arXiv subjects

Dipen Sahu

Publications and source records attributed to Dipen Sahu.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2023

First Detection of Radio Recombination Lines of Ions Heavier than Helium

We report the first detection of radio recombination lines (RRLs) of ions heavier than helium. In a highly sensitive multi-band (12--50 GHz) line survey toward Orion KL with the TianMa 65-m Radio Telescope (TMRT), we successfully detected more than fifteen unblended $α$ lines of RRLs of singly ionized species (XII) recombined from XIII. The Ka-band (35--50 GHz) spectrum also shows tentative signals of $β$ lines of ions. The detected lines can be successfully crossmatched with the the rest frequencies of RRLs of CII and/or OII. This finding greatly expands the connotation of ion RRLs, since before this work only two blended lines (105$α$ and 121$α$) of HeII had been reported. Our detected lines can be fitted simultaneously under assumption of local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE). An abundance of CIII and OIII of 8.8$\times$10$^{-4}$ is obtained, avoiding the complexities of optical/infrared observations and the blending of RRLs of atoms. It is consistent with but approaches the upper bound of the value (10$^{-4}$--$10^{-3}$) estimated from optical/infrared observations. The effects of dielectronic recombination may contribute to enhancing the level populations even at large $n$. We expect future observations using radio interferometers could break the degeneracy between C and O, and help to reveal the ionization structure and dynamical evolution of various ionized regions.

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arXiv2022

ALMA Survey of Orion Planck Galactic Cold Clumps (ALMASOP): How do dense core properties affect the multiplicity of protostars?

During the transition phase from a prestellar to a protostellar cloud core, one or several protostars can form within a single gas core. The detailed physical processes of this transition, however, still remain unclear. We present 1.3 mm dust continuum and molecular line observations with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) toward 43 protostellar cores in the Orion Molecular Cloud Complex ($λ$ Orionis, Orion B, and Orion A) with an angular resolution of $\sim$ 0.35" ($\sim$ 140 au). In total, we detect 13 binary/multiple systems. We derive an overall multiplicity frequency (MF) of 28$\%$ $\pm$ 4$\%$ and a companion star fraction (CSF) of 51$\%$ $\pm$ 6$\%$, over a separation range of 300-8900 au. The median separation of companions is about 2100 au. The occurrence of stellar multiplicity may depend on the physical characteristics of the dense cores. Notably, those containing binary/multiple systems tend to show higher gas density and Mach number than cores forming single stars. The integral-shaped filament (ISF) of Orion A giant molecular cloud (GMC), which has the highest gas density and hosts high-mass star formation in its central region (the Orion Nebula cluster), shows the highest MF and CSF among the Orion GMCs. In contrast, the $λ$ Orionis Giant Molecular Cloud (GMC) has a lower MF and CSF than the Orion B and Orion A GMCs, indicating that feedback from HII regions may suppress the formation of multiple systems. We also find that the protostars comprising a binary/multiple system are usually at different evolutionary stages.

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arXiv2022

ALMA Survey of Orion Planck Galactic Cold Clumps (ALMASOP): Deriving Inclination Angle and Velocity of the Protostellar Jets from their SiO Knots

We have selected six sources (G209.55-19.68S2, G205.46-14.56S1$_{-}$A, G203.21-11.20W2, G191.90-11.21S, G205.46-14.56S3, and G206.93-16.61W2) from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array Survey of Orion Planck Galactic Cold Clumps (ALMASOP), in which these sources have been mapped in the CO (J=2-1), SiO (J=5-4), and C$^{18}$O (J=2-1) lines. These sources have high-velocity SiO jets surrounded by low-velocity CO outflows. The SiO jets consist of a chain of knots. These knots have been thought to be produced by semi-periodical variations in jet velocity. Therefore, we adopt a shock-forming model, which uses such variations to estimate the inclination angle and velocity of the jets. We also derive the inclination angle of the CO outflows using the wide-angle wind-driven shell model, and find it to be broadly consistent with that of the associated SiO jets. In addition, we apply this shock-forming model to another three protostellar sources with SiO jets in the literature -- HH 211, HH 212, and L1448C(N) -- and find that their inclination angle and jet velocity are consistent with those previously estimated from proper motion and radial velocity studies.

