Contribution of shock-driven mantle destruction to methanol enhancement

Determine whether destruction of dust-grain mantles during grain collisions associated with shock waves and high-velocity outflows contributes to the enhanced gas-phase methanol abundance in the southern part of the RCW 120 molecular clump.

Background

The observed enhancement of gas-phase methanol near the southern part of the RCW 120 clump is explained primarily by photodesorption in the astrochemical modelling. However, the region also contains evidence of outflows near YSO S1, including broad methanol-line wings and class I methanol maser emission. Shock waves are not explicitly included in the Presta model, and the authors report that adding an additional desorption mechanism can qualitatively reproduce a similar result. Consequently, the relative contribution of shock-induced grain-mantle destruction remains unresolved.