VLT/ISAAC infrared spectroscopy of embedded high-mass YSOs in the Large
  Magellanic Cloud: Methanol and the 3.47 micron band
  This study aims to elucidate a possible link between chemical properties of
ices in star-forming regions and environmental characteristics of the host
galaxy. We performed 3--4 micron spectroscopic observations toward nine
embedded high-mass YSOs in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) with the ISAAC at
the VLT. Additionally, we analyzed archival ISAAC data of two LMC YSOs. As a
result, we detected absorption bands due to solid H2O and CH3OH as well as the
3.47 micron absorption band. The 3.53 micron CH3OH ice absorption band for the
LMC YSOs is found to be absent or very weak compared to that seen toward
Galactic sources. The result suggests the low abundance of CH3OH ice in the
LMC. The 3.47 micron absorption band is detected toward six out of eleven LMC
YSOs. We found that the 3.47 micron band and the H2O ice band correlate
similarly between the LMC and Galactic samples, but the LMC sources seem to
require a slightly higher H2O ice threshold for the appearance of the 3.47
micron band. For the LMC sources with relatively large H2O ice optical depths,
we found that the strength ratio of the 3.47 micron band relative to the water
ice band is only marginally lower than those of the Galactic sources. We
propose that grain surface reactions at a relatively high dust temperature
(warm ice chemistry) are responsible for the observed characteristics of ice
chemical compositions in the LMC. We suggest that this warm ice chemistry is
one of the important characteristics of interstellar and circumstellar
chemistry in low metallicity environments. The low abundance of CH3OH in the
solid phase implies that formation of complex organic molecules from
methanol-derived species is less efficient in the LMC. For the 3.47 micron
band, the observed difference in the water ice threshold may suggest that a
more shielded environment is necessary for the formation of the 3.47 micron
band carrier in the LMC.
