Chlorine in dense interstellar clouds - The abundance of HCl in OMC-1

Abstract

We report the first detection of a chlorine-bearing molecular species in the interstellar medium via emission from the J = 1 → 0 transition of HCl at 625.9 GHz toward OMC-1. The relative strengths, widths, and velocities of the resolved hyperfine components are consistent with moderate optical depth emission originating from dense, quiescent molecular cloud material (V_(LSR) = 9 km s^(-1)). The overall emission strength implies a fractional abundance of f(HCl/H_2) ~ (0.5-5.0) x 10^(-8), depending on the density of the emitting region. This is approximately an order of magnitude below previous theoretical estimates and a factor of 3-30 below the cosmic abundance of Cl. Recent laboratory work suggests that the lowered fractional abundance of HCl is caused by a combination of depletion onto grains with gas-phase loss processes such as the reaction of HCl with C^+.