Deuterium Chemistry in the Young Massive Protostellar Core NGC 2264 CMM3

TL;DR

This study models deuterium chemistry in the young massive protostellar core NGC 2264 CMM3, revealing its sensitivity to environmental physical conditions and estimating its early evolutionary stage.

Contribution

First modeling of deuterium chemistry in NGC 2264 CMM3, analyzing environmental sensitivities and estimating its age and physical conditions.

Findings

Deuteration affected by core density, gas depletion, and CR ionisation rate.

Deuteration insensitive to H2 ortho-to-para ratio variations.

Best fit to observations at 1-5 x 10^4 years with specific density and ionisation rate ranges.

Abstract

In this work we present the first attempt of modelling the deuterium chemistry in the massive young protostellar core NGC 2264 CMM3. We investigated the sensitivity of this chemistry to the physical conditions in its surrounding environment. The results showed that deuteration, in the protostellar gas, is affected by variations in the core density, the amount of gas depletion onto grain surfaces, the CR ionisation rate, but it is insensitive to variations in the H$_2$ ortho-to-para ratio. Our results, also, showed that deuteration is often enhanced in less-dense, partially depleted ($<$ 85\%), or cores that are exerted to high CR ionisation rates ($\ge$ 6.5 $\times$ 10$^{-17}$ s$^{-1}$ ). However, in NGC 2264 CMM3, decreasing the amount of gas depleted onto grains and enhancing the CR ionisation rate are often overestimating the observed values in the core. The best fit time to observations occurs around (1 - 5) $\times$ 10$^4$ yrs for core densities in the range (1 - 5) $\times$ 10$^6$ cm$^{-3}$ with CR ionisation rate between (1.7 - 6.5)$\times$ 10$^{-17}$ s$^{-1}$. These values are in agreement with the results of the most recent theoretical chemical model of CMM3, and the time range of best fit is, also, in-line with the estimated age of young protostellar objects. We conclude that deuterium chemistry in protostellar cores is: (i) sensitive to variations in the physical conditions in its environment, %(ii) deuteration in the protostellar gas is (ii) insensitive to changes in the H$_2$ ortho-to-para ratio. %, but is sensitive to these variations in the dark cloud phase. We also conclude that the core NGC 2264 CMM3 is in its early stages of chemical evolution with an estimated age of (1 - 5) $\times$ 10$^4$ yrs.