Deuterated Formaldehyde in the low mass protostar HH212

TL;DR

This study reports ALMA observations of deuterated formaldehyde (HDCO) in the HH212 protostar, revealing its association with outflow regions and suggesting active gas-phase formation in the hot central area.

Contribution

First detection and analysis of HDCO in HH212, providing insights into its distribution, chemistry, and formation processes in a low-mass protostellar system.

Findings

HDCO emission is linked to the outflow base.

HDCO shows rotation not aligned with the disk.

Gas-phase formation of HDCO is active in the hot core.

Abstract

HH212, a nearby (400 pc) object in Orion, is a Class 0 protostellar system with a Keplerian disk and collimated bipolar SiO jets. Deuterated water, HDO and a deuterated complex molecule, methanol (CH2DOH) have been reported in the source. Here, we report the HDCO (deuterated formaldehyde) line observation from ALMA data to probe the inner region of HH212. We compare HDCO line with other molecular lines to understand the possible chemistry and physics of the source. The distribution of HDCO emission suggests it may be associated with the base of the outflow. The emission also shows a rotation but it is not associated with the Keplerian rotation of disk or the rotating infalling envelope, rather it is associated with the outflow as previously seen in C 34 S. From the possible deuterium fractionation, we speculate that the gas phase formation of deuterated formaldehyde is active in the central hot region of the low-mass protostar system, HH212.