Interstellar detection of 2-cyanocyclopentadiene, C5H5CN, a second five-membered ring toward TMC-1
The Astrophysical Journal Letters, 2021•iopscience.iop.org
Using radio observations with the Green Bank Telescope, evidence has now been found for
a second five-membered ring in the dense cloud Taurus Molecular Cloud-1 (TMC-1). Based
on additional observations of an ongoing, large-scale, high-sensitivity spectral line survey
(GOTHAM) at centimeter wavelengths toward this source, we have used a combination of
spectral stacking, Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC), and matched filtering techniques to
detect 2-cyanocyclopentadiene, a low-lying isomer of 1-cyanocyclopentadiene, which was …
a second five-membered ring in the dense cloud Taurus Molecular Cloud-1 (TMC-1). Based
on additional observations of an ongoing, large-scale, high-sensitivity spectral line survey
(GOTHAM) at centimeter wavelengths toward this source, we have used a combination of
spectral stacking, Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC), and matched filtering techniques to
detect 2-cyanocyclopentadiene, a low-lying isomer of 1-cyanocyclopentadiene, which was …
Abstract
Using radio observations with the Green Bank Telescope, evidence has now been found for a second five-membered ring in the dense cloud Taurus Molecular Cloud-1 (TMC-1). Based on additional observations of an ongoing, large-scale, high-sensitivity spectral line survey (GOTHAM) at centimeter wavelengths toward this source, we have used a combination of spectral stacking, Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC), and matched filtering techniques to detect 2-cyanocyclopentadiene, a low-lying isomer of 1-cyanocyclopentadiene, which was recently discovered there by the same methods. The new observational data also yield a considerably improved detection significance for the more stable isomer and evidence for several individual transitions between 23–32 GHz. Through our MCMC analysis, we derive cospatial, total column densities of 8.3× 10 11 and 1.9× 10 11 cm− 2 for 1-and 2-cyanocyclopentadiene, respectively, corresponding to a ratio of∼ 4.4 favoring the former. The derived abundance ratios point toward a common formation pathway—most likely being cyanation of cyclopentadiene by analogy to benzonitrile.
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