# Formation and Atmosphere of Complex Organic Molecules of the HH 212 Protostellar Disk

## TL;DR

This study spatially resolves complex organic molecules in the atmosphere of a young protostellar disk, revealing their formation within the disk rather than the envelope, and provides insights into early star formation chemistry.

## Contribution

First spatially resolved observations of COMs in a Class 0 protostellar disk's atmosphere, constraining their formation and distribution during early star formation.

## Key findings

- COMs detected within 40 AU of the protostar
- COMs are located in the disk atmosphere, not the envelope
- A centrifugal barrier at ~44 AU marks the transition to a Keplerian disk

## Abstract

HH 212 is a nearby (400 pc) Class 0 protostellar system recently found to host a "hamburger"-shaped dusty disk with a radius of ~ 60 AU, deeply embedded in an infalling-rotating flattened envelope. We have spatially resolved this envelope-disk system with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array at up to ~ 16 AU (0.04") resolution. The envelope is detected in HCO+ J=4-3 down to the dusty disk. Complex organic molecules (COMs) and doubly deuterated formaldehyde (D2CO) are detected above and below the dusty disk within ~ 40 AU of the central protostar. The COMs are methanol (CH3OH), deuterated methanol (CH2DOH), methyl mercaptan (CH3SH), and formamide (NH2CHO, a prebiotic precursor). We have modeled the gas kinematics in HCO+ and COMs, and found a centrifugal barrier at a radius of ~ 44 AU, within which a Keplerian rotating disk is formed. This indicates that HCO+ traces the infalling-rotating envelope down to centrifugal barrier and COMs trace the atmosphere of a Keplerian rotating disk within the centrifugal barrier. The COMs are spatially resolved for the first time, both radially and vertically, in the atmosphere of a disk in the earliest, Class 0 phase of star formation. Our spatially resolved observations of COMs favor their formation in the disk rather than a rapidly infalling (warm) inner envelope. The abundances and spatial distributions of the COMs provide strong constraints on models of their formation and transport in low-mass star formation.