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The detection of hot ethanol in G34.3+0.15

Millar, T.J., Macdonald, G.H., Habing, R.J. (1995) The detection of hot ethanol in G34.3+0.15. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 273 (1). pp. 25-29. ISSN 0035-8711. (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided) (KAR id:19387)

The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided.

Abstract

Hot molecular cores in star-forming regions are known to have gas-phase chemical compositions determined by the evaporation of material from the icy mantles of interstellar grains, followed by subsequent reactions in the gas phase. Current models suggest that the evaporated material is rich in hydrogenated species, such as water, methane and methanol. In this paper, we report the detection of 14 rotational transitions of ethanol in the submillimetre spectrum of the molecular cloud associated with the ultra-compact H II region G34.3+0.15. We derive a rotation temperature of 125 K and a beam-averaged column density of 2.0x10(15) cm(-2), corresponding to a fractional abundance on the order of 4x10(-9). This large abundance, which is a lower limit due to the likelihood of beam dilution, cannot be made by purely gas-phase processes, and we conclude that the ethanol must be formed efficiently in the grain surface chemistry. Since it has been argued previously that methanol is formed via surface chemistry, it appears that alcohol formation may be a natural by-product of surface reactions.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled keywords: molecular processes; ism, clouds; dust, extinction; ism, molecules; radio lines, ism
Subjects: Q Science > QB Astronomy
Q Science > QC Physics
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Computing, Engineering and Mathematical Sciences > School of Engineering and Digital Arts
Divisions > Division of Natural Sciences > Physics and Astronomy
Depositing User: O.O. Odanye
Date Deposited: 03 Jun 2009 11:43 UTC
Last Modified: 16 Nov 2021 09:57 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/19387 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

University of Kent Author Information

Macdonald, G.H..

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