Effects of grain temperature distribution on organic protostellar envelope chemistry

Abstract

Context. Dust grains in circumstellar envelopes are likely to have a spread-out temperature distribution. Aims. To investigate how trends in temperature distribution between small and large grains affect the hot corino chemistry of complex organic molecules (COMs) and warm carbon-chain chemistry (WCCC). Methods. A multi-grain multi-layer astrochemical code with an up-to-date treatment of surface chemistry was used with three grain temperature trends: grain temperature proportional to grain radius to the power -1/6 (Model M-1/6), to 0 (M0), and to 1/6 (M1/6). The cases of hot corino and WCCC chemistry were investigated, for a total of six models. The essence of these changes is for the main ice reservoir - small grains - having higher (M-1/6) or lower (M1/6) temperature than the surrounding gas. Results. The chemistry of COMs shows better agreement with observations in models M-1/6 and M1/6 than in Model M0. Model M-1/6 shows best agreement for WCCC because earlier mass-evaporation of methane ice from small grains induces the WCCC phenomenon at lower temperatures. Conclusions. Models considering several grain populations with different temperatures can more precisely reproduce circumstellar chemistry.