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The first detections of the key prebiotic molecule PO in star-forming regions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 September 2018

Víctor M. Rivilla ,
Francesco Fontani ,
Maite Beltrán ,
Anton Vasyunin ,
Paola Caselli ,
Jesús Martín-Pintado  and
Riccardo Cesaroni
Víctor M. Rivilla
Affiliation:
Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri Largo Enruco Fermi, 50125, Florence, Italy email: rivilla@arcetri.astro.it
Francesco Fontani
Affiliation:
Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri Largo Enruco Fermi, 50125, Florence, Italy email: rivilla@arcetri.astro.it
Maite Beltrán
Affiliation:
Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri Largo Enruco Fermi, 50125, Florence, Italy email: rivilla@arcetri.astro.it
Anton Vasyunin
Affiliation:
Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Giessenbachstrasse 1, 85748, Garching, Germany
Paola Caselli
Affiliation:
Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Giessenbachstrasse 1, 85748, Garching, Germany
Jesús Martín-Pintado
Affiliation:
Centro de Astrobiología (CSIC-INTA) Ctra. de Torrejón a Ajalvir km 4, 28850, Torrejón de Ardoz, Spain
Riccardo Cesaroni
Affiliation:
Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri Largo Enruco Fermi, 50125, Florence, Italy email: rivilla@arcetri.astro.it
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Abstract

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Phosphorus is a crucial element in prebiotic chemistry, especially the P−O bond, which is key for the formation of the backbone of the deoxyribonucleic acid. So far, PO had only been detected towards the envelope of evolved stars, and never towards star-forming regions. We report the first detection of PO towards two massive star-forming regions, W51 e1/e2 and W3(OH), using data from the IRAM 30m telescope. PN has also been detected towards the two regions. The abundance ratio PO/PN is 1.8 and 3 for W51 and W3(OH), respectively. Our chemical model indicates that the two molecules are chemically related and are formed via gas-phase ion-molecule and neutral-neutral reactions during the cold collapse. The molecules freeze out onto grains at the end of the collapse and desorb during the warm-up phase once the temperature reaches ~35 K. The observed molecular abundances of 10−10 are predicted by the model if a relatively high initial abundance of 5× 10−9 of initial phosphorus is assumed.

Keywords

ISM: moleculesISM: abundancesstars: formation
Type
Contributed Papers
Information
Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union , Volume 13 , Symposium S332: Astrochemistry VII: Through the Cosmos from Galaxies to Planets , March 2017 , pp. 409 - 414
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2018 

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