M8 and Her 36 C_2_H and c-C_3_H_2_ data

In order to examine the role of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the formation of small hydrocarbons and to investigate their association with the Hii region, the PDR and the molecular cloud, we compared archival Galactic Legacy Infrared Mid-Plane Survey Extraordinaire (GLIMPSE) 8{mu}m and the Spectral and Photometric Imaging Receiver (SPIRE) 250{mu}m continuum images with the C_2_H emission maps. We observed a total of three rotational transitions of C_2_H with their hyperfine structure components and four rotational transitions of C_3_H_2_ with ortho and para symmetries toward the HII region and the PDR of M8.

Fragmentation of PAHs seems less likely to contribute to the formation of small hydrocarbons as the 8 m emission does not follow the distribution of C_2_H emission, which is more associated with the molecular cloud toward the north-west of Her 36. From the quantitative analysis, we obtained abundances of 10^-8 ^and 10^-9^ for C_2_H and c-C_3_H_2_ respectively, and volume densities of the hydrocarbon emitting gas in the range n(H_2_)~5x10^4^-5x10^6^cm^-3^.

The observed column densities of C_2_H and c-C_3_H_2_ are reproduced reasonably well by our PDR models. This supports the idea that in high-UV flux PDRs, gas phase chemistry is sufficient to explain hydrocarbon abundances.