First detection of glycolaldehyde outside the Galactic Center

Abstract

Glycolaldehyde is the simplest of the monosaccharide sugars and is directly linked to the origin of life. We report on the detection of glycolaldehyde (CH2OHCHO) towards the hot molecular core G31.41+0.31 through IRAM PdBI observations at 1.4, 2.1, and 2.9 mm. The CH2OHCHO emission comes from the hottest (> 300 K) and densest (>2E8 cm^-3) region closest (< 10^4 AU) to the (proto)stars. The comparison of data with gas-grain chemical models of hot cores suggests for G31.41+0.31 an age of a few 10^5 yr. We also show that only small amounts of CO need to be processed on grains in order for existing hot core gas-grain chemical models to reproduce the observed column densities of glycolaldehyde, making surface reactions the most feasible route to its formation.

arXiv commentComments: 8 pages, 2 tables, 2 figures. Accepted for publication in ApJ Letter. This is an author-created, un-copyedited version of an article accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal Letters. IOP Publishing Ltd is not responsible for any errors or omissions in this version of the manuscript or any version derived from it

References in corpus (6)

• A Rigorous Attempt to Verify Interstellar Glycine
• Evaporation of ices near massive stars: models based on laboratory TPD data
• The largest oxigen bearing organic molecule repository
• Hot corinos in NGC1333-IRAS4B and IRAS2A
• A detailed study of the rotating toroids in G31.41+0.31 and G24.78+0.08
• Infall of gas as the formation mechanism of stars up to 20 times more massive than the Sun

Cited by in corpus (50)

• The ALMA Protostellar Interferometric Line Survey (PILS): First results from an unbiased submillimeter wavelength line survey of the Class 0 protostellar binary IRAS 16293-2422 with ALMA
• Detection of the simplest sugar, glycolaldehyde, in a solar-type protostar with ALMA
• Experimental evidence for Glycolaldehyde and Ethylene Glycol formation by surface hydrogenation of CO molecules under dense molecular cloud conditions
• Formation of Complex Organic Molecules in Cold Interstellar Environments through non-diffusive grain-surface and ice-mantle chemistry
• The genealogical tree of ethanol: gas-phase formation of glycolaldehyde, acetic acid and formic acid
• The formation of ethylene glycol and other complex organic molecules in star-forming regions
• Glycolaldehyde Formation via the Dimerisation of the Formyl Radical
• Detection of glycolaldehyde towards the solar-type protostar NGC1333 IRAS2A
• Formation of COMs through CO hydrogenation on interstellar grains
• On the formation of glycolaldehyde in dense molecular cores
• Accelerating infall and rotational spin-up in the hot molecular core G31.41+0.31
• Glycolaldehyde in Perseus young solar analogs
• The GUAPOS project II. A comprehensive study of peptide-like bond molecules
• Chemistry of massive young stellar objects with a disk-like structure
• The GUAPOS project: G31.41+0.31 Unbiased ALMA sPectral Observational Survey -- I. Isomers of C${}_2$H${}_4$O${}_2$
• First ALMA maps of HCO, an important precursor of complex organic molecules, towards IRAS 16293-2422
• N-bearing complex organics toward high-mass protostars: Constant ratios pointing to formation in similar pre-stellar conditions across a large mass range
• Chemical Segregation in Hot Cores With Disk Candidates: An investigation with ALMA
• CoCCoA: Complex Chemistry in hot Cores with ALMA. Selected oxygen-bearing species
• ATOMS: ALMA Three-millimeter Observations of Massive Star-forming regions -- VIII. A search for hot cores by using C${}_2$H${}_5$CN, CH${}_3$OCHO and CH${}_3$OH lines
• The ALMA-PILS survey: first detection of methyl isocyanide (CH${}_3$NC) in a solar-type protostar
• The trans/cis ratio of formic, HCOOH, and thioformic, HC(O)SH, acids in the Interstellar Medium
• On the chemical ladder of esters. Detection and formation of ethyl formate in the W51 e2 hot molecular core
• Detection of Complex Organic Molecules in Young Starless Core L1521E
• A high resolution study of complex organic molecules in hot cores
• Widespread Presence of Glycolaldehyde and Ethylene Glycol Around Sagittarius B2
• Chemical modelling of glycolaldehyde and ethylene glycol in star-forming regions
• A study of methyl formate in astrochemical environments
• ALMA Observations of the Spatial Distribution of three C${}_2$H${}_4$O${}_2$ Isomers towards Sgr B2(N)
• Reactivity and Survivability of Glycolaldehyde in Simulated Meteorite Impact Experiments
• Cometary glycolaldehyde as a source of pre-RNA molecules
• Identification of Methyl Isocyanate and Other Complex Organic Molecules in a Hot Molecular Core, G31.41+0.31
• Tentative detection of ethylene glycol toward W51/e2 and G34.3+0.2
• Is there any linkage between interstellar aldehyde and alcohol?
• Fragmentation in the massive G31.41+0.31 protocluster
• Cloud-cloud collision as origin of the G31.41+0.31 massive protocluster
• Importance of source structure on complex organics emission III. Effect of disks around massive protostars
• Identification of the simplest sugar-like molecule glycolaldehyde towards the hot molecular core G358.93-0.03 MM1
• First survey of HCNH${}^{+}$ in high-mass star-forming cloud cores
• Glycolaldehyde formation mediated by interstellar amorphous ice: a computational study
• Large prebiotic molecules in space: photo-physics of acetic acid and its isomers
• The submillimeter spectrum of deuterated glycolaldehydes
• Radiative transfer modeling of the observed line profiles in G31.41+0.31
• Detection of antifreeze molecule ethylene glycol in the hot molecular core G358.93$-$0.03 MM1
• The GUAPOS project. VI: the chemical inventory of shocked gas
• Correlations among complex organic molecules around protostars: Effects of physical structure
• The SKA as a prebiotic molecule detector
• A multi-scale view of the magnetic field morphology in the hot molecular core G31.41+0.31
• The GUAPOS project -- VII: Physical structure and molecular environment of the G31.41+0.31 HII region
• Precursors of the RNA-world in space: Detection of ($Z$)-1,2-ethenediol in the interstellar medium, a key intermediate in sugar formation