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Thanks Carl.
I don't think we're going to answer this one, as the guys who came up with it don't understand it either. (Ie: 'its a first'). I think the papers you cite provide the current theories, which seem now to have been challenged by this discovery.
The guys who wrote the article seem to be versed in the H2O-from-comet theory and the UV-from-the-star being filtered by the soot theory as well.
Perhaps its all a question of what happens, where (in terms of proximity to the star and the soot) .. the carbon closer to the star does get dissociated, then recombines with H2 and forms H2O in areas where it is 'sootiest' (ie: soot clumps), then as they move out more, the cloud (providing the shielding) gets thinner in some places and then they get UV'd by interstellar UV and drift off as OH and H, as per usual.
All a question of the clumpiness of the soot and the distance from the star?
Don't know.
Cheers
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