HNCO: A Molecule Traces Low-velocity Shock

TL;DR

This study uses molecular line data from the MALT90 survey to investigate how HNCO traces low-velocity shocks in star-forming regions, revealing that HNCO and SiO trace different shock velocities and regions.

Contribution

It provides new insights into how HNCO can be used as a tracer for low-velocity shocks, contrasting with SiO which traces higher-velocity shocks.

Findings

HNCO abundance correlates with several molecules but not with SiO.

HNCO traces lower-velocity shocks, increasing in abundance faster than SiO in such shocks.

High-velocity shocks destroy HNCO molecules, reducing their abundance.

Abstract

Using data from MALT90 (Millimetre Astronomy Legacy Team Survey at 90 GHz), we present molecular line study of a sample of ATLASGAL (APEX Telescope Large Area Survey of the Galaxy) clumps. Twelve emission lines have been detected in all. We found that in most sources, emissions of HC$_3$N, HN$^{13}$C, CH$_3$CN, HNCO and SiO show more compact distributions than those of HCO$^+$, HNC, HCN and N$_2$H$^+$. By comparing with other molecular lines, we found that the abundance of HNCO ($\chi$(HNCO)) correlates well with other species such as HC3N, HNC, C2H, H13CO+ and N2H+. Previous studies indicate the HNCO abundance could be enhanced by shocks. However, in this study, we found the abundance of HNCO does not correlate well with that of SiO, which is also a good tracer of shocks. We suggest this may be because HNCO and SiO trace different parts of shocks. Our analysis indicates that the velocity of shock traced by HNCO tends to be lower than that traced by SiO. In the low-velocity shocks traced by HNCO, the HNCO abundance increases faster than that of SiO. While in the relatively high-velocity shocks traced by SiO, the SiO abundance increases faster than that of HNCO. We suggest that in the infrared dark cloud (IRDC) of MSXDC G331.71+00.59, high-velocity shocks are destroying the molecule of HNCO.