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Detection of DCO+ in a circumstellar disk

E. F. van Dishoeck·W. F. Thi·G. J. van Zadelhoff
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Abstract

We report the first detection of DCO+ in a circumstellar disk. The DCO+ J=5-4 line at 360.169 GHz is observed with the 15m James Clerk Maxwell Telescope in the disk around the pre-main sequence star TW Hya. Together with measurements of the HCO+ and H13CO+ J=4-3 lines, this allows an accurate determination of the DCO+/HCO+ ratio in this disk. The inferred value of 0.035+-0.015 is close to that found in cold pre-stellar cores and is somewhat higher than that measured in the envelope around the low-mass protostar IRAS 16293 -2422. It is also close to the DCN/HCN ratio obtained for pristine cometary material in the jet of comet Hale-Bopp. The observed DCO+/HCO+ ratio for TW Hya is consistent with theoretical models of disks which consider gas-phase fractionation processes within a realistic 2-D temperature distribution and which include the effects of freeze-out onto grains.

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E. F. van Dishoeck, W. F. Thi, G. J. van Zadelhoff. 2003-01-29. Detection of DCO+ in a circumstellar disk. https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361%3A20030091

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