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Deuterium Fractionation and Ionization Degree in Massive Protostellar/cluster Cores

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 March 2013

Huei-Ru Chen
Affiliation:
Institute of Astronomy & Department of Physics, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu 30013, Taiwan email: hchen@phys.nthu.edu.tw
Sheng-Yuan Liu
Affiliation:
Institute of Astronomy & Astrophysics, Academia Sinica, Taipei 10617, Taiwan email: syliu@asiaa.sinica.edu.tw, ynsu@asiaa.sinica.edu.tw
Yu-Nung Su
Affiliation:
Institute of Astronomy & Astrophysics, Academia Sinica, Taipei 10617, Taiwan email: syliu@asiaa.sinica.edu.tw, ynsu@asiaa.sinica.edu.tw
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Abstract

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We have conducted a survey of deuterium fractionation of N2H+, RD(N2H+) ≡ N(N2D+)/N(N2H+), with the Arizona Radio Observatory (ARO) Submillimeter Telescope (SMT) to assess the use of RD(N2H+) as an evolutionary tracer among massive protostellar/cluster cores in early stages. Our sample includes 32 dense cores in various evolutionary stages, from high-mass starless cores (HMSCs), high-mass protostellar objects (HMPOs), to ultra-compact (UC) HII regions, in infrared dark clouds (IRDCs) and high infrared extinction clouds. The results show a decreasing trend in deuterium fractionation with evolutionary stage traced by gas temperature and line width (Fig. 1). A moderate increasing trend of deuterium fractionation with the CO depletion factor is also found among cores in IRDCs and HMSCs. These suggest a general chemical behavior of deuterated species in low- and high-mass protostellar candidates. Upper limits to the ionization degree are also estimated to be in the range of 4 × 10−8 − 5 × 10−6.

Type
Contributed Papers
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2013

References

Chen, H.-R., Liu, S.-Y., Su, Y.-N., & Wang, M.-Y. 2011, ApJ, 743, 196Google Scholar
Rygl, K. L. J., Wyrowski, F., Schuller, F., & Menten, K. M. 2010, A&A, 515, 42Google Scholar