Laboratory Characterization and Astrophysical Detection of Vibrationally
  Excited States of Vinyl Cyanide in Orion-KL
  New laboratory data of CH$_2$CHCN (vinyl cyanide) in its ground and
vibrationally excited states at the microwave to THz domain allow searching for
these excited state transitions in the Orion-KL line survey.
Frequency-modulated spectrometers combined into a single broadband 50-1900 GHz
spectrum provided measurements of CH$_2$CHCN covering a spectral range of
18-1893 GHz, whose assignments was confirmed by Stark modulation spectra in the
18-40 GHz region and by ab-initio anharmonic force field calculations. For
analyzing the emission lines of CH$_2$CHCN species detected in Orion-KL we used
the excitation and radiative transfer code (MADEX) at LTE conditions. The
rotational transitions of the ground state of this molecule emerge from four
cloud components of hot core nature which trace the physical and chemical
conditions of high mass star forming regions in the Orion-KL Nebula. The total
column density of CH$_2$CHCN in the ground state is (3.0$\pm$0.9)x10$^{15}$
cm$^{-2}$. We report on the first interstellar detection of transitions in the
v10=1/(v11=1,v15=1) dyad in space, and in the v11=2 and v11=3 states in
Orion-KL. The lowest energy vibrationally excited states of vinyl cyanide such
as v11=1 (at 328.5 K), v15=1 (at 478.6 K), v11=2 (at 657.8 K), the
v10=1/(v11=1,v15=1) dyad (at 806.4/809.9 K), and v11=3 (at 987.9 K) are
populated under warm and dense conditions, so they probe the hottest parts of
the Orion-KL source. Column density and rotational and vibrational temperatures
for CH$_2$CHCN in their ground and excited states, as well as for the
isotopologues, have been constrained by means of a sample of more than 1000
lines in this survey. Moreover, we present the detection of methyl isocyanide
(CH$_3$NC) for the first time in Orion-KL and a tentative detection of vinyl
isocyanide (CH$_2$CHNC) and give column density ratios between the cyanide and
isocyanide isomers.
