Complex Organic Molecules in Hot Molecular Cores/Corinos: Physics and Chemistry

Abstract: Hot molecular cores (HMCs), the cradles of massive stars, are the most chemically rich sources in the Galaxy. The typical masses of these cores (few hundreds of solar masses) make them the most important reservoirs of complex organic molecules (COMs), including key species for prebiotic processes. This rich chemistry is thought to be the result of the evaporation of dust grain mantles by the strong radiation of the deeply embedded early-type star(s). Our own Sun may have been born in a high-mass star-forming region, so our Earth may have inherited the primordial chemical composition of its parental hot core region, as suggested by recent studies of oxygen and sulfur chemistry in comets. In this chapter, we discuss how the next generation Very Large Array (ngVLA) can help us to study the emission of heavy COMs in both low- and high-mass star-forming regions. The emission of COMs is important not only because it allows us to understand how chemistry may have developed to eventually form life in our Earth, but also because COMs are a powerful tool for studying the physical properties and kinematics of the dense regions very close to the central protostars.