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Young low-mass protostars often possess hot corinos, compact, hot and dense regions bright in interstellar Complex Organic Molecules (iCOMs). Besides of their prebiotic role, iCOMs can be used as a powerful tool to characterize the chemical and physical properties of hot corinos. Using ALMA/FAUST data we aim to explore the iCOMs emission at < 50 au scale around the Class 0 prototypical hot corino IRAS 4A2. We imaged IRAS 4A2 in six abundant, common iCOMs (CH$_3$OH, HCOOCH$_3$, CH$_3$CHO, CH$_3$CH$_2$OH, CH$_2$OHCHO, and NH$_2$CHO), and derived their emitting size. The column density and gas temperature for each species were derived at 1$\sigma$ from a multi-line analysis by applying a non-LTE approach for CH$_3$OH, and LTE population or rotational diagram analysis for the other iCOMs. Thanks to the unique estimates of the absorption from foreground millimeter dust toward IRAS 4A2, we derived for the first time unbiased gas temperatures and column densities. We resolved the IRAS 4A2 hot corino finding evidence for a chemical spatial distribution in the inner 50 au, with the outer emitting radius increasing from ~ 22-23 au for NH$_2$CHO and CH$_2$OHCHO, followed by CH$_3$CH$_2$OH (~ 27 au), CH$_3$CHO (~ 28 au), HCOOCH$_3$ (~ 36 au), and out to ~ 40 au for CH$_3$OH. Combining our estimate of the gas temperature probed by each iCOM with their beam-deconvolved emission sizes, we inferred the gas temperature profile of the hot corino on scales of 20-50 au in radius, finding a power-law index $q$ of approximately -1. We observed, for the first time, a chemical segregation in iCOMs of the IRAS 4A2 hot corino, and derived the gas temperature profile of its inner envelope. The derived profile is steeper than when considering a simple spherical collapsing and optically-thin envelope, hinting at a partially optically-thick envelope or a gravitationally unstable disk-like structure., Comment: 21 pages, 16 figures, 4 tables. Accepted in A&A

When the planet formation process begins in the disks surrounding young stars is still an open question. Annular substructures such as rings and gaps in disks are intertwined with planet formation, and thus their presence or absence is commonly used to investigate the onset of this process. Current observations show a limited number of disks surrounding protostars exhibiting annular substructures, all of them in the Class I stage. The lack of observed features in most of these sources may indicate a late emergence of substructures, but it could also be an artifact of these disks being optically thick. To mitigate the problem of optical depth, we investigate substructures within a very young Class 0 disk characterized by a low inclination using observations at longer wavelengths. We use 3 mm ALMA observations tracing dust emission at a resolution of 7 au to search for evidence of annular substructures in the disk around the deeply embedded Class 0 protostar Oph A SM1. The observations reveal a nearly face-on disk (i$\sim$16$^{\circ}$) extending up to 40 au. The radial intensity profile shows a clear deviation from a smooth profile near 30 au, which we interpret as the presence of either a gap at 28 au or a ring at 34 au with Gaussian widths of $\sigma=1.4^{+2.3}_{-1.2}$ au and $\sigma=3.9^{+2.0}_{-1.9}$ au, respectively. The 3 mm emission at the location of the possible gap or ring is determined to be optically thin, precluding the possibility that this feature in the intensity profile is due to the emission being optically thick. Annular substructures resembling those in the more evolved Class I and II disks could indeed be present in the Class 0 stage, earlier than previous observations suggested. Similar observations of embedded disks in which the high optical depth problem can be mitigated are clearly needed to better constrain the onset of substructures in the embedded stages., Comment: 12 pages, 7 figures, 2 tables. Accepted for publication in A&A Letters

Recent observations suggest that planets formation starts early, in protostellar disks of $\le10^5$ yrs, which are characterized by strong interactions with the environment, e.g., through accretion streamers and molecular outflows. To investigate the impact of such phenomena on disk physical and chemical properties it is key to understand what chemistry planets inherit from their natal environment. In the context of the ALMA Large Program Fifty AU STudy of the chemistry in the disk/envelope system of Solar-like protostars (FAUST), we present observations on scales from ~1500 au to ~60 au of H$_2$CO, HDCO, and D$_2$CO towards the young planet-forming disk IRS~63. H$_2$CO probes the gas in the disk as well as in a large scale streamer (~1500 au) impacting onto the South-East (SE) disk side. We detect for the first time deuterated formaldehyde, HDCO and D$_2$CO, in a planet-forming disk, and HDCO in the streamer that is feeding it. This allows us to estimate the deuterium fractionation of H$_2$CO in the disk: [HDCO]/[H$_2$CO]$\sim0.1-0.3$ and [D$_2$CO]/[H$_2$CO]$\sim0.1$. Interestingly, while HDCO follows the H$_2$CO distribution in the disk and in the streamer, the distribution of D$_2$CO is highly asymmetric, with a peak of the emission (and [D]/[H] ratio) in the SE disk side, where the streamer crashes onto the disk. In addition, D$_2$CO is detected in two spots along the blue- and red-shifted outflow. This suggests that: (i) in the disk, HDCO formation is dominated by gas-phase reactions similarly to H$_2$CO, while (ii) D$_2$CO was mainly formed on the grain mantles during the prestellar phase and/or in the disk itself, and is at present released in the gas-phase in the shocks driven by the streamer and the outflow. These findings testify on the key role of streamers in the build-up of the disk both concerning the final mass available for planet formation and its chemical composition., Comment: 12 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication on A&A

