EPISODE IV: Ice Inventory in the Envelope of EC 53
Jaeyeong Kim, Jeong-Eun Lee, Chul-Hwan Kim, Seokho Lee, Giseon Baek, Seonjae Lee, Yao-Lun Yang, Yuri Aikawa, Gregory J. Herczeg, Doug Johnstone, Joel D. Green, and Woong-Seob Jeong

TL;DR
This study analyzes JWST spectra of protostar EC 53 to characterize its ice composition, finding no significant change during brightness variations and highlighting its rich, stable ice reservoir as a benchmark for protostellar ice evolution.
Contribution
First detailed JWST-based ice inventory of EC 53, revealing stable ice features across phases and providing a benchmark for episodic accretion studies.
Findings
No measurable change in ice absorption bands between quiescent and burst phases.
Major ice species' abundances exceed typical values in other protostars.
EC 53's ice reservoir is chemically rich and thermally quiescent.
Abstract
We present the 1.628 m spectra of the young protostar EC 53, obtained with JWST NIRSpec IFU and MIRI MRS during the quiescent and burst phases of its periodic brightness variations. To isolate ice absorption features, we modeled and removed the mid-infrared silicate dust absorption using a dedicated continuum-fitting procedure. In the optical depth spectrum, we first fit the broad HO ice features and then decomposed the major ice components, including NH, CO, CHOH, CO, and CH, by matching laboratory profiles for both pure and HO-mixed ices. The 4.62 m and 6.85 m bands are attributed to OCN and NH ions, respectively. Minor or tentative contributions from complex species (HCOOH, HCO, CHCOOH, CHCHO, CHCHOH, and NHCHO) are also considered to our global ice analysis. The silicate-corrected spectra reveal no…
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