Person:

Salinas, Victoria

Context: Deuterium fractionation has been used to study the thermal history of pre-stellar environments. Their formation pathways trace different regions of the disk and may shed light into the disk’s physical structure, including locations of important features for planetary formation. Aims: We aim to constrain the radial extent of main deuterated species; we are particularly interested in spatially characterizing the high and low temperature pathways for enhancing deuteration of these species. Methods: We observed the disk surrounding the Herbig Ae star HD 163296 using ALMA in Band 6 and obtained resolved spectral imaging data of DCO + + ′′ ′′ ′′ ′′ (J=3–2), DCN (J=3–2) and N2D (J=3–2) with synthesized beam sizes of 0. 53× 0. 42, 0. 53× 0. 42 and ′′ ′′ 0. 50× 0. 39 respectively. We adopt a physical model of the disk from the literature and use the 3D radiative transfer code LIME to estimate an excitation temperature profile for our detected lines. We model the radial emission profiles of DCO+, DCN and N2D+, assuming their emission is optically thin, using a parametric model of their abundances and our excitation temperature estimates. Results. DCO+ can be described by a three-region model, with constant-abundance rings centered at 70 AU, 150 AU and 260 AU. The DCN radial profile peaks at about 60 AU and N2D+ is seen in a ring at 160 AU. Simple models of both molecules using constant abundances reproduce the data. Assuming reasonable average excitation temperatures for the whole disk, their disk-averaged column densities (and deuterium fractionation ratios) are 1.6–2.6×1012 cm−2 (0.04–0.07), 2.9–5.2×1012 cm−2 (∼0.02) and 1.6–2.5 ×1011 cm−2 (0.34–0.45) for DCO+, DCN and N2D+, respectively. Conclusions: Our simple best-fit models show a correlation between the radial location of the first two rings in DCO+ and the DCN and N2D+ abundance distributions that can be interpreted as the high and low temperature deuteration pathways regimes. The origin of the third DCO+ ring at 260 AU is unknown but may be due to a local decrease of ultraviolet opacity allowing the photodesorption of CO or due to thermal desorption of CO as a consequence of radial drift and settlement of dust grains. The derived deuterium fractionation values agree with previous estimates of 0.05 for DCO+/HCO+ and 0.02 for DCN/HCN in HD163296, and 0.3-0.5 for N2D+/N2H+ in AS 209, a T Tauri disk. The high N2D+/N2H+ confirms N2D+ as a good candidate for tracing ionization in the cold outer disk.

Context: The gas and dust in circumstellar disks provide the raw materials to form planets. The study of organic molecules and their building blocks in such disks offers insight into the origin of the prebiotic environment of terrestrial planets. Aims: We aim to determine the distribution of formaldehyde, H2CO, in the disk around HD 163296 to assess the contribution of gas- and solid-phase formation routes of this simple organic. Methods: Three formaldehyde lines were observed (H2CO 303–202, H2CO 322–221, and H2CO 321–220) in the protoplanetary disk around the Herbig Ae star HD 163296 with ALMA at ~0.5″ (60 AU) spatial resolution. Different parameterizations of the H2CO abundance were compared to the observed visibilities, using either a characteristic temperature, a characteristic radius or a radial power law index to describe the H2CO chemistry. Similar models were applied to ALMA Science Verification data of C18O. In each scenario, χ2 minimization on the visibilities was used to determine the best-fit model in each scenario. Results: H2CO 303–202 was readily detected via imaging, while the weaker H2CO 322–221 and H2CO 321–220 lines required matched filter analysis to detect. H2CO is present throughout most of the gaseous disk, extending out to ~550 AU. An apparent 50 AU inner radius of the H2CO emission is likely caused by an optically thick dust continuum. The H2CO radial intensity profile shows a peak at ~100 AU and a secondary bump at ~300 AU, suggesting increased production in the outer disk. In all modeling scenarios, fits to the H2CO data show an increased abundance in the outer disk. The overall best-fit H2CO model shows a factor of two enhancement beyond a radius of 270 ± 20 AU, with an inner abundance (relative to H2) of 2 − 5 × 10-12. The H2CO emitting region has a lower limit on the kinetic temperature of T> 20 K. The C18O modeling suggests an order of magnitude depletion of C18O in the outer disk and an abundance of 4 − 12 × 10-8 in the inner disk. Conclusions: There is a desorption front seen in the H2CO emission that roughly coincides with the outer edge of the 1.3 millimeter continuum. The increase in H2CO outer disk emission could be a result of hydrogenation of CO ices on dust grains that are then sublimated via thermal desorption or UV photodesorption. Alternatively, there could be more efficient gas-phase production of H2CO beyond ~300 AU if CO is photodisocciated in this region.