Context. Understanding the connection between outflows, winds, accretion and disks in the inner protostellar regions is crucial for comprehending star and planet formation process. Aims. We aim to we explore the inner 300 au of the protostar IRAS 4A2 as part of the ALMA FAUST Large Program. Methods. We analysed the kinematical structures of SiO and CH$_3$OH emission with 50 au resolution. Results. The emission arises from three zones: i) a very compact and unresolved region ($<$50 au) dominated by the ice sublimation zone, at $\pm$1.5 km s$^{-1}$ with respect to vsys, traced by methanol; ii) an intermediate region (between 50 au and 150 au) traced by both SiO and CH$_3$OH, between 2 and 6 km s$^{-1}$ with respect to vsys, with an inverted velocity gradient (with respect to the large scale emission), whose origin is not clear; iii) an extended region ($>$150 au) traced by SiO, above 7 km s$^{-1}$ with respect to vsys, and dominated by the outflow. In the intermediate region we estimated a CH$_3$OH/SiO abundance ratio of about 120-400 and a SiO/H$_2$ abundance of 10$^{-8}$. We explored various possibilities to explain the origin of this region such as, rotating disk/inner envelope, jet on the plane of the sky/precessing, wide angle disk wind. Conclusions. We propose that CH$_3$OH and SiO in the inner 100 au probe the base of a wide-angle disk wind. The material accelerated in the wind crosses the plane of the sky, giving rise to the observed inverted velocity gradient, and sputtering the grain mantles and cores releasing CH$_3$OH and SiO. This is the first detection of a disk wind candidate in SiO, and the second ever in CH$_3$OH., Comment: Accepted in A&A Letters

The origin of the chemical diversity observed around low-mass protostars probably resides in the earliest history of these systems. We aim to investigate the impact of protostellar feedback on the chemistry and grain growth in the circumstellar medium of multiple stellar systems. In the context of the ALMA Large Program FAUST, we present high-resolution (50 au) observations of CH$_3$OH, H$_2$CO, and SiO and continuum emission at 1.3 mm and 3 mm towards the Corona Australis star cluster. Methanol emission reveals an arc-like structure at $\sim$1800 au from the protostellar system IRS7B along the direction perpendicular to the major axis of the disc. The arc is located at the edge of two elongated continuum structures that define a cone emerging from IRS7B. The region inside the cone is probed by H$_2$CO, while the eastern wall of the arc shows bright emission in SiO, a typical shock tracer. Taking into account the association with a previously detected radio jet imaged with JVLA at 6 cm, the molecular arc reveals for the first time a bow shock driven by IRS7B and a two-sided dust cavity opened by the mass-loss process. For each cavity wall, we derive an average H$_2$ column density of $\sim$7$\times$10$^{21}$ cm$^{-2}$, a mass of $\sim$9$\times$10$^{-3}$ M$_\odot$, and a lower limit on the dust spectral index of $1.4$. These observations provide the first evidence of a shock and a conical dust cavity opened by the jet driven by IRS7B, with important implications for the chemical enrichment and grain growth in the envelope of Solar System analogues., Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures, 3 tables. Accepted Letter in Astronomy & Astrophysics

More than 50% of solar-mass stars form in multiple systems. It is therefore crucial to investigate how multiplicity affects the star and planet formation processes at the protostellar stage. We report continuum and C$^{18}$O (2-1) observations of the VLA 1623-2417 protostellar system at 50 au angular resolution as part of the ALMA Large Program FAUST. The 1.3 mm continuum probes the disks of VLA 1623A, B, and W, and the circumbinary disk of the A1+A2 binary. The C$^{18}$O emission reveals, for the first time, the gas in the disk-envelope of VLA 1623W. We estimate the dynamical mass of VLA 1623W, $M_{\rm dyn}=0.45\pm0.08$ M$_{\odot}$, and the mass of its disk, $M_{\rm disk}\sim6\times10^{-3}$ M$_{\odot}$. C$^{18}$O also reveals streamers that extend up to 1000 au, spatially and kinematically connecting the envelope and outflow cavities of the A1+A2+B system with the disk of VLA 1623W. The presence of the streamers, as well as the spatial ($\sim$1300 au) and velocity ($\sim$2.2 km/s) offset of VLA 1623W suggest that either sources W and A+B formed in different cores, interacting between them, or that source W has been ejected from the VLA 1623 multiple system during its formation. In the latter case, the streamers may funnel material from the envelope and cavities of VLA 1623AB onto VLA 1623W, thus concurring to set its final mass and chemical content., Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, accepted by MNRAS

