2021A&A...653A..15N

Context. The chemical and physical evolution of starless and pre-stellar cores are of paramount importance to understanding the process of star formation. The Taurus Molecular Cloud cores TMC 1-C and TMC 1-CP share similar initial conditions and provide an excellent opportunity to understand the evolution of the pre-stellar core phase.
Aims. We investigated the evolutionary stage of starless cores based on observations towards the prototypical dark cores TMC 1-C and TMC 1-CP.
Methods. We mapped the prototypical dark cores TMC 1-C and TMC 1-CP in the CS 3-2, C³⁴S 3-2, ¹³CS 2-1, DCN 1-0, DCN 2-1, DNC 1-0, DNC 2-1, DN¹³C 1-0, DN¹³C 2-1, N₂H⁺ 1-0, and N₂D⁺ 1-0 transitions. We performed a multi-transitional study of CS and its isotopologs, DCN, and DNC lines to characterize the physical and chemical properties of these cores. We studied their chemistry using the state-of-the-art gas-grain chemical code NAUTILUS and pseudo time-dependent models to determine their evolutionary stage.
Results. The central n_H volume density, the N₂H⁺ column density, and the abundances of deuterated species are higher in TMC 1-C than in TMC 1-CP, yielding a higher N₂H⁺ deuterium fraction in TMC 1-C, thus indicating a later evolutionary stage for TMC 1-C. The chemical modeling with pseudo time-dependent models and their radiative transfer are in agreement with this statement, allowing us to estimate a collapse timescale of ∼1Myr for TMC 1-C. Models with a younger collapse scenario or a collapse slowed down by a magnetic support are found to more closely reproduce the observations towards TMC 1-CP.
Conclusions. Observational diagnostics seem to indicate that TMC 1-C is in a later evolutionary stage than TMC 1-CP, with a chemical age ∼1Myr. TMC 1-C shows signs of being an evolved core at the onset of star formation, while TMC 1-CP appears to be in an earlier evolutionary stage due to a more recent formation or, alternatively, a collapse slowed down by a magnetic support.