Gas phase Elemental abundances in Molecular cloudS (GEMS) I. The prototypical dark cloud TMC 1

TL;DR

This study investigates elemental depletions and ionization in the prototypical dark cloud TMC 1 using extensive millimeter observations, revealing chemical differentiation between translucent and dense phases and constraining ionization rates.

Contribution

First detailed analysis of elemental abundances and depletion patterns in TMC 1 across different phases using multi-telescope millimeter data and chemical modeling.

Findings

Gradual decrease of C and O abundances along the C+/C/CO transition zone.

Strong sulfur depletion occurs before and during dense core formation.

Ionization rate constrained to (0.5 - 1.8) x10^{-16} s^{-1} in the translucent cloud.

Abstract

GEMS is an IRAM 30m Large Program whose aim is determining the elemental depletions and the ionization fraction in a set of prototypical star-forming regions. This paper presents the first results from the prototypical dark cloud TMC 1. Extensive millimeter observations have been carried out with the IRAM 30m telescope (3mm and 2mm) and the 40m Yebes telescope (1.3cm and 7mm) to determine the fractional abundances of CO, HCO+, HCN, CS, SO, HCS+, and N2H+ in three cuts which intersect the dense filament at the well-known positions TMC 1-CP, TMC 1-NH3, and TMC 1-C, covering a visual extinction range from Av~3 to ~20mag. Two phases with differentiated chemistry can be distinguished: i) the translucent envelope with molecular hydrogen densities of (1-5)x10$^3$ cm$^{-3}$; and ii) the dense phase, located at Av>10mag, with molecular hydrogen densities >10$^4$ cm$^{-3}$. Observations and modeling show that the gas phase abundances of C and O progressively decrease along the C+/C/CO transition zone where C/H~8x10$^{-5}$ and C/O~0.8-1, until the beginning of the dense phase at Av~10 mag. This is consistent with the grain temperatures being below the CO evaporation temperature in this region. In the case of sulfur, a strong depletion should occur before the translucent phase where we estimate a S/H~(0.4 - 2.2) x10$^{-6}$, an abundance ~7-40 times lower than the solar value. A second strong depletion must be present during the formation of the thick icy mantles to achieve the values of S/H measured in the dense cold cores (S/H~8x10$^{-8}$). Based on our chemical modeling, we constrain the value of $\zeta_{\rm H_2}$ to ~(0.5 - 1.8) x10$^{-16}$ s$^{-1}$ in the translucent cloud.