Related papers: High NH2D/NH3 ratios in protostellar cores
The deuterium fraction [N$_2$D$^+$]/[N$_2$H$^+$], may provide information about the ages of dense, cold gas structures, important to compare with dynamical models of cloud core formation and evolution. Here we introduce a complete chemical…
Deuterated molecules are a useful diagnostic tool to probe the evolution and the kinematics in the earliest stages of star formation. Due to the low temperatures and high densities in the centre of pre-stellar cores, the deuterium fraction…
[abridged] The enhanced degrees of deuterium fractionation observed in envelopes around protostars demonstrate the importance of chemistry at low temperatures, relevant in pre- and protostellar cores. formaldehyde is an important species in…
Prestellar cores represent the initial conditions of star formation, but heavy molecules such as CO are strongly depleted in their cold, dense interiors, limiting the ability to probe core centers. Deuterated molecular ions therefore emerge…
Context. The deuterium fraction in low-mass prestellar cores is a good diagnostic indicator of the initial phases of star formations, and it is also a fundamental quantity to infer the ionisation degree in these objects. Aims. With the…
We present a survey of the ortho-H2D+(1_{1,0}-1_{1,1}) line toward a sample of 10 starless cores and 6 protostellar cores, carried out at the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory. The high diagnostic power of this line is revealed for the…
Chemical models predict that the deuterated fraction (the column density ratio between a molecule containing D and its counterpart containing H) of N2H+, Dfrac(N2H+), is high in massive pre-protostellar cores and rapidly drops of an order…
Deuterium fractionation becomes highly efficient in cold, dense cores where CO is frozen out. Cyclopropenylidene (c-C3H2), an early-formed carbon ring, and its deuterated isotopologues trace gas-phase deuteration in these environments. We…
We have conducted the first extensive observational survey of several deuterated species in 16 Class 0/I proto-brown dwarfs (proto-BDs) and 4 Class Flat/Class II brown dwarfs. Observations were obtained with the IRAM 30m telescope in the…
From mapping observations of H2CO, HDCO, and D2CO, we have determined how the degree of deuterium fractionation changes over the central 3'x3' region of rho Oph A. The multi-transition data of the various H2CO isotopologues, as well as from…
At the low temperatures ($\sim$10 K) and high densities ($\sim$100,000 H$_2$ molecules per cc) of molecular cloud cores and protostellar envelopes, a large amount of molecular species (in particular those containing C and O) freeze-out onto…
In the centre of pre-stellar cores, deuterium fractionation is enhanced due to the low temperatures and high densities. Therefore, the chemistry of deuterated molecules can be used to study the earliest stages of star formation. We analyse…
Aims: We aim to investigate the abundances of light deuterium-bearing species such as HD, H2D+ and D2H+ in a gas-grain chemical model including an extensive description of deuterium and spin state chemistry, in physical conditions…
Despite low elemental abundance of atomic deuterium in interstellar medium (ISM), observational evidences suggest that several species in gas-phase and in ices could be heavily fractionated. We explore various aspects of deuterium…
The H3+ ion plays a key role in the chemistry of dense interstellar gas clouds where stars and planets are forming. The low temperatures and high extinctions of such clouds make direct observations of H3+ impossible, but lead to large…
UltraCompact HII regions are signposts of high mass star formation. Since high-mass star formation occurs in clusters, one expects to find even earlier phases of massive star formation in the vicinity of UltraCompact HII regions. Here, we…
The physical and chemical properties of cold and dense molecular clouds are key to understanding how stars form. Using the IRAM 30 m and NRO 45 m telescopes, we carried out a Multiwavelength line-Imaging survey of the 70 $\mu$m dark and…
While the abundance of elemental deuterium is relatively low (D/H ~ a few 1E-5), orders of magnitude higher D/H abundance ratios have been found for many interstellar molecules, enhanced by deuterium fractionation. In cold molecular clouds…
Context. Millimetric observations have measured high degrees of molecular deuteration in several species seen around low-mass protostars. The Herschel Space Telescope, launched in 2009, is now providing new measures of the deuterium…
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…