Methanol is a ubiquitous species commonly found in the molecular interstellar medium. It is also a crucial seed species for the building-up of the chemical complexity in star forming regions. Thus, understanding how its abundance evolves during the star formation process and whether it enriches the emerging planetary system is of paramount importance. We used new data from the ALMA Large Program FAUST (Fifty AU STudy of the chemistry in the disk/envelope system of Solar-like protostars) to study the methanol line emission towards the [BHB2007] 11 protobinary system (sources A and B), where a complex structure of filaments connecting the two sources with a larger circumbinary disk has been previously detected. Twelve methanol lines have been detected with upper energies in the range [45-537] K along with one 13CH3OH transition. The methanol emission is compact and encompasses both protostars, separated by only 28 au and presents three velocity components, not spatially resolved by our observations, associated with three different spatial regions, with two of them close to 11B and the third one associated with 11A. A non-LTE radiative transfer analysis of the methanol lines concludes that the gas is hot and dense and highly enriched in methanol with an abundance as high as 1e-5. Using previous continuum data, we show that dust opacity can potentially completely absorb the methanol line emission from the two binary objects. Although we cannot firmly exclude other possibilities, we suggest that the detected hot methanol is resulting from the shocked gas from the incoming filaments streaming towards [BHB2007] 11 A and B, respectively. Higher spatial resolution observations are necessary to confirm this hypothesis., Comment: 17 pages, accepted in A&A

In this era of spatially resolved observations of planet forming disks with ALMA and large ground-based telescopes such as the VLT, Keck and Subaru, we still lack statistically relevant information on the quantity and composition of the material that is building the planets, such as the total disk gas mass, the ice content of dust, and the state of water in planetesimals. SPICA is an infrared space mission concept developed jointly by JAXA and ESA to address these questions. The key unique capabilities of SPICA that enable this research are (1) the wide spectral coverage 10-220 micron, (2) the high line detection sensitivity of (1-2) 10-19 W m-2 with R~2000-5000 in the far-IR (SAFARI) and 10-20 W m-2 with R~29000 in the mid-IR (SMI, spectrally resolving line profiles), (3) the high far-IR continuum sensitivity of 0.45 mJy (SAFARI), and (4) the observing efficiency for point source surveys. This paper details how mid- to far-IR infrared spectra will be unique in measuring the gas masses and water/ice content of disks and how these quantities evolve during the planet forming period. These observations will clarify the crucial transition when disks exhaust their primordial gas and further planet formation requires secondary gas produced from planetesimals. The high spectral resolution mid-IR is also unique for determining the location of the snowline dividing the rocky and icy mass reservoirs within the disk and how the divide evolves during the build-up of planetary systems. Infrared spectroscopy (mid- to far-IR) of key solid state bands is crucial for assessing whether extensive radial mixing, which is part of our Solar System history, is a general process occurring in most planetary systems and whether extrasolar planetesimals are similar to our Solar System comets/asteroids. ... (abbreviated), Comment: accepted for publication in PASA

Recent observations of the HDO/H$_2$O ratio toward protostars in isolated and clustered environments show an apparent dichotomy, where isolated sources show higher D/H ratios than clustered counterparts. Establishing which physical and chemical processes create this differentiation can provide insights into the chemical evolution of water during star formation and the chemical diversity during the star formation process and in young planetary systems. Methods: The evolution of water is modeled using 3D physicochemical models of a dynamic star-forming environment. The physical evolution during the protostellar collapse is described by tracer particles from a 3D MHD simulation of a molecular cloud region. Each particle trajectory is post-processed using RADMC-3D to calculate the temperature and radiation field. The chemical evolution is simulated using a three-phase grain-surface chemistry model and the results are compared with interferometric observations of H$_2$O, HDO, and D$_2$O in hot corinos toward low-mass protostars. Results: The physicochemical model reproduces the observed HDO/H$_2$O and D$_2$O/HDO ratios in hot corinos, but shows no correlation with cloud environment for similar identical conditions. The observed dichotomy in water D/H ratios requires variation in the initial conditions (e.g., the duration and temperature of the prestellar phase). Reproducing the observed D/H ratios in hot corinos requires a prestellar phase duration $t\sim$1-3 Myr and temperatures in the range $T \sim$ 10-20 K prior to collapse. This work demonstrates that the observed differentiation between clustered and isolated protostars stems from differences in the molecular cloud or prestellar core conditions and does not arise during the protostellar collapse itself., Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A

