Barnes, AT, Kong, S, Tan, JC, Henshaw, JD, Caselli, P, Jiménez-Serra, I and Fontani, F (2016) Widespread deuteration across the IRDC G035.39-00.33. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 458 (2). pp. 1990-1998. ISSN 0035-8711

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Abstract

© 2016 The Authors. Infrared Dark Clouds (IRDCs) are cold, dense regions that are usually found within Giant Molecular Clouds. Ongoing star formation within IRDCs is typically still deeply embedded within the surrounding molecular gas. Characterizing the properties of relatively quiescent IRDCs may therefore help us to understand the earliest phases of the star formation process. Studies of local molecular clouds have revealed that deuterated species are enhanced in the earliest phases of star formation. In this paper, we test this towards IRDC G035.39-00.33. We present an 80 arcsec by 140 arcsec map of the J = 2 → 1 transition of N2D+, obtained with the Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique 30 m telescope telescope. We find that N2D+ is widespread throughout G035.39-00.33. Complementary observations of N2H+ (1 - 0) are used to estimate the deuterium fraction, DN2H+ frac ≡ N(N2D+)/N(N2H+). We report a mean DN2H+ frac = 0.04 ± 0.01, with a maximum of DN2H+ frac = 0.09 ± 0.02. The mean deuterium fraction is ~3 orders of magnitude greater than the interstellar [D]/[H] ratio. High angular resolution observations are required to exclude beam dilution effects of compact deuterated cores. Using chemical modelling, we find that the average observed values of DN2H+ frac are in agreement with an equilibrium deuterium fraction, given the general properties of the cloud. This implies that the IRDC is at least ~3 Myr old, which is ~8 times longer than the mean free-fall time of the observed deuterated region.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced PDF of an article accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society following peer review. The version of record "Widespread deuteration across the IRDC G035.39-00.33" is available online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stw403
Uncontrolled Keywords:	0201 Astronomical And Space Sciences
Subjects:	Q Science > QB Astronomy
Divisions:	Astrophysics Research Institute
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Date Deposited:	09 May 2016 10:44
Last Modified:	02 Aug 2022 15:50
DOI or ID number:	10.1093/mnras/stw403
URI:	https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/3586

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