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arXiv2022

ALMA Survey of Orion Planck Galactic Cold Clumps (ALMASOP): Evidence for a Molecular Jet Launched at an Unprecedented Early Phase of Protostellar evolution

Protostellar outflows and jets play a vital role in star formation as they carry away excess angular momentum from the inner disk surface, allowing the material to be transferred toward the central protostar. Theoretically, low velocity and poorly collimated outflows appear from the beginning of the collapse, at the first hydrostatic core (FHSC) stage. With growing protostellar core mass, high-density jets are launched which entrain an outflow from the infalling envelope. Until now, molecular jets have been observed at high velocity ($\gtrsim$ 100 km/s) in early Class\,0 protostars. We, for the first time, detect a dense molecular jet in SiO emission with small-velocity ($\sim$ 4.2 km\,s$^{-1}$, deprojected $\sim$ 24 km\,s$^{-1}$) from source G208.89-20.04Walma (hereafter, G208Walma) using ALMA Band\,6 observations. This object has some characteristics of FHSCs, such as a small outflow/jet velocity, extended 1.3\,mm continuum emission, and N$_2$D$^+$ line emission. Additional characteristics, however, are typical of early protostars: collimated outflow and SiO jet. The full extent of the outflow corresponds to a dynamical time scale of $\sim$ 930$^{+200}_{-100}$ years. The spectral energy distribution also suggests a very young source having an upper limit of T$_{bol}$ $\sim$ 31 K and L$_{bol}$ $\sim$ 0.8 L$_\sun$. We conclude that G208Walma is likely in the transition phase from FHSC to protostar, and the molecular jet has been launched within a few hundred years of initial collapse. Therefore, G208Walma may be the earliest object discovered in the protostellar phase with a molecular jet.

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arXiv2022

ALMA Survey of Orion Planck Galactic Cold Clumps (ALMASOP): A Hot Corino Survey toward Protostellar Cores in the Orion Cloud

The presence of complex organic molecules (COMs) in the interstellar medium (ISM) is of great interest since it may link to the origin and prevalence of life in the universe. Aiming to investigate the occurrence of COMs and their possible origins, we conducted a chemical census toward a sample of protostellar cores as part of the ALMA Survey of Orion Planck Galactic Cold Clumps (ALMASOP) project. We report the detection of 11 hot corino sources, which exhibit compact emissions from warm and abundant COMs, among 56 Class 0/I protostellar cores. All the hot corino sources discovered are likely Class 0 and their sizes of the warm region ($>$ 100 K) are comparable to 100 au. The luminosity of the hot corino sources exhibits positive correlations with the total number of methanol and the extent of its emissions. Such correlations are consistent with the thermal desorption picture for the presence of hot corino and suggest that the lower luminosity (Class 0) sources likely have a smaller region with COMs emissions. With the same sample selection method and detection criteria being applied, the detection rates of the warm methanol in the Orion cloud (15/37) and the Perseus cloud (28/50) are statistically similar when the cloud distances and the limited sample size are considered. Observing the same set of COM transitions will bring a more informative comparison between the cloud properties.

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arXiv2022

Nobeyama Survey of Inward Motions toward Cores in Orion Identified by SCUBA-2

In this study, 36 cores (30 starless and 6 protostellar) identified in Orion were surveyed to search for inward motions. We used the Nobeyama 45 m radio telescope, and mapped the cores in the $J = 1\rightarrow0$ transitions of HCO$^+$, H$^{13}$CO$^+$, N$_2$H$^+$, HNC, and HN$^{13}$C. The asymmetry parameter $δV$, which was the ratio of the difference between the HCO$^+$ and H$^{13}$CO$^+$ peak velocities to the H$^{13}$CO$^+$ line width, was biased toward negative values, suggesting that inward motions were more dominant than outward motions. Three starless cores (10% of all starless cores surveyed) were identified as cores with blue-skewed line profiles (asymmetric profiles with more intense blue-shifted emission), and another two starless cores (7%) were identified as candidate blue-skewed line profiles. The peak velocity difference between HCO$^+$ and H$^{13}$CO$^+$ of them was up to 0.9 km s$^{-1}$, suggesting that some inward motions exceeded the speed of sound for the quiescent gas ($\sim10-17$ K). The mean of $δV$ of the five aforementioned starless cores was derived to be $-$0.5$\pm$0.3. One core, G211.16$-$19.33North3, observed using the ALMA ACA in DCO$^+$ $J = 3\rightarrow2$ exhibited blue-skewed features. Velocity offset in the blue-skewed line profile with a dip in the DCO$^+$ $J = 3\rightarrow2$ line was larger ($\sim 0.5$ km s$^{-1}$) than that in HCO$^+$ $J = 1\rightarrow0$ ($\sim 0.2$ km s$^{-1}$), which may represent gravitational acceleration of inward motions. It seems that this core is at the last stage in the starless phase, judging from the chemical evolution factor version 2.0 (CEF2.0).

