Collapsing Hot Molecular Cores: A Model for the Dust Spectrum and Ammonia Line Emission of the G31.41+0.31 Hot Core

TL;DR

This paper presents a comprehensive model that simultaneously explains the dust spectrum and ammonia line emission of the G31.41+0.31 hot core, revealing insights into massive star formation and molecular chemistry.

Contribution

It introduces the first self-consistent model that fits both dust and molecular line data of a hot core with high spatial resolution, incorporating ammonia abundance variations.

Findings

Model accurately reproduces ammonia line emission and dust spectrum.

Ammonia abundance increases steeply in hotter inner regions.

Massive protostar with 25 Msun and high accretion rate drives observed emissions.

Abstract

We present a model aimed to reproduce the observed spectral energy distribution (SED) as well as the ammonia line emission of the G31.41+0.31 hot core. The core is modeled as an infalling envelope onto a massive star that is undergoing an intense accretion phase. We assume an envelope with a density and velocity structure resulting from the dynamical collapse of a singular logatropic sphere. The stellar and envelope physical properties are determined by fitting the SED. From these physical conditions, the ammonia line emission is calculated and compared with subarcsecond resolution VLA data of the (4,4) transition. The only free parameter in this line fitting is the ammonia abundance. The observed properties of the NH3(4,4) lines and their spatial distribution can be well reproduced provided it is taken into account the steep increase of the abundance in the hotter (> 100 K), inner regions of the core produced by the sublimation of icy mantles where ammonia molecules are trapped. The model predictions for the (2,2), (4,4), and (5,5) transitions are also in reasonably agreement with the single-dish spectra available in the literature. The best fit is obtained for a model with a star of 25 Msun, a mass accretion rate of 0.003 Msun/yr, and a total luminosity of 200,000 Lsun. The gas-phase ammonia abundance ranges from 2 \times 10^{-8} in the outer region to 3 \times 10^{-6} in the inner region. To our knowledge, this is the first time that the dust and molecular line data of a hot molecular core, including subarcsecond resolution data that spatially resolve the structure of the core, have been simultaneously explained by a physically self-consistent model. This modeling shows that massive protostars are able to excite high excitation ammonia transitions up to the outer edge (30,000 AU) of the large scale envelope.