Protostars and Planets VI, Heidelberg, July 15-20, 2013
Poster 1B070
Water D/H Ratio In Low-Mass Protostars
Persson, Magnus V. (Centre for Star and Planet Formation, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Øster Voldgade 5-7, DK-1350, Copenhagen K, Denmark AND Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Juliane Maries Vej 30, DK-2100 Copenhagen Ø, Denmark AND Leiden Observatory, Leiden University, P.O. Box 9513, NL-2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands)
Jørgensen, Jes K. (Centre for Star and Planet Formation, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Øster Voldgade 5-7, DK-1350, Copenhagen K, Denmark AND Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Juliane Maries Vej 30, DK-2100 Copenhagen Ø, Denmark)
van Dishoeck, Ewine F. (Leiden Observatory, Leiden University, P.O. Box 9513, NL-2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands AND Max-Planck Institute für extraterrestrische Physik (MPE), Giessenbachstrasse, 85748 Garching, Germany)
Harsono, Daniel (Leiden Observatory, Leiden University, P.O. Box 9513, NL-2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands)
Abstract:
Water is an important molecule for our life on Earth, but its way from
formation on the surfaces of dust grains to planets and the
accompanying chemical processing are not well understood. Through
evaporation in the warm inner regions of protostars, water brings
complex organics and other species previously locked up in the ice
into the gas phase. The water deuterium fractionation (HDO/H2O
abundance ratio) has traditionally been used to infer the amount of
water that was brought to the Earth by comets. Deducing this ratio in
the warm gas of deeply-embedded low-mass protostars allows to extend
the discussion of the origin of Earth\'s water to earlier evolutionary
stages.
This poster present high-angular resolution, ground based interferometric
observations of both HDO and H2(18)O water isotopologues toward
several Class~0 low-mass protostars. The emission is compact, and
stems from the inner few 100 AU in all sources. The derived amount of
deuterium fractionation in water, obtained assuming LTE and optically
thin emission, is the same within the uncertainties in all sources and
shows only small enhancements compared with Earth\'s oceans and solar
system\'s comets.
Click here to view poster PDF