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arXiv2021

Detection of a dense SiO jet in the evolved protostellar phase

Jets and outflows trace the accretion history of protostars. High-velocity molecular jets have been observed from several protostars in the early Class\,0 phase of star formation, detected with the high-density tracer SiO. Until now, no clear jet has been detected with SiO emission from isolated evolved Class\,I protostellar systems. We report a prominent dense SiO jet from a Class\,I source G205S3 (HOPS\,315: T$_{bol}$ $\sim$ 180 K, spectral index $\sim$ 0.417), with a moderately high mass-loss rate ($\sim$ 0.59 $\times$ 10$^{-6}$ M$_\odot$ yr$^{-1}$) estimated from CO emission. Together, these features suggest that G205S3 is still in a high accretion phase, similar to that expected of Class\,0 objects. We compare G205S3 to a representative Class\,0 system G206W2 (HOPS\,399) and literature Class\,0/I sources to explore the possible explanations behind the SiO emission seen at the later phase. We estimate a high inclination angle ($\sim$ 40$^\circ$) for G205S3 from CO emission, which may expose the infrared emission from the central core and mislead the spectral classification. However, the compact 1.3\,mm continuum, C$^{18}$O emission, location in the bolometric luminosity to sub-millimeter fluxes diagram, outflow force ($\sim$ 3.26 $\times$ 10$^{-5}$ M$_\odot$km s$^{-1}$/yr) are also analogous to that of Class\,I systems. We thus consider G205S3 to be at the very early phase of Class\,I, and in the late phase of ``high-accretion". The episodic ejection could be due to the presence of an unknown binary, a planetary companion, or dense clumps, where the required mass for such high accretion could be supplied by a massive circumbinary disk.

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arXiv2021

The JCMT Transient Survey: Four Year Summary of Monitoring the Submillimeter Variability of Protostars

We present the four-year survey results of monthly submillimeter monitoring of eight nearby ($< 500 $pc) star-forming regions by the JCMT Transient Survey. We apply the Lomb-Scargle Periodogram technique to search for and characterize variability on 295 submillimeter peaks brighter than 0.14 Jy beam$^{-1}$, including 22 disk sources (Class II), 83 protostars (Class 0/I), and 190 starless sources. We uncover 18 secular variables, all of them protostars. No single-epoch burst or drop events and no inherently stochastic sources are observed. We classify the secular variables by their timescales into three groups: Periodic, Curved, and Linear. For the Curved and Periodic cases, the detectable fractional amplitude, with respect to mean peak brightness, is $\sim4$ % for sources brighter than $\sim$ 0.5 Jy beam$^{-1}$. Limiting our sample to only these bright sources, the observed variable fraction is 37 % (16 out of 43). Considering source evolution, we find a similar fraction of bright variables for both Class 0 and Class I. Using an empirically motivated conversion from submillimeter variability to variation in mass accretion rate, six sources (7 % of our full sample) are predicted to have years-long accretion events during which the excess mass accreted reaches more than 40 % above the total quiescently accreted mass: two previously known eruptive Class I sources, V1647 Ori and EC 53 (V371 Ser), and four Class 0 sources, HOPS 356, HOPS 373, HOPS 383, and West 40. Considering the full protostellar ensemble, the importance of episodic accretion on few years timescale is negligible, only a few percent of the assembled mass. However, given that this accretion is dominated by events of order the observing time-window, it remains uncertain as to whether the importance of episodic events will continue to rise with decades-long monitoring.

