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Interstellar Detection of 2-cyanocyclopentadiene, C5H5CN, a Second Five-membered Ring toward TMC-1

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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 × 1011 and 1.9 × 1011 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.

Publication Date

  • 2021

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