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Abstract

Offsets of molecular line emission peaks from continuum peaks are very common but frequently difficult to explain with a single spherical cloud chemical model. We propose that the spatial projection effects of an irregular three-dimensional (3D) cloud structure can be a solution. This work shows that the idea can be successfully applied to the Planck cold clump G224.4-0.6 by approximating it with four individual spherically symmetric cloud cores whose chemical patterns overlap with each other to produce observable line maps. With the empirical physical structures inferred from the observation data of this clump and a gas-grain chemical model, the four cores can satisfactorily reproduce its 850 μm continuum map and the diverse peak offsets of CCS, HC₃N, and N₂H⁺ simultaneously at chemical ages of about 8 × 10⁵ ~ 3 × 10⁶ yr. The 3D projection effects on chemistry has the potential to explain such asymmetrical distributions of chemicals in many other molecular clouds.