A study of deuterated water in the low-mass protostar IRAS16293-2422

TL;DR

This study precisely measures the HDO/H2O ratio in the low-mass protostar IRAS16293-2422, revealing insights into water formation mechanisms during star formation through spectral observations and radiative transfer modeling.

Contribution

It provides detailed abundance profiles of HDO and H2O in the protostar's envelope and identifies an absorbing layer, advancing understanding of water chemistry in star-forming regions.

Findings

HDO abundance is 1.7e-7 in the hot inner region.

HDO/H2O ratio is 1.4-5.8% in the hot corino.

An absorbing layer with ~4.8% HDO/H2O ratio was identified.

Abstract

The HDO/H2O ratio is a powerful diagnostic to understand the evolution of water from the first stages of star formation to the formation of planets and comets. Our aim is to determine precisely the abundance distribution of HDO towards the low-mass protostar IRAS16293-2422 and learn more about the water formation mechanisms by determining the HDO/H2O abundance ratio. A spectral survey of the source IRAS16293-2422 was carried out in the framework of the CHESS Herschel Key program with the HIFI instrument, allowing the detection of numerous HDO lines. Other transitions have been observed previously with ground-based telescopes. The spherical Monte Carlo radiative transfer code RATRAN was used to reproduce the observed line profiles of HDO by assuming an abundance jump. To determine the H2O abundance throughout the envelope, a similar study was made of the H2-18O observed lines, as the H2O main isotope lines are contaminated by the outflows. We derive an inner HDO abundance of 1.7e-7 and an outer HDO abundance of 8e-11. To reproduce the HDO absorption lines, it is necessary to add an absorbing layer in front of the envelope. It may correspond to a water-rich layer created by the photodesorption of the ices at the edges of the molecular cloud. The HDO/H2O ratio is ~1.4-5.8% in the hot corino whereas it is ~0.2-2.2% in the outer envelope. It is estimated at ~4.8% in the added absorbing layer. Although it is clearly higher than the cosmic D/H abundance, the HDO/H2O ratio remains lower than the D/H ratio derived for other deuterated molecules observed in the same source. The similarity of the ratios derived in the hot corino and in the added absorbing layer suggests that water formed before the gravitational collapse of the protostar, contrary to formaldehyde and methanol, which formed later once the CO molecules had depleted on the grains.