NEATH IV: an early onset of complex organic chemistry in molecular clouds

• DOI: 10.1093/mnras/staf191
• Publication Date: 2025-02-01T03:53:53Z
• Authors: F D Priestley; P C Clark; S E Ragan; S Scibelli; M T Cusack; S C O Glover; O Fehér; L R Prole; R S Klessen
• Keywords: Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP); Astrophysics - Solar and Stellar Astrophysics; Astrophysics of Galaxies (astro-ph.GA); FOS: Physical sciences; Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies; Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR); Astrophysics - Earth and Planetary Astrophysics

ABSTRACT Complex organic molecules (COMs) are widely detected in protostellar and protoplanetary systems, where they thought to have been inherited large part from earlier evolutionary phases. The chemistry of COMs these phases, namely starless prestellar cores, remains poorly understood, as models often struggle reproduce the observed gas-phase abundances species. We simulate formation a molecular cloud, cores within it, out diffuse interstellar medium, follow chemical evolution cloud material starting purely atomic initial conditions. find that both gas- ice-phase precedes distinct objects, beginning at gas densities few $10^3 \, {\rm cm}^{-3}$. Much this COM-enriched relatively modest for several $\, Myr}$, which may provide reservoir accretion onto planet-forming discs later stages. suggest core disc should not ignore complex dynamical structures, even when studying supposedly late-forming such CH$_3$OH CH$_3$CN.