First detection of a deuterated molecule in a starburst environment within NGC 253

TL;DR

This paper reports the first detection of a deuterated molecule, DCN, in a starburst galaxy NGC 253 outside the Local Group, providing new insights into deuterium chemistry in extragalactic environments.

Contribution

It presents the first robust detection of a deuterated molecule in a starburst galaxy and constrains deuterium fractionation in an extragalactic context.

Findings

Detected DCN in NGC 253's nuclear region.

Estimated D/H ratio of DCN between 5×10⁻⁴ and 10×10⁻⁴.

Found D/H upper limit of 8×10⁻⁵ from DCO⁺, close to cosmic D/H value.

Abstract

Deuterium was primarily created during the Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN). This fact, alongside its fractionation reactions resulting in enhanced abundances of deuterated molecules, means that these abundances can be used to better understand many processes within the interstellar medium (ISM), as well as its history. Previously, observations of deuterated molecules have been limited to the Galaxy, the Magellanic Clouds and (with respect to HD) to quasar absorption spectra. We present the first robust detection of a deuterated molecule in a starburst environment and, besides HD, the first one detected outside the Local Group. We therefore can constrain the deuterium fractionation, as observed by DCN. We observed the CMZ of the nearby starburst galaxy NGC 253 covering multiple Giant Molecular Clouds (GMC) with cloud scale observations ($\sim 30$ pc) using ALMA. Via the use of the \texttt{MADCUBA} package we were able to perform LTE analysis in order to obtain deuterium fractionation estimates. We detect DCN in the nuclear region of the starburst galaxy NGC 253 and estimate the deuterium fractionation (D/H ratio) of DCN within the GMCs of the CMZ of NGC 253. We find a range of $5 \times 10^{-4}$ to $10 \times 10^{-4}$, relatively similar to the values observed in warm Galactic star-forming regions. We also determine an upper limit of D/H of $8 \times 10^{-5}$ from DCO\plus within one region, closer to the cosmic value of D/H. Our observations of deuterated molecules within NGC 253 appear to be consistent with previous galactic studies of star forming regions. This implies that warmer gas temperatures increase the abundance of DCN relative to other deuterated species. This study also further expands the regions, particularly in the extragalactic domain, in which deuterated species have been detected.