Almost 200 different species have been detected in the interstellar medium (ISM) during the last decades, revealing not only simple species but complex molecules with more than 6 atoms. Other exotic compounds, like the weakly-bound dimer (H2)2, have also been detected in astronomical sources like Jupiter. We aim at detecting for the first time the CO-H2 van der Waals complex in the ISM, which if detected can be a sensitive indicator for low temperatures. We use the IRAM30m telescope, located in Pico Veleta (Spain), to search for the CO-H2 complex in a cold, dense core in TMC-1C (with a temperature of 10 K). All the brightest CO-H2 transitions in the 3 mm (80-110 GHz) band have been observed with a spectral resolution of 0.5-0.7 km/s, reaching a rms noise level of 2 mK. The simultaneous observation of a broad frequency band, 16 GHz, has allowed us to conduct a serendipitous spectral line survey. No lines belonging to the CO-H2 complex have been detected. We have set up a new, more stringent upper limit for its abundance to be [CO-H2]/[CO] = 5x10^{-6}, while we expect the abundance of the complex to be in the range 10^{-8}-10^{-3}. The spectral line survey has allowed us to detect 75 lines associated with 41 different species (including isotopologues). We detect a number of complex organic species, e.g. methyl cyanide (CH3CN), methanol (CH3OH), propyne (CH3CCH) and ketene (CH2CO), associated with cold gas (excitation temperatures about 7 K), confirming the presence of these complex species not only in warm objects but also in cold regimes.
Discovery of the propargyl radical (CH2CCH) in TMC-1: one of the most abundant radicals ever found and a key species for cyclization to benzene in cold dark clouds
Discovery of the Pure Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Indene ($c$-C$_9$H$_8$) with GOTHAM Observations of TMC-1
多环芳烃（PAH）长期以来一直被用于星际和原恒星来源的研究，但直到最近才被证明难以明确识别任何单个PAH。因此，这类重要分子的形成机制仍然缺乏约束。在这里，我们报告的第一个纯碳氢化合物PAH，茚（C $_9$ H $_8$）的星际探测，作为TMC-1的GBT观测的一部分：寻找芳香分子（GOTHAM）调查。这种检测提供了一个新的途径，化学查询，补充现有的检测CN-官能化的芳香族分子。通过拟合GOTHAM观测结果，发现茚是迄今为止在TMC-1中检测到的最丰富的有机环。从NAUTILUS的天体化学建模来看，观测到的丰度比模型预测的要大几个数量级，这表明天体化学模型中目前的形成途径是不完整的。茚在相对高丰度的检测意味着相关的物种，如氰基茚，环戊二烯，甲苯和苯乙烯可能在乌云中检测。
University of Tokyo（东京大学）；Centro de Astrobiología (CAB), CSIC-INTA（天体生物学中心（CAB），西班牙国家航空航天技术研究所与西班牙国家科学研究委员会联合）；Max-Planck-Institut für extraterrestrische Physik（马克斯·普朗克地外物理研究所）
The Role of Radiolysis in the Modelling of C$_{2}$H$_{4}$O$_{2}$ Isomers and Dimethyl Ether in Cold Dark Clouds
复杂有机分子（COMs）已经在各种星际源中被探测到。这些COMs在变暖源中的丰度可以通过与温度和密度增加有关的合成来解释，允许准热化学反应足够迅速地发生，以产生可观察到的COMs数量，无论是在气相中，还是在尘埃颗粒冰幔上。当温度升高到足以允许它们的热解吸时，在晶粒上产生的COM然后变成气态。最近在冷源中观测到的气态COMs还不能完全用这些气相和尘埃颗粒的产生途径来解释。辐解化学是一种可能的非热方法生产COM冷暗云。这种新方法大大增加了模拟丰富的选定的COM上的冰表面和冰地幔内由于宇宙射线轰击的激发和电离事件。我们研究了辐射分解对三种C $_{2}$ H $_{4}$ O $_{2}$异构体--甲酸甲酯（HCOOCH $_3$）、乙醇醛（HCOCH $_2$ OH）和乙酸（CH $_3$ COOH）--以及一种化学性质相似的分子二甲醚（CH $_3$ OCH $_3$）在寒冷的乌云中的影响。然后，我们将我们模拟的气体丰度与TMC-1，L1689 B和B1-b中观测到的丰度进行比较。
Chemical complexity in local diffuse and translucent clouds: ubiquitous l-C3H and CH3CN, a detection of HC3N and an upper limit on the abundance of CH2CN
Modeling the Effect of C/O Ratio on Complex Carbon Chemistry in Cold Molecular Clouds
Massachusetts Institute of Technology（麻省理工学院）；Virginia Military Institute（弗吉尼亚军事学院）；University of Michigan（密歇根大学）；Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian（哈佛-史密森天体物理中心）；National Radio Astronomy Observatory（国家射电天文台）