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arXiv2021

Planck Galactic Cold Clumps at High Galactic Latitude-A Study with CO Lines

Gas at high Galactic latitude is a relatively little-noticed component of the interstellar medium. In an effort to address this, forty-one Planck Galactic Cold Clumps at high Galactic latitude (HGal; $|b|>25^{\circ}$) were observed in $^{12}$CO, $^{13}$CO and C$^{18}$O J=1-0 lines, using the Purple Mountain Observatory 13.7-m telescope. $^{12}$CO (1-0) and $^{13}$CO (1-0) emission was detected in all clumps while C$^{18}$O (1-0) emission was only seen in sixteen clumps. The highest and average latitudes are $71.4^{\circ}$ and $37.8^{\circ}$, respectively. Fifty-one velocity components were obtained and then each was identified as a single clump. Thirty-three clumps were further mapped at 1$^\prime$ resolution and 54 dense cores were extracted. Among dense cores, the average excitation temperature $T_{\mathrm{ex}}$ of $^{12}$CO is 10.3 K. The average line widths of thermal and non-thermal velocity dispersions are $0.19$ km s$^{-1}$ and $0.46$ km s$^{-1}$ respectively, suggesting that these cores are dominated by turbulence. Distances of the HGal clumps given by Gaia dust reddening are about $120-360$ pc. The ratio of $X_{13}$/$X_{18}$ is significantly higher than that in the solar neighbourhood, implying that HGal gas has a different star formation history compared to the gas in the Galactic disk. HGal cores with sizes from $0.01-0.1$ pc show no notable Larson's relation and the turbulence remains supersonic down to a scale of slightly below $0.1$ pc. None of the HGal cores which bear masses from 0.01-1 $M_{\odot}$ are gravitationally bound and all appear to be confined by outer pressure.

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arXiv2021

Molecular Cloud Cores with High Deuterium Fractions: Nobeyama Mapping Survey

We present the results of on-the-fly mapping observations of 44 fields containing 107 SCUBA-2 cores in the emission lines of molecules, N$_2$H$^+$, HC$_3$N, and CCS at 82$-$94 GHz using the Nobeyama 45-m telescope. This study aimed at investigating the physical properties of cores that show high deuterium fractions and might be close to the onset of star formation. We found that the distributions of the N$_2$H$^+$ and HC$_3$N line emissions are approximately similar to that of 850-$μ$m dust continuum emission, whereas the CCS line emission is often undetected or is distributed in a clumpy structure surrounding the peak position of the 850-$μ$m dust continuum emission. Occasionally (12%), we observe the CCS emission which is an early-type gas tracer toward the young stellar object, probably due to local high excitation. Evolution toward star formation does not immediately affect nonthermal velocity dispersion.

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arXiv2020

Identification of Methyl Isocyanate and Other Complex Organic Molecules in a Hot Molecular Core, G31.41+0.31

G31.41+0.31 is a well known chemically rich hot molecular core (HMC). Using Band 3 observations of Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA), we have analyzed the chemical and physical properties of the source. We have identified methyl isocyanate (CH3NCO), a precursor of prebiotic molecules, towards the source. In addition to this, we have reported complex organic molecules (COMs) like methanol (CH3OH), methanethiol (CH3SH), and methyl formate (CH3OCHO). Additionally, we have used transitions from molecules like HCN, HCO+, SiO to trace the presence of infall and outflow signatures around the star-forming region. For the COMs, we have estimated the column densities and kinetic temperatures, assuming molecular excitation under local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE) conditions. From the estimated kinetic temperatures of certain COMs, we found that multiple temperature components may be present in the HMC environment. Comparing the obtained molecular column densities between the existing observational results toward other HMCs, it seems that the COMs are favourably produced in the hot-core environment ($\sim 100$ K or higher). Though the spectral emissions towards G31.41+0.31 are not fully resolved, we find that CH$_3$NCO and other COMs are possibly formed on the grain/ice phase and populate the gas environment similar to other hot cores like Sgr B2, Orion KL, and G10.47+0.03, etc.

