Gas-phase Molecules in Protoplanetary Nebulae with the 21 μm Emission Feature. II. Carbon Monosulfide

• Published in: The Astronomical journal Vol. 170; no. 4; pp. 230 - 238
• Main Authors: Qiu, Jian-Jie, Zhang, Yong, Lu, Deng-Rong, Chang, Zheng-Xue, Zhang, Jiang-Shui, Li, Xiao-Hu, Tang, Xin-Di, Qiu, Yisheng, Nakashima, Jun-ichi, Jia, Lan-Wei
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Madison The American Astronomical Society 01.10.2025; IOP Publishing
• Subjects: Abundance; Carbon; Circumstellar envelopes; Circumstellar matter; Emission; Interstellar medium; Molecular gas; Nebulae; Optical analysis; Optical thickness; Protoplanetary nebulae; Stellar envelopes
• ISSN: 0004-6256; 1538-3881; 1538-3881
• DOI: 10.3847/1538-3881/adfdda

The carrier of the 21 μ m emission feature discovered in a handful of protoplanetary nebulae (PPNe) is one of the most intriguing enigmas in circumstellar chemistry. Investigating the gas-phase molecules in PPNe could yield important hints for understanding the 21 μ m feature. In this paper, we report observations of the carbon monosulfide (CS) J  = 5 → 4 line at 245 GHz and the CO J  = 1 → 0 line at 115 GHz toward seven PPNe exhibiting the 21 μ m feature. We find that CS is extremely scarce in these PPNe and the CS line is only detected in one source, IRAS Z02229+6208. Based on the assumption of local thermal equilibrium and negligible optical depth, we derive that the CS column densities and fractional abundances relative to H 2 are N (CS) < 9.1 × 10 13 cm −2 and f (CS) < 8.1 × 10 −7 . A comparison of the CS abundances across different circumstellar envelopes reveals that the variations in CS abundance are complex, depending not only on the evolutionary stages but also on the properties of individual objects.