Imaging Molecular Outflow in Massive Star-forming Regions with HNCO Lines

Abstract

Protostellar outflows are considered a signpost of star formation. These outflows can cause shocks in the molecular gas and are typically traced by the line wings of certain molecules. HNCO (4--3) has been regarded as a shock tracer because of the high abundance in shocked regions. Here we present the first imaging results of HNCO (4--3) line wings toward nine sources in a sample of twenty three massive star-forming regions using the IRAM 30\,m telescope. We adopt the velocity range of the full width of HC${}_3$N (10--9) and H${}^{13}$CO${}^{+}$ (1--0) emissions as the central emission values, beyond which the emission from HNCO (4--3) is considered to be from line wings. The spatial distributions of the red- and/or blue-lobes of HNCO (4--3) emission nicely associate with those lobes of HCO${}^{+}$ (1--0) in most of the sources. High intensity ratios of HNCO (4--3) to HCO${}^{+}$ (1--0) are obtained in the line wings. The derived column density ratios of HNCO to HCO${}^{+}$ are consistent with those previously observed towards massive star-forming regions. These results provide direct evidence that HNCO could trace outflow in massive star-forming regions. This work also implies that the formation of some HNCO molecules is related to shock, either on the grain surface or within the shocked gas.

18 pages, 4 tables, 4 figures, and accepted for publication in ApJ