The study of hot corinos in Solar-like protostars has been so far mostly limited to the Class 0 phase, hampering our understanding of their origin and evolution. In addition, recent evidence suggests that planet formation starts already during Class I phase, which, therefore, represents a crucial step in the future planetary system chemical composition. Hence, the study of hot corinos in Class I protostars has become of paramount importance. Here we report the discovery of a hot corino towards the prototypical Class I protostar L1551 IRS5, obtained within the ALMA Large Program FAUST. We detected several lines from methanol and its isopotologues ($^{13}$CH$_{\rm 3}$OH and CH$_{\rm 2}$DOH), methyl formate and ethanol. Lines are bright toward the north component of the IRS5 binary system, and a possible second hot corino may be associated with the south component. The methanol lines non-LTE analysis constrains the gas temperature ($\sim$100 K), density ($\geq$1.5$\times$10$^{8}$ cm$^{-3}$), and emitting size ($\sim$10 au in radius). All CH$_{\rm 3}$OH and $^{13}$CH$_{\rm 3}$OH lines are optically thick, preventing a reliable measure of the deuteration. The methyl formate and ethanol relative abundances are compatible with those measured in Class 0 hot corinos. Thus, based on the present work, little chemical evolution from Class 0 to I hot corinos occurs., Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures

We present the first release of the data and compact-source catalogue for the JCMT Large Program SCUBA-2 Continuum Observations of Pre-protostellar Evolution (SCOPE). SCOPE consists of 850-um continuum observations of 1235 Planck Galactic Cold Clumps (PGCCs) made with the Submillimetre Common-User Bolometer Array 2 on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope. These data are at an angular resolution of 14.4 arcsec, significantly improving upon the 353-GHz resolution of Planck at 5 arcmin, and allowing for a catalogue of 3528 compact sources in 558 PGCCs. We find that the detected PGCCs have significant sub-structure, with 61 per cent of detected PGCCs having 3 or more compact sources, with filamentary structure also prevalent within the sample. A detection rate of 45 per cent is found across the survey, which is 95 per cent complete to Planck column densities of $N_{H_{2}}$ $>$ 5 $\times$ 10$^{21}$ cm$^{-2}$. By positionally associating the SCOPE compact sources with YSOs, the star formation efficiency, as measured by the ratio of luminosity to mass, in nearby clouds is found to be similar to that in the more distant Galactic Plane, with the column density distributions also indistinguishable from each other., Comment: 16 pages, 13 figures, 1 table. Accepted for publication in MNRAS

We used the Atacama Large (sub-)Millimeter Array (ALMA) and the IRAM Plateau de Bure Interferometer (PdBI) to image, with an angular resolution of 0.5$''$ (120 au) and 1$''$ (235 au), respectively, the emission from 11 different organic molecules in the protostellar binary NGC1333 IRAS 4A. We clearly disentangled A1 and A2, the two protostellar cores present. For the first time, we were able to derive the column densities and fractional abundances simultaneously for the two objects, allowing us to analyse the chemical differences between them. Molecular emission from organic molecules is concentrated exclusively in A2 even though A1 is the strongest continuum emitter. The protostellar core A2 displays typical hot corino abundances and its deconvolved size is 70 au. In contrast, the upper limits we placed on molecular abundances for A1 are extremely low, lying about one order of magnitude below prestellar values. The difference in the amount of organic molecules present in A1 and A2 ranges between one and two orders of magnitude. Our results suggest that the optical depth of dust emission at these wavelengths is unlikely to be sufficiently high to completely hide a hot corino in A1 similar in size to that in A2. Thus, the significant contrast in molecular richness found between the two sources is most probably real. We estimate that the size of a hypothetical hot corino in A1 should be less than 12 au. Our results favour a scenario in which the protostar in A2 is either more massive and/or subject to a higher accretion rate than A1, as a result of inhomogeneous fragmentation of the parental molecular clump. This naturally explains the smaller current envelope mass in A2 with respect to A1 along with its molecular richness., Comment: Accepted in Astronomy and Astrophysics

