Context.
Molecular line surveys are among the main tools to probe the structure and physical conditions in protoplanetary disks (PPDs), the birthplace of planets. The large radial and vertical ...temperature as well as density gradients in these PPDs lead to a complex chemical composition, making chemistry an important step to understand the variety of planetary systems.
Aims.
We aimed to study the chemical content of the protoplanetary disk surrounding GG Tau A, a well-known triple T Tauri system.
Methods.
We used NOEMA with the new correlator PolyFix to observe rotational lines at ∼2.6 to 4 mm from a few dozen molecules. We analysed the data with a radiative transfer code to derive molecular densities and the abundance relative to
13
CO, which we compare to those of the TMC1 cloud and LkCa 15 disk.
Results.
We report the first detection of CCS in PPDs. We also marginally detect OCS and find 16 other molecules in the GG Tauri outer disk. Ten of them had been found previously, while seven others (
13
CN, N
2
H
+
, HNC, DNC, HC
3
N, CCS, and C
34
S) are new detections in this disk.
Conclusions.
The analysis confirms that sulphur chemistry is not yet properly understood. The D/H ratio, derived from DCO
+
/HCO
+
, DCN/HCN, and DNC/HNC ratios, points towards a low temperature chemistry. The detection of the rare species CCS confirms that GG Tau is a good laboratory to study the protoplanetary disk chemistry, thanks to its large disk size and mass.
Observations of young stellar objects (YSOs) in centimeter bands can probe the continuum emission from growing dust grains, ionized winds, and magnetospheric activity that are intimately connected to ...the evolution of protoplanetary disks and the formation of planets. We carried out sensitive continuum observations toward the Ophiuchus A star-forming region, using the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) at 10 GHz over a field-of-view of 6′ and with a spatial resolution of θmaj ×θmin ~ 0.′′4 × 0.′′2. We achieved a 5 μJy beam−1 rms noise level at the center of our mosaic field of view. Among the 18 sources we detected, 16 were YSOs (three Class 0, five Class I, six Class II, and two Class III) and two were extragalactic candidates. We find that thermal dust emission generally contributed less than 30% of the emission at 10 GHz. The radio emission is dominated by other types of emission, such as gyro-synchrotron radiation from active magnetospheres, free–free emission from thermal jets, free–free emission from the outflowing photoevaporated disk material, and synchrotron emission from accelerated cosmic-rays in jet or protostellar surface shocks. These different types of emission could not be clearly disentangled. Our non-detections for Class II/III disks suggest that extreme UV-driven photoevaporation is insufficient to explain disk dispersal, assuming that the contribution of UV photoevaporating stellar winds to radio flux does not evolve over time. The sensitivity of our data cannot exclude photoevaporation due to the role of X-ray photons as an efficient mechanism for disk dispersal. Deeper surveys using the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) will have the capacity to provide significant constraints to disk photoevaporation.
