PDRs4All XI. Detection of infrared CH$^+$ and CH$_3^+$ rovibrational emission in the Orion Bar and disk d203-506: evidence of chemical pumping

TL;DR

This study reports the first detection of infrared rovibrational emission of CH$^+$ and CH$_3^+$ in the Orion Bar and a protoplanetary disk using JWST, revealing their formation via chemical pumping and dependence on local gas density.

Contribution

It provides new observational evidence of CH$^+$ and CH$_3^+$ rovibrational emission and insights into their formation and excitation mechanisms in astrophysical environments.

Findings

CH$^+$ and CH$_3^+$ emissions originate from regions with highly excited H$_2$.

Excitation temperatures are around 1500 K in the Orion Bar and 800 K in the disk.

Level populations deviate from LTE, supporting chemical formation pumping.

Abstract

The methylidyne cation (CH$^+$) and the methyl cation (CH$_3^+$) are building blocks of organic molecules, yet their coupled formation and excitation mechanisms remain mainly unprobed. The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), with its high spatial resolution and good spectral resolution, provides unique access to the detection of these molecules. Our goal is to use the first detection of CH$^+$ and CH$_3^+$ rovibrational emission in the Orion Bar and in the protoplanetary disk d203-506, irradiated by the Trapezium cluster, to probe their formation and excitation mechanisms and constrain the physico-chemical conditions. We use spectro-imaging acquired using both the NIRSpec and MIRI-MRS instruments to study the CH$^+$ and CH$_3^+$ spatial distribution at very small scales, and compare it to excited H$_2$ emission. CH$^+$ and CH$_3^+$ emissions originate from the same region as highly excited H$_2$. Our comparison between the Bar and d203-506 reveals that both CH$^+$ and CH$_3^+$ excitation and/or formation are highly dependent on gas density. The excitation temperature of the observed CH$^+$ and CH$_3^+$ rovibrational lines is around $T$ ~ 1500 K in the Bar and $T$ ~ 800 K in d203-506. Moreover, the column densities derived from the rovibrational emission are less than 0.1 % of the total known (CH$^+$) and expected (CH$_3^+$) column densities. These results show that CH$^+$ and CH$_3^+$ level populations strongly deviate from ETL. CH$^+$ rovibrational emission can be explained by chemical formation pumping with excited H$_2$ via C$^+$ + H$_2^*$ = CH$^+$ + H. These results support a gas phase formation pathway of CH$^+$ and CH$_3^+$ via successive hydrogen abstraction reactions. However, we do not find any evidence of CH$_2^+$ emission in the JWST spectrum. Finally, observed CH$^+$ intensities coupled with chemical formation pumping model provide a diagnostic tool to trace the local density.