TENTATIVE DETECTION OF THE NITROSYLIUM ION IN SPACE

We report the tentative detection in space of the nitrosylium ion, NO super(+). The observations were performed toward the cold dense core Barnard 1-b. The identification of the NO super(+) J = 2-1 line is supported by new laboratory measurements of NO super(+) rotational lines up to the J = 8-7 tra...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Astrophysical journal 2014-11, Vol.795 (1), p.1-6
Main Authors: Cernicharo, J, Bailleux, S, Alekseev, E, Fuente, A, Roueff, E, Gerin, M, Tercero, B, Trevino-Morales, S P, Marcelino, N, Bachiller, R, LeFloch, B
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Abundance
Astrophysics
ASTROPHYSICS, COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
Asymptotic properties
Constants
COSMIC GASES
COSMOLOGY
DENSITY
DETECTION
ELEMENT ABUNDANCE
Gas phases
LIMITING VALUES
Mathematical models
MOLECULAR IONS
Networks
NITROGEN OXIDES
Physics
Rotational
SPACE
TIME DEPENDENCE
VELOCITY
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Summary:We report the tentative detection in space of the nitrosylium ion, NO super(+). The observations were performed toward the cold dense core Barnard 1-b. The identification of the NO super(+) J = 2-1 line is supported by new laboratory measurements of NO super(+) rotational lines up to the J = 8-7 transition (953207.189 MHz), which leads to an improved set of molecular constants: B sub(0) = 59597.1379(62) MHz, D sub(0) = 169.428(65) kHz, and eQq sub(0)(N) = -6.72(15) MHz. The profile of the feature assigned to NO super(+) exhibits two velocity components at 6.5 and 7.5 km s super(-1), with column densities of 1.5 x 10 super(12) and 6.5 x 10 super(11) cm super(-2), respectively. New observations of NO and HNO, also reported here, allow us to estimate the following abundance ratios: X(NO)/X(NO super(+)) [Asymptotically = to] 511, and X(HNO)/X(NO super(+)) [Asymptotically = to] 1. This latter value provides important constraints on the formation and destruction processes of HNO. The chemistry of NO super(+) and other related nitrogen-bearing species is investigated by the means of a time-dependent gas phase model which includes an updated chemical network according to recent experimental studies. The predicted abundance for NO super(+) and NO is found to be consistent with the observations. However, that of HNO relative to NO is too high. No satisfactory chemical paths have been found to explain the observed low abundance of HNO. HSCN and HNCS are also reported here with an abundance ratio of [Asymptotically = to]1. Finally, we have searched for NNO, NO sub(2), HNNO super(+), and NNOH super(+), but only upper limits have been obtained for their column density, except for the latter for which we report a tentative 3[sigma] detection.
ISSN:1538-4357
0004-637X
1538-4357
DOI:10.1088/0004-637X/795/1/40