Pre-stellar cores represent the initial conditions in the process of star and planet formation, therefore it is important to study their physical and chemical structure. Because of their volatility, nitrogen-bearing molecules are key to study the dense and cold gas present in pre-stellar cores. The NH_3 rotational transition detected with Herschel-HIFI provides a unique combination of sensitivity and spectral resolution to further investigate physical and chemical processes in pre-stellar cores. Here we present the velocity-resolved Herschel-HIFI observations of the ortho-NH_3(1_0-0_0) line at 572 GHz and study the abundance profile of ammonia across the pre-stellar core L1544 to test current theories of its physical and chemical structure. Recently calculated collisional coefficients have been included in our non-LTE radiative transfer code to reproduce Herschel observations. A gas-grain chemical model, including spin-state chemistry and applied to the (static) physical structure of L1544 is also used to infer the abundance profile of ortho-NH_3 . The hyperfine structure of ortho-NH_3(1_0-0_0) is resolved for the first time in space. All the hyperfine components are strongly self-absorbed. The profile can be reproduced if the core is contracting in quasi-equilibrium, consistent with previous work, and if the NH_3 abundance is slightly rising toward the core centre, as deduced from previous interferometric observations of para-NH_3(1,1). The chemical model overestimates the NH_3 abundance at radii between ~ 4000 and 15000 AU by about two orders of magnitude and underestimates the abundance toward the core centre by more than one order of magnitude. Our observations show that chemical models applied to static clouds have problems in reproducing NH_3 observations., Comment: accepted for publication in A&A Letters

Recent interferometer observations have found that the D2O/HDO abundance ratio is higher than that of HDO/H2O by about one order of magnitude in the vicinity of low-mass protostar NGC 1333-IRAS 2A, where water ice has sublimated. Previous laboratory and theoretical studies show that the D2O/HDO ice ratio should be lower than the HDO/H2O ice ratio, if HDO and D2O ices are formed simultaneously with H2O ice. In this work, we propose that the observed feature, D2O/HDO > HDO/H2O, is a natural consequence of chemical evolution in the early cold stages of low-mass star formation: 1) majority of oxygen is locked up in water ice and other molecules in molecular clouds, where water deuteration is not efficient, and 2) water ice formation continues with much reduced efficiency in cold prestellar/protostellar cores, where deuteration processes are highly enhanced due to the drop of the ortho-para ratio of H2, the weaker UV radiation field, etc. Using a simple analytical model and gas-ice astrochemical simulations tracing the evolution from the formation of molecular clouds to protostellar cores, we show that the proposed scenario can quantitatively explain the observed HDO/H2O and D2O/HDO ratios. We also find that the majority of HDO and D2O ices are likely formed in cold prestellar/protostellar cores rather than in molecular clouds, where the majority of H2O ice is formed. This work demonstrates the power of the combination of the HDO/H2O and D2O/HDO ratios as a tool to reveal the past history of water ice formation in the early cold stages of star formation and when the enrichment of deuterium in the bulk of water occurred. Further observations are needed to explore if the relation, D2O/HDO > HDO/H2O, is common in low-mass protostellar sources., Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A

We investigate the water deuteration ratio and ortho-to-para nuclear spin ratio of H2 (OPR(H2)) during the formation and early evolution of a molecular cloud, following the scenario that accretion flows sweep and accumulate HI gas to form molecular clouds. We follow the physical evolution of post-shock materials using a one-dimensional shock model, with post-processing gas-ice chemistry simulations. This approach allows us to study the evolution of the OPR(H2) and water deuteration ratio without an arbitrary assumption concerning the initial molecular abundances, including the initial OPR(H2). When the conversion of hydrogen into H2 is almost complete, the OPR(H2) is already much smaller than the statistical value of three due to the spin conversion in the gas phase. As the gas accumulates, the OPR(H2) decreases in a non-equilibrium manner. We find that water ice can be deuterium-poor at the end of its main formation stage in the cloud, compared to water vapor observed in the vicinity of low-mass protostars where water ice is likely sublimated. If this is the case, the enrichment of deuterium in water should mostly occur at somewhat later evolutionary stages of star formation, i.e., cold prestellar/protostellar cores. The main mechanism to suppress water ice deuteration in the cloud is the cycle of photodissociation and reformation of water ice, which efficiently removes deuterium from water ice chemistry. The removal efficiency depends on the main formation pathway of water ice. The OPR(H2) plays a minor role in water ice deuteration at the main formation stage of water ice., Comment: Minor changes after language edition, including typo corrections in Eqs. (A.11) and (B.5) (Accepted for publication in A&A)

