM. We combine [CII] absorption and emission spectroscopy to gain an improved understanding of physical conditions in the different phases of the ISM. Methods. We present high-resolution [CII] spectra obtained with the Herschel/HIFI instrument towards bright dust continuum regions in the Galactic plane, probing simultaneously the diffuse gas along the line of sight and the background high-mass star forming regions. These data are complemented by single pointings in the 492 and 809 GHz fine structure lines of atomic carbon and by medium spectral resolution spectral maps of the fine structure lines of atomic oxygen at 63 and 145 µm with Herschel/PACS. Results. We show that the presence of foreground absorption may completely cancel the emission from the background source in medium spectral resolution PACS data and that high spectral resolution spectra are needed to interpret the [C II] and [OI] emission and the [C II]/FIR ratio. This phenomenon may explain part of the [C II]/FIR deficit seen in external luminous infrared galaxies where the bright emission from the nuclear regions may be partially canceled by absorption from diffuse gas in the foreground. The C+ and C excitation in the diffuse gas is consistent with a median pressure of ~5900 Kcm-3 for a mean kinetic temperature of 100 K. A few higher pressure regions are detected along the lines of sight, as emission features in both fine structure lines of atomic carbon. The knowledge of the gas density allows us to determine the filling factor of the absorbing gas along the selected lines of sight. The derived median value of the filling factor is 2.4%, in good agreement with the properties of the Galactic cold neutral medium. The mean excitation temperature is used to derive the average cooling due to C+ in the Galactic plane : 9.5 × 10-26 erg-1H-1. Along the observed lines of sight, the gas phase carbon abundance does not exhibit a strong gradient as a function of Galacto-centric radius and has a weighted average of C/H = 1.5 ± 0.4 × 10-4. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]