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arXiv2020

ALMA Survey of Orion Planck Galactic Cold Clumps (ALMASOP) II. Survey overview: a first look at 1.3 mm continuum maps and molecular outflows

Planck Galactic Cold Clumps (PGCCs) are contemplated to be the ideal targets to probe the early phases of star formation. We have conducted a survey of 72 young dense cores inside PGCCs in the Orion complex with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) at 1.3\,mm (band 6) using three different configurations (resolutions $\sim$ 0$\farcs$35, 1$\farcs$0, and 7$\farcs$0) to statistically investigate their evolutionary stages and sub-structures. We have obtained images of the 1.3\,mm continuum and molecular line emission ($^{12}$CO, and SiO) at an angular resolution of $\sim$ 0$\farcs$35 ($\sim$ 140\,au) with the combined arrays. We find 70 substructures within 48 detected dense cores with median dust-mass $\sim$ 0.093\,M$_{\sun}$ and deconvolved size $\sim$ 0$\farcs$27. Dense substructures are clearly detected within the central 1000\,au of four candidate prestellar cores. The sizes and masses of the substructures in continuum emission are found to be significantly reduced with protostellar evolution from Class\,0 to Class\,I. We also study the evolutionary change in the outflow characteristics through the course of protostellar mass accretion. A total of 37 sources exhibit CO outflows, and 20 ($>$50\%) show high-velocity jets in SiO. The CO velocity-extents ($Δ$Vs) span from 4 to 110 km/s with outflow cavity opening angle width at 400\,au ranging from $[Θ_{obs}]_{400}$ $\sim$ 0$\farcs$6 to 3$\farcs$9, which corresponds to 33$\fdg$4$-$125$\fdg$7. For the majority of the outflow sources, the $Δ$Vs show a positive correlation with $[Θ_{obs}]_{400}$, suggesting that as protostars undergo gravitational collapse, the cavity opening of a protostellar outflow widens and the protostars possibly generate more energetic outflows.

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arXiv2020

ALMA Survey of Orion Planck Galactic Cold Clumps (ALMASOP): I. Detection of New Hot Corinos with ACA

We report the detection of four new hot corino sources, G211.47-19.27S, G208.68-19.20N1, G210.49-19.79W and G192.12-11.10 from a survey study of Planck Galactic Cold Clumps in the Orion Molecular Cloud Complex with the Atacama Compact Array (ACA). Three sources had been identified as low mass Class 0 protostars in the Herschel Orion Protostar Survey (HOPS). One source in the lambda Orionis region is firstly reported as a protostellar core. We have observed abundant complex organic molecules (COMs), primarily methanol but also other oxygen-bearing COMs (in G211.47-19.27S and G208.68-19.20N1) and the molecule of prebiotic interest NH2CHO (in G211.47-19.27S), signifying the presence of hot corinos. While our spatial resolution is not sufficient for resolving most of the molecular emission structure, the large linewidth and high rotational temperature of COMs suggest that they likely reside in the hotter and innermost region immediately surrounding the protostar. In G211.47-19.27S, the D/H ratio of methanol ([CH2DOH]/[CH3OH]) and the 12C/13C ratio of methanol ([CH3OH]/[13CH3OH]) are comparable to those of other hot corinos. Hydrocarbons and long carbon-chain molecules such as c-C3H2 and HCCCN are also detected in the four sources, likely tracing the outer and cooler molecular envelopes.

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arXiv2020

Constraints of the formation and abundances of methyl carbamate, a glycine isomer, in hot corinos

Methyl carbamate CH$_3$OC(O)NH$_2$ is an isomer of glycine. Quantum chemical analyses show that methyl carbamate is more stable isomer than glycine. Because of this, there could be a higher chance for methyl carbamte to exist in the interstellar medium as compared to glycine. Despite immense searches, till now glycine has not been detected in the ISM, therefore it is worthwhile to search its isomer methyl carbamate. In this paper, we present the constraints of methyl carbamate formation under the interstellar conditions. Large complex organic molecules are favorably produced in hot-corino environments of low mass protostars. We for the first time carried out astrochemical modeling focusing on the formation of methyl carbamate in physical conditions similar to hot-corino objects. Consequently, we examined ALMA archival data for existing spectral line observations toward hot corinos NGC1333 IRAS 4A2 and IRAS 16293B. Within the common spectral range towards these sources, we found three features are possibly related to the spectral transitions of methyl carbamate and consequently estimate the upper limit of column densities. Results of chemical modeling are consistent with the observational upper limit of estimated column density/abundance toward the sources. This may hint the validation of the proposed formation mechanism. Future observations using telescope like ngVLA may confirm the presence of MC toward the hot corinos.