IRAS 16293-2422 is a well studied low-mass protostar characterized by a strong level of deuterium fractionation. In the line of sight of the protostellar envelope, an additional absorption layer, rich in singly and doubly deuterated water has been discovered by a detailed multiline analysis of HDO. To model the chemistry in this source, the gas-grain chemical code Nautilus has been used with an extended deuterium network. For the protostellar envelope, we solve the chemical reaction network in infalling fluid parcels in a protostellar core model. For the foreground cloud, we explored several physical conditions (density, cosmic ionization rate, C/O ratio). The main results of the paper are that gas-phase abundances of H2O, HDO and D2O observed in the inner regions of IRAS16293-2422 are lower than those predicted by a 1D dynamical/chemical (hot corino) model in which the ices are fully evaporated. The abundance in the outer part of the envelope present chaotic profiles due to adsorption/evaporation competition, very different from the constant abundance assumed for the analysis of the observations. We also found that the large abundances of gas-phase H2O, HDO and D2O observed in the absorption layer are more likely explained by exothermic surface reactions rather than photodesorption processes., Comment: 20 pages, 15 figures. This version is slightly different from the published one because of language editor's modifications

While recent studies of the solar-mass protostar IRAS16293-2422 have focused on its inner arcsecond, the wealth of Herschel/HIFI data has shown that the structure of the outer envelope and of the transition region to the more diffuse ISM is not clearly constrained. We use rotational ground-state transitions of CH (methylidyne), as a tracer of the lower-density envelope. Assuming LTE, we perform a $\chi^2$ minimization of the high spectral resolution HIFI observations of the CH transitions at ~532 and ~536 GHz in order to derive column densities in the envelope and in the foreground cloud. We obtain column densities of (7.7$\pm$0.2)$\times10^{13}$ cm$^{-2}$ and (1.5$\pm$0.3)$\times10^{13}$ cm$^{-2}$, respectively. The chemical modeling predicts column densities of (0.5-2)$\times10^{13}$ cm$^{-2}$ in the envelope (depending on the cosmic-ray ionization rate), and 5$\times10^{11}$ to 2.5$\times10^{14}$ cm$^{-2}$ in the foreground cloud (depending on time). Both observed abundances are reproduced by the model at a satisfactory level. The constraints set by these observations on the physical conditions in the foreground cloud are however weak. Furthermore, the CH abundance in the envelope is strongly affected by the rate coefficient of the reaction H+CH$\rightarrow$C+H$_2$ ; further investigation of its value at low temperature would be necessary to facilitate the comparison between the model and the observations., Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures ; accepted for publication in MNRAS

Chemical models predict that the deuterated fraction (the column density ratio between a molecule containing D and its counterpart containing H) of N2H+, Dfrac(N2H+), is high in massive pre-protostellar cores and rapidly drops of an order of magnitude after the protostar birth, while that of HNC, Dfrac(HNC), remains constant for much longer. We tested these predictions by deriving Dfrac(HNC) in 22 high-mass star forming cores divided in three different evolutionary stages, from high-mass starless core candidates (HMSCs, 8) to high-mass protostellar objects (HMPOs, 7) to Ultracompact HII regions (UCHIIs, 7). For all of them, Dfrac (N2H+) was already determined through IRAM-30m Telescope observations, which confirmed the theoretical rapid decrease of Dfrac(N2H+) after protostar birth (Fontani et al. 2011). Therefore our comparative study is not affected by biases introduced by the source selection. We have found average Dfrac(HNC) of 0.012, 0.009 and 0.008 in HMSCs, HMPOs and UCHIIs, respectively, with no statistically significant differences among the three evolutionary groups. These findings confirm the predictions of the chemical models, and indicate that large values of Dfrac(N2H+) are more suitable than large values of Dfrac(HNC) to identify cores on the verge of forming high-mass stars, likewise what found in the low-mass regime., Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, 1 Appendix with 6 extra-figures. Accepted for publication in MNRAS

We present near infrared spectroscopic observations of 19 molecular clouds made using the AKARI satellite, and the data reduction pipeline written to analyse those observations. The 2.5 --~5 $\mu$m spectra of 30 objects -- 22 field stars behind quiescent molecular clouds and eight low mass YSOs in cores -- were successfully extracted using the pipeline. Those spectra are further analysed to calculate the column densities of key solid phase molecular species, including H$_2$O, CO$_2$, CO, and OCN$^-$. The profile of the H$_2$O ice band is seen to vary across the objects observed and we suggest that the extended red wing may be an evolutionary indicator of both dust and ice mantle properties. The observation of 22 spectra with fluxes as low as $<$~5 mJy towards background stars, including 15 where the column densities of H$_2$O, CO and CO$_2$ were calculated, provides valuable data that could help to benchmark the initial conditions in star-forming regions prior to the onset of star formation., Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ

