L1521E: A Starless Core in the Early Evolutionary Stage?

Abstract

We have studied the physical and chemical properties of a quiescent starless core L1521E with various molecular lines. It is found that there exists a compact dense core traced by the H^13CO^+, HN^13C, CCS, and HC_3N lines; their distributions have a single peak at the same position. The core radius is as small as 0.031 pc, whereas the H_2 density at the peak position is as high as (1.3-5.6)times10^5 cm^-3. Although the density is high enough to excite the inversion transitions of NH_3, these lines are found to be very faint in L1521E. The distributions of NH_3 and CCS seem to be different from those of well-studied starless cores, L1498 and L1544, where the distribution of CCS shows a shell-like structure while that of NH_3 is concentrated at the center of the core. Abundances of carbon-chain molecules are higher in L1521E than the other dark cloud cores, and especially those of sulfur-bearing molecules C_nS are comparable to the cyanopolyyne peak of TMC-1. Our results suggest that L1521E would be in a very early stage of physical and chemical evolution.