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arXiv2019

Deuterium Enrichment of the Interstellar Medium

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 enrichment by constructing a chemical evolution model in gas and grain phases. Depending on various physical parameters, gas and grains are allowed to interact with each other through exchange of their chemical species. It is known that HCO+ and N2H+ are two abundant gas phase ions in ISM and their deuterium fractionation are generally used to predict degree of ionization in various regions of a molecular cloud. To have a more realistic estimation, we consider a density profile of a collapsing cloud. We present radial distributions of important interstellar molecules along with their deuterated isotopomers. We carry out quantum chemical simulation to study effects of isotopic substitution on spectral properties of these important interstellar species. We calculate vibrational (harmonic) frequency of the most important deuterated species (neutral & ions). Rotational and distortional constants of these molecules are also computed to predict rotational transitions of these species. We compare vibrational (harmonic) and rotational transitions as computed by us with existing observational, experimental and theoretical results. We hope that our results would assist observers in their quest of several hitherto unobserved deuterated species.

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arXiv2019

Implications of a hot atmosphere/corino from ALMA observations towards NGC1333 IRAS 4A1

We report high angular resolution observations of NGC1333 IRAS4A, a protostellar binary including A1 and A2, at 0.84 mm with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array. From the continuum observations, we suggest that the dust emission from the A1 core is optically thick, and A2 is predominantly optically thin. The A2 core, exhibiting a forest of spectral lines including complex molecules, is a well known hot corino as suggested by previous works. More importantly, we report, for the first time, the solid evidence of complex organic molecules (COMs), including CH3OH, ^13CH3OH, CH2DOH, CH3CHO associated with the A1 core seen in absorption. The absorption features mostly arise from a compact region around the continuum peak position of the A1 core. Rather than originating from a larger common envelope surrounding the protobinary, the COM features are associated with individual cores A1 and A2. Considering the signatures observed in both continuum and spectral lines, we propose two possible scenarios for IRAS 4A1 - the COM absorption lines may arise from a hot-corino-like atmosphere at the surface of an optically-thick circumstellar disk around A1, or the absorption may arise from different layers of a temperature-stratified dense envelope.

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arXiv2018

Deuterated Formaldehyde in the low mass protostar HH212

HH212, a nearby (400 pc) object in Orion, is a Class 0 protostellar system with a Keplerian disk and collimated bipolar SiO jets. Deuterated water, HDO and a deuterated complex molecule, methanol (CH2DOH) have been reported in the source. Here, we report the HDCO (deuterated formaldehyde) line observation from ALMA data to probe the inner region of HH212. We compare HDCO line with other molecular lines to understand the possible chemistry and physics of the source. The distribution of HDCO emission suggests it may be associated with the base of the outflow. The emission also shows a rotation but it is not associated with the Keplerian rotation of disk or the rotating infalling envelope, rather it is associated with the outflow as previously seen in C 34 S. From the possible deuterium fractionation, we speculate that the gas phase formation of deuterated formaldehyde is active in the central hot region of the low-mass protostar system, HH212.

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arXiv2015

Deuterium enrichment of the interstellar grain mantle

We carry out Monte-Carlo simulation to study deuterium enrichment of interstellar grain mantles under various physical conditions. Based on the physical properties, various types of clouds are considered. We find that in diffuse cloud regions, very strong radiation fields persists and hardly a few layers of surface species are formed. In translucent cloud regions with a moderate radiation field, significant number of layers would be produced and surface coverage is mainly dominated by photo-dissociation products such as, C,CH_3,CH_2D,OH and OD. In the intermediate dense cloud regions (having number density of total hydrogen nuclei in all forms ~ 2 x 10^4 cm^-3), water and methanol along with their deuterated derivatives are efficiently formed. For much higher density regions (~ 10^6 cm^-3), water and methanol productions are suppressed but surface coverage of CO,CO_2,O_2,O_3 are dramatically increased. We find a very high degree of fractionation of water and methanol. Observational results support a high fractionation of methanol but surprisingly water fractionation is found to be low. This is in contradiction with our model results indicating alternative routes for de-fractionation of water. Effects of various types of energy barriers are also studied. Moreover, we allow grain mantles to interact with various charged particles (such as H^+, Fe^+,S^+ and C^+) to study the stopping power and projected range of these charged particles on various target ices.

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