title: Discovery of interstellar ketenyl (HCCO), a surprisingly abundant radical.
abstract: We have conducted radioastronomical observations of 9 dark clouds with the IRAM 30m telescope. We present the first identification in space of the ketenyl radical (HCCO) toward the starless core Lupus-1A and the molecular cloud L483, and the detection of the related molecules ketene (H2CCO) and acetaldehyde (CH3CHO) in these two sources and 3 additional dark clouds. We also report the detection of the formyl radical (HCO) in the 9 targeted sources and of propylene (CH2CHCH3) in 4 of the observed sources, which extends significantly the number of dark clouds where these molecules are known to be present. We derive a beam-averaged column density of HCCO of ~ 5 × 1011cm-2in both Lupus-1A and L483, which means that the ketenyl radical is just ~10 times less abundant than ketene in these sources. The non-negligible abundance of HCCO found implies that there must be a powerful formation mechanism able to counterbalance the efficient destruction of this radical through reactions with neutral atoms. The column densities derived for HCO, (0.5-2.7) ×1012cm-2, and CH2CHCH3, (1.9-4-2) ×1013cm-2, are remarkably uniform across the sources where these species are detected, confirming their ubiquity in dark clouds. Gas phase chemical models of cold dark clouds can reproduce the observed abundances of HCO, but cannot explain the presence of HCCO in Lupus-1A and L483 and the high abundances derived for propylene. The chemistry of cold dark clouds needs to be revised in the light of these new observational results.
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Madrid, CSIC, C/ Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz 3, 28049 Cantoblanco, Spain.
authors.forename: Marcelino
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Agúndez
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Madrid, CSIC, C/ Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz 3, 28049 Cantoblanco, Spain.
authors.forename: José
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cernicharo
authors.affiliation: Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique, 300 rue de la Piscine, 38406 St. Martin d'Héres, France.
authors.forename: Michel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Guélin
keywords: ISM: clouds; ISM: molecules; astrochemistry; line: identification; radio lines: ISM