The ALMA-PILS survey: First detections of deuterated formamide and deuterated isocyanic acid in the interstellar medium
Journal article, 2016
Formamide (NH2CHO) has previously been detected in several star-forming regions and is thought to be a precursor for different prebiotic molecules. Its formation mechanism is still debated, however. Observations of formamide, related species, and their isopotologues may provide useful clues to the chemical pathways leading to their formation. The Protostellar Interferometric Line Survey (PILS) represents an unbiased, high angular resolution and sensitivity spectral survey of the low-mass protostellar binary IRAS 16293-2422 with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). For the first time, we detect the three singly deuterated forms of NH2CHO (NH2CDO, cis-and trans-NHDCHO), as well as DNCO towards the component B of this binary source. The images reveal that the different isotopologues are all present in the same region. Based on observations of the 13C isotopologues of formamide and a standard 12C/13C ratio, the deuterium fractionation is found to be similar for the three different forms with a value of about 2%. The DNCO/HNCO ratio is also comparable to the D/H ratio of formamide (~1%). These results are in agreement with the hypothesis that NH2CHO and HNCO are chemically related through grain-surface formation.
Stars: formation
Astrochemistry
Stars: protostars
ISM: molecules
Astrobiology
ISM: individual objects: IRAS 16293-2422
Author
A. Coutens
University College London (UCL)
J. K. Jorgensen
University of Copenhagen
M. H. D. van der Wiel
University of Copenhagen
H. S. P. Müller
University of Cologne
J. M. Lykke
University of Copenhagen
Per Bjerkeli
Galactic Astrophysics
University of Copenhagen
T. L. Bourke
SKA Organisation
Hannah Calcutt
University of Copenhagen
M. N. Drozdovskaya
Leiden University
C. Favre
Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS)
E. C. Fayolle
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
R. T. Garrod
University of Virginia
S. K. Jacobsen
University of Copenhagen
N. F W Ligterink
Leiden University
K. I. Öberg
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Magnus V. Persson
Leiden University
E. F. van Dishoeck
Max Planck Society
Leiden University
S. F. Wampfler
University of Copenhagen
Astronomy and Astrophysics
0004-6361 (ISSN) 1432-0746 (eISSN)
Vol. 590 L6Protostellar Interferometric Line Survey (PILS)
European Research Council (ERC), 2019-10-30 -- .
Subject Categories
Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology
Roots
Basic sciences
Infrastructure
Onsala Space Observatory
DOI
10.1051/0004-6361/201628612