Context. The measure of the water deuterium fractionation is a relevant tool for understanding mechanisms of water formation and evolution from the prestellar phase to the formation of planets and ...comets. Aims. The aim of this paper is to study deuterated water in the solar-type protostars NGC 1333 IRAS 4A and IRAS 4B, to compare their HDO abundance distributions with other star-forming regions, and to constrain their HDO/H2O abundance ratios. Methods. Using the Herschel/HIFI instrument as well as ground-based telescopes, we observed several HDO lines covering a large excitation range (Eup/k = 22–168 K) towards these protostars and an outflow position. Non-local thermal equilibrium radiative transfer codes were then used to determine the HDO abundance profiles in these sources. Results. The HDO fundamental line profiles show a very broad component, tracing the molecular outflows, in addition to a narrower emission component and a narrow absorbing component. In the protostellar envelope of NGC 1333 IRAS 4A, the HDO inner (T ≥ 100 K) and outer (T < 100 K) abundances with respect to H2 are estimated with a 3σ uncertainty at 7.5-3.0+3.5 × 10-9 and 1.2-0.4+0.4 × 10-11, respectively, whereas in NGC 1333 IRAS 4B they are 1-0.9+1.8 × 10-8 and 1.2-0.4+0.6 × 10-10, respectively. Similarly to the low-mass protostar IRAS 16293-2422, an absorbing outer layer with an enhanced abundance of deuterated water is required to reproduce the absorbing components seen in the fundamental lines at 465 and 894 GHz in both sources. This water-rich layer is probably extended enough to encompass the two sources, as well as parts of the outflows. In the outflows emanating from NGC 1333 IRAS 4A, the HDO column density is estimated at about (2–4) × 1013 cm-2, leading to an abundance of about (0.7–1.9) × 10-9. An HDO/H2O ratio between 7 × 10-4 and 9 × 10-2 is also derived in the outflows. In the warm inner regions of these two sources, we estimate the HDO/H2O ratios at about 1 × 10-4–4 × 10-3. This ratio seems higher (a few %) in the cold envelope of IRAS 4A, whose possible origin is discussed in relation to formation processes of HDO and H2O. Conclusions. In low-mass protostars, the HDO outer abundances range in a small interval, between ~10-11 and a few 10-10. No clear trends are found between the HDO abundance and various source parameters (Lbol, Lsmm, Lsmm/Lbol, Tbol, Lbol0.6/Menv). A tentative correlation is observed, however, between the ratio of the inner and outer abundances with the submillimeter luminosity.
Recent measurements carried out at comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko (67P) with the Rosetta probe revealed that molecular oxygen, O2, is the fourth most abundant molecule in comets. Models show that O2 ...is likely of primordial nature, coming from the interstellar cloud from which our solar system was formed. However, gaseous O2 is an elusive molecule in the interstellar medium with only one detection towards quiescent molecular clouds, in the ρ Oph A core. We perform a deep search for molecular oxygen, through the 21−01 rotational transition at 234 GHz of its 16O18O isotopologue, towards the warm compact gas surrounding the nearby Class 0 protostar IRAS 16293–2422 B with the ALMA interferometer. We also look for the chemical daughters of O2, HO2, and H2O2. Unfortunately, the H2O2 rotational transition is dominated by ethylene oxide c-C2H4O while HO2 is not detected. The targeted 16O18O transition is surrounded by two brighter transitions at ± 1 km s−1 relative to the expected 16O18O transition frequency. After subtraction of these two transitions, residual emission at a 3σ level remains, but with a velocity offset of 0.3−0.5 km s−1 relative to the source velocity, rendering the detection “tentative”. We derive the O2 column density for two excitation temperatures Tex of 125 and 300 K, as indicated by other molecules, in order to compare the O2 abundance between IRAS 16293 and comet 67P. Assuming that 16O18O is not detected and using methanol CH3OH as a reference species, we obtain a O2/CH3OH abundance ratio lower than 2−5, depending on the assumed Tex, a three to four times lower abundance than the O2/CH3OH ratio of 5−15 found in comet 67P. Such a low O2 abundance could be explained by the lower temperature of the dense cloud precursor of IRAS 16293 with respect to the one at the origin of our solar system that prevented efficient formation of O2 in interstellar ices.
