SiS in Orion-KL: evidence for "outflow" chemistry

SiS has been conclusively detected toward Orion-KL via its J = 6-5 and J = 5-4 rotational transitions at 91 and 109 GHz. Line profiles indicate that the species is present at an LSR velocity of 7.5 km s-1 with a half-width at zero power of 36 km s-1. Such characteristics associate SiS with the moderate velocity outflow (V approximately 18 km s-1) centered on IRc2 and observed in thermal SiO, the NH3 "plateau," and OH, H2O, and SiO masers. The column density estimated for SiS in this region is Ntot = 4 x 10(15) cm-2, corresponding to a fractional abundance of f approximately 4 x 10(-9). Such an abundance implies an SiO/SiS ratio of approximately 60 in the outflow material, remarkably close to the cosmic O/S ratio of approximately 40 and contrasting with the SiO/SiS value of > approximately 10(3) predicted by ion-molecule models. This difference is probably a result of the high temperatures and densities present in the outflow, which favor thermal equilibrium abundances similar to those observed in the circumstellar shells of late-type stars rather than "ion-molecule"-type concentrations. In addition to SiS, some twenty new unidentified lines near 91 and 109 GHz were detected toward KL, as well as transitions arising from HC5N, HC13CCN, HCC13CN, O13CS, and, possibly, CH3CH2OH, CH3CHO, and CH3OD.