METHANOL AS A PROBE OF PHYSICAL CONDITIONS IN ORION KL AT HIGH SPATIAL RESOLUTION WITH ALMA

The Orion Kleinmann-Low nebula (Orion KL) is a notoriously complicated region of high-mass star formation and the closest such object to Earth. The structures within Orion KL---such as the hot core and the compact ridge---have varying chemical and physical properties, making the nebula an excellent laboratory for studying the formation and subsequent chemistry of complex organic molecules in high-mass star-forming regions. Methanol (\chem{CH_3OH}) is one of the simplest complex organics and can be used as a tracer of even higher degrees of complexity as well as a probe of physical conditions in the interstellar medium. Previous interferometric observations of Orion KL have elucidated chemical differentiation and large-scale variations in the physical conditions of the nebula. We conducted observations of \chem{^{13}CH_3OH} toward Orion KL with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) at angular resolutions of ${\sim}0.3^{\prime\prime}$, complementing previous observations of Orion KL at lower resolutions that use molecules, specifically \chem{CH3OH}, as a probe of the region's physical conditions. We derive velocity, temperature, and \chem{^{13}CH_3OH} column density maps with a spatial resolution commensurate with circumstellar disks, allowing us to probe \textit{local} variations in the nebula. The derived maps show a velocity gradient that is likely the result of gas emanating from an explosion that took place about 500 years ago. We also report substructures of increased temperatures and slight \chem{^{13}CH_3OH} abundance enhancements, which may be attributed to the presence of shocked material in the nebula. Overall, our findings agree with previous observations but provide a more localized view of Orion KL, further demonstrating the utility of molecules as probes of physical structures