Aims. Methyl isocyanate (CH3NCO) and glycolonitrile (HOCH2CN) are isomers and prebiotic molecules that are involved in the formation of peptide structures and the nucleobase adenine, respectively. ...These two species are investigated to study the interstellar chemistry of cyanides (CN) and isocyanates (NCO) and to gain insight into the reservoir of interstellar prebiotic molecules. Methods. ALMA observations of the intermediate-mass Class 0 protostar Serpens SMM1-a and ALMA-PILS data of the low-mass Class 0 protostar IRAS 16293B are used. Spectra are analysed with the CASSIS line analysis software package in order to identify and characterise molecules. Results. CH3NCO, HOCH2CN, and various other molecules are detected towards SMM1-a. HOCH2CN is identified in the PILS data towards IRAS 16293B in a spectrum extracted at a half-beam offset position from the peak continuum. CH3NCO and HOCH2CN are equally abundant in SMM1-a at X/CH3OH of 5.3 × 10−4 and 6.2 × 10−4, respectively. A comparison between SMM1-a and IRAS 16293B shows that HOCH2CN and HNCO are more abundant in the former source, but CH3NCO abundances do not differ significantly. Data from other sources are used to show that the CH3NCO/HNCO ratio is similar in all these sources within ~10%. Conclusions. The new detections of CH3NCO and HOCH2CN are additional evidence for a large interstellar reservoir of prebiotic molecules that can contribute to the formation of biomolecules on planets. The equal abundances of these molecules in SMM1-a indicate that their formation is driven by kinetic processes instead of thermodynamic equilibrium, which would drive the chemistry to one product. HOCH2CN is found to be much more abundant in SMM1-a than in IRAS 16293B. From the observational data, it is difficult to indicate a formation pathway for HOCH2CN, but the thermal Strecker-like reaction of CN− with H2CO is a possibility. The similar CH3NCO/HNCO ratios found in the available sample of studied interstellar sources indicate that these two species are either chemically related or their formation is affected by physical conditions in the same way. Both species likely form early during star formation, presumably via ice mantle reactions taking place in the dark cloud or when ice mantles are being heated in the hot core. The relatively high abundances of HOCH2CN and HNCO in SMM1-a may be explained by a prolonged stage of relatively warm ice mantles, where thermal and energetic processing of HCN in the ice results in the efficient formation of both species.
The HDO/H sub(2)O ratio is a crucial parameter for probing the history of water formation. So far, it has been measured for only three solar-type protostars and yielded different results, possibly ...pointing to a substantially different history in their formation. In the present work, we report new interferometric observations of the HDO 4 sub(2,2)-4 sub(2,3) line for two solar-type protostars, IRAS2A and IRAS4A, located in the NGC 1333 region. In both sources, the detected HDO emission originates from a central compact unresolved region. A comparison with previously published interferometric observations of the (ProQuest: Formulae and/or non-USASCII text omitted) line shows that the HDO and H sub(2)O lines mostly come from the same region. A non-LTE large velocity gradient analysis of the HDO and (ProQuest: Formulae and/or non-USASCII text omitted) line emissions, combined with published observations, provides an HDO/H sub(2)O ratio of 0.3%-8% in IRAS2A and 0.5%-3% in IRAS4A. First, the water fractionation is lower than that of other molecules such as formaldehyde and methanol in the same sources. Second, it is similar to that measured in the solar-type protostar prototype, IRAS 16293-2422, and, surprisingly enough, larger than that measured in NGC 1333 IRAS4B. The comparison of the measured values toward IRAS2A and IRAS4A with the predictions of our gas-grain model GRAINOBLE gives similar conclusions to those for IRAS 16293, arguing that these protostars share a similar chemical history, although they are located in different clouds.
