Astrochemistry at cloud scales: warm vs cold deuteration in Orion

Supervisor: Alvaro Hacar

 

Contact information: alvaro.hacar@univie.ac.at 

 

Expected duration: 9 months

 

 

Project description & Goals:

Deuterated molecules are regularly used a probes of the densest phases of early-star formation. Thanks to the increased sensitivity of sub-mm telescopes such as ALMA, deuteration is nowadays employed on the study from dense cores to massive star-forming regions. The origin of deuterated species and their emission variations in molecular clouds is, however, matter of strong debates. In a recent observational campaign, we have observed a series of deuterated species in the Orion A cloud such as N2D+, NH2D, DCN, DCO+... Our results show different deuteration levels as function of temperature. This project aims to investigate and characterize how the two current chemical scenarios proposed for deuteration in clouds, namely, warm a cold formation routes, can explain the emission distribution observed in this prototypical region.

 

 

Working plan & Milestones (including final thesis)

    1. Literature and introduction to the methodology

    2. Obtain maps of different deuterated species in Orion A

    3. Produce line emission ratios

    4. Compare emission maps and ratios with gas/dust column density + temperature

    5. Investigate the origin of both warm + cold deuteration mechanisms

    6. Write Master Thesis

Requirements / special skills: Basic python knowledge is recommended

References:

A similar analysis although at smaller scales can be found in Salinas et al 2018: https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/pdf/2018/08/aa31745-17.pdf