VLT/ISAAC infrared spectroscopy of embedded high-mass YSOs in the Large Magellanic Cloud: Methanol and the 3.47 micron band

TL;DR

This study investigates the chemical composition of ices in star-forming regions of the Large Magellanic Cloud, revealing a low methanol abundance and suggesting warm ice chemistry as a key process in low-metallicity environments.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed infrared spectroscopic analysis of ices in LMC high-mass YSOs, highlighting differences from Galactic sources and proposing warm ice chemistry as a significant factor.

Findings

Low methanol ice abundance in LMC YSOs.

Detection of the 3.47 micron band in most LMC YSOs.

Correlation between 3.47 micron band and water ice similar to Galactic sources.

Abstract

This study aims to elucidate a possible link between chemical properties of ices in star-forming regions and environmental characteristics of the host galaxy. We performed 3--4 micron spectroscopic observations toward nine embedded high-mass YSOs in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) with the ISAAC at the VLT. Additionally, we analyzed archival ISAAC data of two LMC YSOs. As a result, we detected absorption bands due to solid H2O and CH3OH as well as the 3.47 micron absorption band. The 3.53 micron CH3OH ice absorption band for the LMC YSOs is found to be absent or very weak compared to that seen toward Galactic sources. The result suggests the low abundance of CH3OH ice in the LMC. The 3.47 micron absorption band is detected toward six out of eleven LMC YSOs. We found that the 3.47 micron band and the H2O ice band correlate similarly between the LMC and Galactic samples, but the LMC sources seem to require a slightly higher H2O ice threshold for the appearance of the 3.47 micron band. For the LMC sources with relatively large H2O ice optical depths, we found that the strength ratio of the 3.47 micron band relative to the water ice band is only marginally lower than those of the Galactic sources. We propose that grain surface reactions at a relatively high dust temperature (warm ice chemistry) are responsible for the observed characteristics of ice chemical compositions in the LMC. We suggest that this warm ice chemistry is one of the important characteristics of interstellar and circumstellar chemistry in low metallicity environments. The low abundance of CH3OH in the solid phase implies that formation of complex organic molecules from methanol-derived species is less efficient in the LMC. For the 3.47 micron band, the observed difference in the water ice threshold may suggest that a more shielded environment is necessary for the formation of the 3.47 micron band carrier in the LMC.