A molecular survey of outflow gas: velocity-dependent shock chemistry and the peculiar composition of the EHV gas

Context. Bipolar outflows from Class 0 protostars often present two components in their CO spectra that have different kinematic behaviors: a smooth outflow wing and a discrete, extremely high-velocity (EHV) peak. Aims. To better understand the origin of these two outflow components, we have studied and compared their molecular composition. Methods. We carried out a molecular survey of the outflows powered by L1448-mm and IRAS 04166+2706, two sources with prominent wing and EHV components. For each source, we observed a number of molecular lines towards the brightest outflow position and used them to determine column densities for 12 different molecular species. Results. The molecular composition of the two outflows is very similar. It presents systematic changes with velocity that we analyze by dividing the outflow in three chemical regimes, two of them associated with the wing component and the other the EHV gas. The analysis of the two wing regimes shows that species like H2CO and CH3OH favor the low-velocity gas, while SiO and HCN are more abundant in the fastest gas. This fastest wing gas presents strong similarities with the composition of the “chemically active” L1157 outflow (whose abundances we re-evaluate in an appendix). We find that the EHV regime is relatively rich in O-bearing species compared to the wing regime. The EHV gas is not only detected in CO and SiO (already reported elsewhere), but also in SO, CH3OH, and H2CO (newly reported here), with a tentative detection in HCO+. At the same time, the EHV regime is relatively poor in C-bearing molecules like CS and HCN, for which we only obtain weak detections or upper limits despite deep integrations. We suggest that this difference in composition arises from a lower C/O ratio in the EHV gas. Conclusions. The different chemical compositions of the wing and EHV regimes suggest that these two outflow components have different physical origins. The wing component is better explained by shocked ambient gas, although none of the existing shock models explains all observed features. We hypothesize that the peculiar composition of the EHV gas reflects its origin as a dense wind from the protostar or its surrounding disk