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Recent models of the envelopes of seven massive protostars are used to analyze observations of H3+ infrared absorption and H13CO+ submillimeter emission lines toward these stars, and to constrain the cosmic-ray ionization rate zeta. The…
Molecular deuteration is commonly seen in starless cores and is expected to occur on a timescale comparable to that of the core contraction. Thus, the deuteration serves as a chemical clock, allowing us to investigate dynamical theories of…
We present VLA NH3 and PdBI NH2D and H13NC observations of the star forming core ahead of HH 80N, the optically obscured northern counterpart of the Herbig-Haro objects HH 80/81. The main goal is to determine the kinematical information of…
We report the tentative detection in space of the nitrosylium ion, NO$^+$. The observations were performed towards the cold dense core Barnard 1-b. The identification of the NO$^+$ $J$=2--1 line is supported by new laboratory measurements…
Deuteration is a crucial tool to understand the complexity of interstellar chemical processes, especially when they involve the interplay of gas-phase and grain-surface chemistry. In the case of multiple deuteration, comparing observation…
The extremely young Class 0 object B1b-S and the first hydrostatic core (FSHC) candidate, B1b-N, provide a unique opportunity to study the chemical changes produced in the elusive transition from the prestellar core to the protostellar…
We attempt to achieve a better understanding of the gas distribution and velocity field around the deeply embedded Class 0 protostar SMM 3 in the Orion B9 star-forming region. Using the APEX 12-m telescope, we mapped the line emission from…
Cosmic rays regulate the dynamics and the chemical processes in the densest and coldest regions of the ISM. Still, the determination of the cosmic-ray ionisation rate of H$_2$ (${\zeta^{\rm ion}_{{\rm H}_2}}$) is plagued by uncertainties in…
We apply photo-dissociation region (PDR) molecular line emission models, that have varying degrees of enhanced mechanical heating rates, to the gaseous component of simulations of star-forming galaxies taken from the literature. Snapshots…
We present a study on the spatial distribution of N2D+ and N2H+ in thirteen protostellar systems. Eight of thirteen objects observed with the IRAM 30m telescope show relative offsets between the peak N2D+ (J=2-1) and N2H+ (J=1-0) emission.…
Observations of star forming environments revealed that the abundances of some deuterated interstellar molecules are markedly larger than the cosmic D/H ratio of 10-5. Possible reasons for this pointed to grain surface chemistry. How- ever,…
[Abridged] We present a molecular survey of the starless cores L1498 and L1517B. These cores have been selected for their relative isolation and close-to-round shape, and they have been observed in a number of lines of 13 molecular species…
We present sensitive, high angular resolution molecular-line observations of C18O and N2H+ toward the dark globule B68. We directly compare these data with the near-infrared extinction measurements of Alves, Lada, & Lada (2001) to derive…
Observations of low mass protostars which probe small enough size scales to be within likely CO depletion regions show the highest [NH2D]/[NH3] ratios yet measured, of 4--33%. These molecular D/H ratios are higher than those measured on…
In this work, we study deuterium fractionation in four starless cores in the low-mass star-forming region L1688 in the Ophiuchus molecular cloud. We study how the deuterium fraction ($R_D$) changes with environment, compare deuteration of…
We present submillimeter observations of various molecular ions toward two dense clouds, NGC 2264 IRS1 and W 3 IRS5, in order to investigate their ionization fraction. Analysis of the line intensity ratios by the way of statistical…
We present emission maps (1.5'$\times$1.5' scale, corresponding to 0.18 pc) of the DCN ($J=2-1$) and DCO$^+$ ($J=2-1$) lines in the 2 mm band toward the Orion KL region obtained with the 2 mm receiver system named B4R installed on the Large…
The H3O+ molecule probes the oxygen chemistry and the ionization rate of dense circumnuclear gas in galaxies. In particular, recent H3O+ observations show variations in the cosmic-ray ionization rate by factors of $>$10 within our Galaxy.…
Recent Herschel observations of nearby clouds have shown that filamentary structures are ubiquitous and that most prestellar cores form in filaments. Probing the density ($n$) and velocity ($V$) structure of filaments is crucial for the…
We report high angular resolution (4.9" x 3.0") images of reactive ions SH+, HOC+, and SO+ toward the Orion Bar photodissociation region (PDR). We used ALMA-ACA to map several rotational lines at 0.8 mm, complemented with multi-line…