We report the first interstellar detection of c-C3D2. The doubly deuterated cyclopropenylidene, a carbene, has been detected toward the starless cores TMC- 1C and L1544 using the IRAM 30m telescope. The J(Ka,Kc) = 3(0,3)-2(1,2), 3(1,3)-2(0,2), and 2(2,1)-1(1,0) transitions of this species have been observed at 3 mm in both sources. The expected 1:2 intensity ratio has been found in the 3(0,3)-2(1,2) and 3(1,3)-2(0,2) lines, belonging to the para and ortho species respectively. We also observed lines of the main species, c-C3H2, the singly deuterated c-C3HD, and the species with one 13C off of the principal axis of the molecule, c-H13CC2H. The lines of c-C3D2 have been observed with high signal to noise ratio, better than 7.5 sigma in TMC-1C and 9 sigma in L1544. The abundance of doubly deuterated cyclopropenylidene with respect to the normal species is found to be (0.4 - 0.8)% in TMC-1C and (1.2 - 2.1)% in L1544. The deuteration of this small hydrocarbon ring is analysed with a comprehensive gas-grain model, the first including doubly deuterated species. The observed abundances of c-C3D2 can be explained solely by gas-phase processes, supporting the idea that c-C3H2 is a good indicator of gas-phase deuteration., Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ Letters

To investigate the composition and evolution of circumstellar ice around low-mass YSOs, we observed ice absorption bands in the near infrared (NIR) towards eight YSOs ranging from class 0 to class II, among which seven are associated with edge-on disks. We performed slit-less spectroscopic observations using the grism mode of the Infrared Camera (IRC) on board AKARI, which enables us to obtain full NIR spectra from 2.5 $\mu$m to 5 $\mu$m. The spectra were fitted with polynomial baselines to derive the absorption spectra. The molecular absorption bands were then fitted with the laboratory database of ice absorption bands, considering the instrumental line profile and the spectral resolution of the grism dispersion element. Towards the class 0-I sources (L1527, IRC-L1041-2, and IRAS04302), absorption bands of H$_2$O, CO$_2$, CO, and XCN are clearly detected. Column density ratios of CO$_2$ ice and CO ice relative to H$_2$O ice are 21-28% and 13-46%, respectively. If XCN is OCN$^-$, its column density is as high as 2-6% relative to H$_2$O ice. The HDO ice feature at 4.1 $\mu$m is tentatively detected towards the class 0-I sources and HV Tau. Non-detections of the CH-stretching mode features around 3.5 $\mu$m provide upper limits to the CH$_3$OH abundance of 26% (L1527) and 42% (IRAS04302) relative to H$_2$O. We tentatively detect OCS ice absorption towards IRC-L1041-2. Towards class 0-I sources, the detected features should mostly originate in the cold envelope, while CO gas and OCN$^-$ could originate in the region close to the protostar, where there are warm temperatures and UV radiation. We detect H$_2$O ice band towards ASR41 and 2MASSJ1628137-243139, which are edge-on class II disks. We also detect H$_2$O ice and CO$_2$ ice towards HV Tau, HK Tau, and UY Aur, and tentatively detect CO gas features towards HK Tau and UY Aur., Comment: Accepted to A&A

SWAS and Odin provided stringent upper limits on the gas phase water abundance of dark clouds (x(H2O) < 7x10^-9). We investigate the chemistry of water vapor in starless cores beyond the previous upper limits using the highly improved angular resolution and sensitivity of Herschel and measure the abundance of water vapor during evolutionary stages just preceding star formation. High spectral resolution observations of the fundamental ortho water (o-H2O) transition (557 GHz) were carried out with Herschel HIFI toward two starless cores: B68, a Bok globule, and L1544, a prestellar core embedded in the Taurus molecular cloud complex. The rms in the brightness temperature measured for the B68 and L1544 spectra is 2.0 and 2.2 mK, respectively, in a velocity bin of 0.59 km s^-1. The continuum level is 3.5+/-0.2 mK in B68 and 11.4+/-0.4 mK in L1544. No significant feature is detected in B68 and the 3 sigma upper limit is consistent with a column density of o-H2O N(o-H2O) < 2.5x10^13 cm^-2, or a fractional abundance x(o-H2O) < 1.3x10^-9, more than an order of magnitude lower than the SWAS upper limit on this source. The L1544 spectrum shows an absorption feature at a 5 sigma level from which we obtain the first value of the o-H2O column density ever measured in dark clouds: N(o-H2O) = (8+/-4)x10^12 cm^-2. The corresponding fractional abundance is x(o-H2O) ~ 5x10^-9 at radii > 7000 AU and ~2x10^-10 toward the center. The radiative transfer analysis shows that this is consistent with a x(o-H2O) profile peaking at ~10^-8, 0.1 pc away from the core center, where both freeze-out and photodissociation are negligible. Herschel has provided the first measurement of water vapor in dark regions. Prestellar cores such as L1544 (with their high central densities, strong continuum, and large envelopes) are very promising tools to finally shed light on the solid/vapor balance of water in molecular clouds., Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics (HIFI first results issue)

