2009ApJ...705.1160C

We present results from the Spitzer Space Telescope and molecular line observations of nine species toward the dark cloud L43. The Spitzer images and molecular line maps suggest that it has a starless core and a Class I protostar evolving in the same environment. CO depletion is seen in both sources, and DCO⁺ lines are stronger toward the starless core. With a goal of testing the chemical characteristics from pre- to protostellar stages, we adopt an evolutionary chemical model to calculate the molecular abundances and compare with our observations. Among the different model parameters we tested, the best-fit model suggests a longer total timescale at the pre-protostellar stage, but with faster evolution at the later steps with higher densities.