First mapping of prebiotic molecule CH2NH in a pre-stellar core

TL;DR

This study presents the first spatially resolved map of the prebiotic molecule CH2NH in a pre-stellar core, revealing its extended presence and providing insights into early chemical processes leading to complex organic molecules.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed spatial distribution of CH2NH in a pre-stellar core, advancing understanding of prebiotic chemistry in early star formation stages.

Findings

CH2NH is spatially extended in the core.

Column densities range from 0.5 to 1.4×10^12 cm^-2.

Prebiotic chemistry persists up to gravitational collapse.

Abstract

We present the first spatially resolved map of methanimine CH2NH in the prestellar core L1544 using the IRAM 30m telescope. The 2$_{0,2}$-1$_{0,1}$ line at 127 GHz was mapped with 20" resolution ($\sim$2800 au), revealing extended CH2NH emission across the core. The peak line intensity coincides with the well-known c-C3H2 peak, while the integrated intensity peaks between the HNCO and dust continuum peaks due to broader linewidths in the latter region. Column densities of CH2NH are $\sim$(0.5-1.4$\times$)10$^{12}$ cm$^{-2}$, corresponding to fractional abundances of $5\times10^{-11}$-$1\times10^{-10}$, with a trend decreasing from the southern, carbon-chain rich region to the dust and HNCO peak in the north. Comparison with complementary molecular maps and the gas-grain chemical model of Sipil\"a et al. suggests that neutral-neutral gas-phase reactions and dissociative recombination dominate in the outer carbon-chain shell. This study demonstrates that CH2NH, a simple nitrogen- and carbon-bearing molecule previously detected with pointed observations in other cold cores, is present and spatially extended in the evolved pre-stellar core L1544. This indicates that prebiotic nitrogen-carbon chemistry continues efficiently up to the onset of gravitational collapse, providing key constraints for astrochemical models and the early stages of chemical complexity leading to amino acids.