The abundance of C18O and HDO in the envelope and hot core of the intermediate mass protostar NGC 7129 FIRS 2

TL;DR

This study investigates the distribution and abundance of C18O and HDO molecules in the envelope and hot core of the intermediate-mass protostar NGC 7129 FIRS 2, revealing a significant depletion of C18O and a hot core HDO abundance comparable to low-mass hot corinos.

Contribution

It provides new observational constraints on C18O and HDO abundances in an intermediate-mass protostar's hot core, highlighting a C18O deficiency and detailed molecular abundance profiles.

Findings

C18O abundance decreases inward until CO sublimation temperature.

C18O abundance in hot core is about 1.6x10^{-8}, ten times lower than the reference.

HDO emission is maser and its abundance in hot core is ~0.4-1x10^{-7}.

Abstract

NGC 7129 FIRS 2 is a young intermediate-mass (IM) protostar, which is associated with two energetic bipolar outflows and displays clear signs of the presence of a hot core. It has been extensively observed with ground based telescopes and within the WISH Guaranteed Time Herschel Key Program. We present new observations of the C18O 3-2 and the HDO 3_{12}-2_{21} lines towards NGC 7129 FIRS 2. Combining these observations with Herschel data and modeling their emissions, we constrain the C18O and HDO abundance profiles across the protostellar envelope. In particular, we derive the abundance of C18O and HDO in the hot core. The intensities of the C18O lines are well reproduced assuming that the C18O abundance decreases through the protostellar envelope from the outer edge towards the centre until the point where the gas and dust reach the CO evaporation temperature (~20-25 K) where the C18O is released back to the gas phase. Once the C18O is released to the gas phase, the modelled C18O abundance is found to be ~1.6x10^{-8}, which is a factor of 10 lower than the reference abundance. This result is supported by the non-detection of C18O 9-8, which proves that even in the hot core (T_k>100 K) the CO abundance must be 10 times lower than the reference value. Several scenarios are discussed to explain this C18O deficiency. One possible explanation is that during the pre-stellar and protostellar phase, the CO is removed from the grain mantles by reactions to form more complex molecules. Our HDO modeling shows that the emission of HDO 3_{12}-2_{21} line is maser and comes from the hot core (T_k>100 K). Assuming the physical structure derived by Crimier et al. (2010), we determine a HDO abundance of ~0.4 - 1x10^{-7} in the hot core of this IM protostar, similar to that found in the hot corinos NGC 1333 IRAS 2A and IRAS 16293-2422.