ON THE UBIQUITY OF MOLECULAR ANIONS IN THE DENSE INTERSTELLAR MEDIUM

Abstract

Results are presented from a survey for molecular anions in seven nearby\nGalactic star-forming cores and molecular clouds. The hydrocarbon anion C6H- is\ndetected in all seven target sources, including four sources where no anions\nhave been previously detected: L1172, L1389, L1495B and TMC-1C. The C6H-/C6H\ncolumn density ratio is greater than about 1.0% in every source, with a mean\nvalue of 3.0% (and standard deviation 0.92%). Combined with previous\ndetections, our results show that anions are ubiquitous in dense clouds\nwherever C6H is present. The C6H-/C6H ratio is found to show a positive\ncorrelation with molecular hydrogen number density, and with the apparent age\nof the cloud. We also report the first detection of C4H- in TMC-1 (at 4.8-sigma\nconfidence), and derive an anion-to-neutral ratio C4H-/C4H = (1.2 +- 0.4) x\n10^-5 (= 0.0012 +- 0.0004%). Such a low value compared with C6H- highlights the\nneed for a revised radiative electron attachment rate for C4H. Chemical model\ncalculations show that the observed C4H- could be produced as a result of\nreactions of oxygen atoms with C5H- and C6H-.\n