The ALMA view of IRC+10216

Jose Cernicharo, A. Castro-Carrizo, M. Agundez, G. Quintana-Lacaci, Luis Veilla, P. Pilleri, Michel Guelin, C. Gottlieb, M. McCarthy, N. Patel, J.L. Alonso, C. Cabezas, J. Pearson, C. Joblin & J.A. Gago

ICMM CSIC, Spain

We will present the results obtained with ALMA towards the carbon-rich star IRC+10216. Several frequency ranges (84-116, 255-275 GHz) have been covered and complemented by short spacings obtained with the 30m IRAM telescope. A forest of U lines has been found. They are narrow and extending less than 0.6". Most of them are of photospheric origin and disappear at distances larger than 20 stellar radii. They are produced by molecular species participating in the formation and growth of dust grains. I will present the identification of some of them as arising from the newly discovered Si2C species and from Delta_J=0 lines of HCN in the vibrationally excited modes involving the bending of the molecule. Some lines belong to SiC2 in v3=1,2. Nevertheless, more than 70% of the U lines initially found remain unidentified. A significant effort is being done in our spectroscopic laboratories within the frame of the NANOCOSMOS project of the ERC Synery program to identify the carriers of these species. The spatial distribution of several species of interest for carbon chemistry will be also presented.

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