Magnesium radicals MgC$_5$N and MgC$_6$H in IRC+10216

TL;DR

This study reports the detection and analysis of magnesium radicals MgC$_5$N and MgC$_6$H in IRC+10216, expanding knowledge of magnesium-bearing molecules in this star's envelope through radio observations and quantum calculations.

Contribution

First detection of MgC$_5$N and MgC$_6$H in IRC+10216, with derived column densities confirming their presence and suggesting formation pathways involving magnesium ion reactions.

Findings

MgC$_5$N$ and MgC$_6$H$ are present with significant column densities.

Column density ratios indicate similar abundances to shorter analogs.

Formation likely involves radiative association and dissociative recombination.

Abstract

After the previous discovery of MgC$_3$N and MgC$_4$H in IRC+10216, a deeper Q-band (31.0-50.3 GHz) integration on this source had revealed two additional series of harmonically related doublets that we assigned on the basis of quantum mechanical calculations to the larger radicals MgC$_5$N and MgC$_6$H. The results presented here extend and confirm previous results on magnesium-bearing molecules in IRC\,+10216. We derived column densities of (4.7$\pm$1.3)$\times$10$^{12}$ for MgC$_5$N and (2.0$\pm$0.9)$\times$10$^{13}$ for MgC$_6$H, which imply that MgC$_5$N/MgC$_3$N=0.5 and MgC$_6$H/MgC$_4$H = 0.9. Therefore, MgC$_5$N and MgC$_6$H are present with column densities not so different from those of the immediately shorter analogs. The synthesis of these large magnesium cyanides and acetylides in IRC+10216 can be explained for their shorter counterparts by a two-step process initiated by the radiative association of Mg$^+$ with large cyanopolyynes and polyynes, which are still quite abundant in this source, followed by the dissociative recombination of the ionic complexes.