As a part of the Herschel key programme PRISMAS, we have used the Herschel-HIFI instrument to observe interstellar nitrogen hydrides along the sight-lines towards eight high-mass star-forming regions ...in order to elucidate the production pathways leading to nitrogen-bearing species in diffuse gas. Here, we report observations towards W49N of the NH N = 1 - 0, J = 2 - 1, and J = 1 - 0, ortho-NH2 N_(Ka, K_c) J = 1_(1,1) 3/2 - 0_(0,0) 1/2, ortho-NH3 J_K = 1_0 - 0_0 and 2_0 - 1_0, para-NH3 J_K = 2_1 - 1_1 transitions, and unsuccessful searches for NH+. All detections show absorption by foreground material over a wide range of velocities, as well as absorption associated directly with the hot-core source itself. As in the previously published observations towards G10.6-0.4, the NH, NH2 and NH3 spectra towards W49N show strikingly similar and non-saturated absorption features. We decompose the absorption of the foreground material towards W49N into different velocity components in order to investigate whether the relative abundances vary among the velocity components, and, in addition, we re-analyse the absorption lines towards G10.6-0.4 in the same manner. Abundances, with respect to molecular hydrogen, in each velocity component are estimated using CH, which is found to correlate with H2 in the solar neighbourhood diffuse gas. The analysis points to a co-existence of the nitrogen hydrides in diffuse or translucent interstellar gaswith a high molecular fraction. Towards both sources, we find that NH is always at least as abundant as both o-NH2 and o-NH3, in sharp contrast to previous results for dark clouds. We find relatively constant N(NH)/N(o-NH3) and N(o-NH2)/N(o-NH3) ratios with mean values of 3.2 and 1.9 towards W49N, and 5.4 and 2.2 towards G10.6-0.4, respectively. The mean abundance of o-NH4 is ~2x10^-9 towards both sources. The nitrogen hydrides also show linear correlations with CN and HNC towards both sources, and looser correlations with CH. The upper limits on the NH+ abundance indicate column densities
We report the detection of the ground state N,J = 1,3/2 $\rightarrow$ 1,1/2 doublet of the methylidyne radical CH at ~532 GHz and ~536 GHz with the Herschel/HIFI instrument along the sight-line to ...the massive star-forming regions G10.6–0.4 (W31C), W49N, and W51. While the molecular cores associated with these massive star-forming regions show emission lines, clouds in the diffuse interstellar medium are detected in absorption against the strong submillimeter background. The combination of hyperfine structure with emission and absorption results in complex profiles, with overlap of the different hyperfine components. The opacities of most of the CH absorption features are linearly correlated with those of CCH, CN, and HCO+ in the same velocity intervals. In specific narrow velocity intervals, the opacities of CN and HCO+ deviate from the mean trends, giving rise to more opaque absorption features. We propose that CCH can be used as another tracer of the molecular gas in the absence of better tracers, with CCH/ H2 ~ 3.2±1.1×10-8. The observed CN/CH, CCH/CH abundance ratios suggest that the bulk of the diffuse matter along the lines of sight has gas densities nH = n(H) + 2n(H2) ranging between 100 and 1000 cm-3.
Our aim is to explore the gas dynamics and the accretion process in the early phase of high-mass star formation. The inward motion of molecular gas in the massive star forming region G34.26+0.15 is ...investigated by using high-resolution profiles of seven transitions of ammonia at THz frequencies observed with Herschel-HIFI. The shapes and intensities of these lines are interpreted in terms of radiative transfer models of a spherical, collapsing molecular envelope. An accelerated Lambda Iteration (ALI) method is used to compute the models. The seven ammonia lines show mixed absorption and emission with inverse P-Cygni-type profiles that suggest infall onto the central source. A trend toward absorption at increasingly higher velocities for higher excitation transitions is clearly seen in the line profiles. We find evidence of two gas components moving inwards toward the central region with constant velocities: 2.7 and 5.3 km?s-1, relative to the source systemic velocity. Attempts to model the inward motion with a single gas cloud in free-fall collapse did not succeed.
We present Herschel/HIFI observations of the fundamental rotational transitions of ortho- and para-H216O and H218O in absorption towards Sagittarius B2(M) and W31C. The ortho/para ratio in water in ...the foreground clouds on the line of sight towards these bright continuum sources is generally consistent with the statistical high-temperature ratio of 3, within the observational uncertainties. However, somewhat unexpectedly, we derive a low ortho/para ratio of 2.35 +/- 0.35, corresponding to a spin temperature of similar to 27 K, towards Sagittarius B2(M) at velocities of the expanding molecular ring. Water molecules in this region appear to have formed with, or relaxed to, an ortho/para ratio close to the value corresponding to the local temperature of the gas and dust.
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