Molecular richness in protostars : lessons learnt from ALMA and NOEMA

Séminaire IPAG de Ana Lopez-Sepulcre (IRAM), jeudi 13 décembre 2018 à 11h00, salle Manuel Forestini

The early stages of star formation are characterised by a rich molecular chemistry that can vary substantially from one object to another. Many efforts have been devoted in the past couple of decades to understand the physics and chemistry behind the molecular composition of solar-type protostars. Interestingly, when it comes to organic molecules, two distinct kinds of protostars can be identified : (1) hot corinos, which are small (<100 AU), dense objects where saturated complex organic molecules (COMs) can be found, such as HCOOCH3 and C2H5OH, and (2) warm carbon-chain chemistry (WCCC) objects, which are deficient in COMs but overabundant in unsaturated carbon chains such as C4H. What is the cause of this diversity ? Can all protostars be classified into one of these two categories ? Did the proto-solar-system undergo a hot corino or a WCCC phase, or neither ? I will present some of our most recent observational results addressing these questions and suggest future guidelines to make progress in the field.