Isotopic fractionation of carbon, deuterium and nitrogen : a full chemical study

TL;DR

This study uses a detailed chemical model to investigate isotopic fractionation in interstellar molecules, revealing new insights into nitrogen and carbon isotope ratios and challenging previous assumptions about isotopic abundances.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive gas-phase chemical network including D, 13C, and 15N species, providing new explanations for isotopic ratios in interstellar molecules.

Findings

Ammonia enriched in 15N, consistent with observations.

N2H+ ratio close to elemental value, contrary to previous models.

Nitriles and isonitriles are significantly depleted in 13C.

Abstract

Context. The increased sensitivity and high spectral resolution of millimeter telescopes allow the detection of an increasing number of isotopically substituted molecules in the interstellar medium. The 14N/ 15N ratio is difficult to measure directly for carbon containing molecules. Aims. We want to check the underlying hypothesis that the 13C/ 12C ratio of nitriles and isonitriles is equal to the elemental value via a chemical time dependent gas phase chemical model. Methods. We have built a chemical network containing D, 13C and 15N molecular species after a careful check of the possible fractionation reactions at work in the gas phase. Results. Model results obtained for 2 different physical conditions corresponding respectively to a moderately dense cloud in an early evolutionary stage and a dense depleted pre-stellar core tend to show that ammonia and its singly deuterated form are somewhat enriched in 15N, in agreement with observations. The 14N/ 15N ratio in N2H+ is found to be close to the elemental value, in contrast to previous models which obtain a significant enrichment, as we found that the fractionation reaction between 15N and N2H+ has a barrier in the entrance channel. The large values of the N2H+/15NNH+ and N2H+/ N15NH+ ratios derived in L1544 cannot be reproduced in our model. Finally we find that nitriles and isonitriles are in fact significantly depleted in 13C, questioning previous interpretations of observed C15N, HC15N and H15NC abundances from 13C containing isotopologues.