From Prestellar to Protostellar Cores II. Time Dependence and Deuterium Fractionation

Oct, 2012
55 pages
Published in:
  • Astrophys.J. 760 (2012) 40
e-Print:

Citations per year

201320152017201920214201
Abstract: (arXiv)
We investigate the molecular evolution and D/H abundance ratios that develop as star formation proceeds from a dense-cloud core to a protostellar core, by solving a gas-grain reaction network applied to a 1-D radiative hydrodynamic model with infalling fluid parcels. Spatial distributions of gas and ice-mantle species are calculated at the first-core stage, and at times after the birth of a protostar. Gas-phase methanol and methane are more abundant than CO at radii r100r\lesssim 100 AU in the first-core stage, but gradually decrease with time, while abundances of larger organic species increase. The warm-up phase, when complex organic molecules are efficiently formed, is longer-lived for those fluid parcels in-falling at later stages. The formation of unsaturated carbon chains (warm carbon-chain chemistry) is also more effective in later stages/ C+^+, which reacts with CH4_4 to form carbon chains, increases in abundance as the envelope density decreases. The large organic molecules and carbon chains are strongly deuterated, mainly due to high D/H ratios in the parent molecules, determined in the cold phase. We also extend our model to simulate simply the chemistry in circumstellar disks, by suspending the 1-D infall of a fluid parcel at constant disk radii. The species CH3_3OCH3_3 and HCOOCH3_3 increase in abundance in 10410510^4-10^5 yr at the fixed warm temperature/ both also have high D/H ratios.
Note:
  • accepted to ApJ. 55 pages, 7 figures, 3 tables
  • ISM: abundances
  • ISM: clouds
  • stars: formation