We have studied the dependence of the profiles of molecular abundances and line emission on the accretion flow in the hot ($\ga 100$K) inner region of protoplanetary disks. The gas-phase reactions initiated by evaporation of the ice mantle on dust grains are calculated along the accretion flow. We focus on methanol, a molecule that is formed predominantly through the evaporation of warm ice mantles, to show how the abundance profile and line emission depend on the accretion flow. Our results show that some evaporated molecules keep high abundances only when the accretion velocity is large enough, and that methanol could be useful as a diagnostic of the accretion flow by means of ALMA observations at the disk radius of $\la 10$AU., Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, Accepted for publication in A&A

We present Submillimeter Array (SMA) observations of several deuterated species in the disk around the classical T Tauri star TW Hydrae at arcsecond scales, including detections of the DCN J=3-2 and DCO+ J=3-2 lines, and upper limits to the HDO 3(1,2)-2(2,1), ortho-H2D+ 1(1,0)-1(1,1) and para-D2H+ 1(1,0)-1(0,1) transitions. We also present observations of the HCN J=3-2, HCO+ J=3-2 and H13CO+ J=4-3 lines for comparison with their deuterated isotopologues. We constrain the radial and vertical distributions of various species in the disk by fitting the data using a model where the molecular emission from an irradiated accretion disk is sampled with a 2D Monte Carlo radiative transfer code. We find that the distribution of DCO+ differs markedly from that of HCO+. The D/H ratios inferred change by at least one order of magnitude (0.01 to 0.1) for radii <30 AU to >70 AU and there is a rapid falloff of the abundance of DCO+ at radii larger than 90 AU. Using a simple analytical chemical model, we constrain the degree of ionization, x(e-)=n(e-)/n(H2), to be ~10^-7 in the disk layer(s) where these molecules are present. Provided the distribution of DCN follows that of HCN, the ratio of DCN to HCN is determined to be 1.7\pm0.5 \times 10^-2; however, this ratio is very sensitive to the poorly constrained vertical distribution of HCN. The resolved radial distribution of DCO+ indicates that {\it in situ} deuterium fractionation remains active within the TW Hydrae disk and must be considered in the molecular evolution of circumstellar accretion disks., Comment: 12 pages, 12 figures, accepted to ApJ

Detailed models for the density and temperature profiles of gas and dust in protoplanetary disks are constructed by taking into account X-ray and ultraviolet (UV) irradiation from a central T Tauri star, as well as dust size growth and settling toward the disk midplane. The spatial and size distributions of dust grains in the disks are numerically computed by solving the coagulation equation for settling dust particles. The level populations and line emission of molecular hydrogen are calculated using the derived physical structure of the disks. X-ray irradiation is the dominant heating source of the gas in the inner disk region and in the surface layer, while the far UV heating dominates otherwise. If the central star has strong X-ray and weak UV radiation, the H2 level populations are controlled by X-ray pumping, and the X-ray induced transition lines could be observable. If the UV irradiation is strong, the level populations are controlled by thermal collisions or UV pumping, depending on the properties of the dust grains in the disks. As the dust particles evolve in the disks, the gas temperature at the disk surface drops because the grain photoelectric heating becomes less efficient, while the UV radiation fields become stronger due to the decrease of grain opacity. This makes the H2 level populations change from local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE) to non-LTE distributions, which results in changes to the line ratios of H2 emission. Our results suggest that dust evolution in protoplanetary disks could be observable through the H2 line ratios. The emission lines are strong from disks irradiated by strong UV and X-rays and possessing small dust grains; such disks will be good targets in which to observe H2 emission., Comment: 33 pages, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal

In this review we re-evaluate our observational and theoretical understanding of the chemical evolution of protoplanetary disks. We discuss how improved observational capabilities have enabled the detection of numerous molecules exposing an active disk chemistry that appears to be in disequilibrium. We outline the primary facets of static and dynamical theoretical chemical models. Such models have demonstrated that the observed disk chemistry arises from warm surface layers that are irradiated by X-ray and FUV emission from the central accreting star. Key emphasis is placed on reviewing areas where disk chemistry and physics are linked: including the deuterium chemistry, gas temperature structure, disk viscous evolution (mixing), ionization fraction, and the beginnings of planet formation., Comment: 16 pages, 5 figures. To appear in Protostars and Planets V. Manuscript with original (non-reduced) figures can be found at http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/UHNAI/ppv.htm

We have investigated the two-dimensional (R,Z) distribution of deuterated molecular species in circumstellar disks around young stellar objects. The abundance ratios between singly deuterated and normal molecules (``D/H ratios'') in disks evolve in a similar way as in molecular clouds. Fractionation is caused by rapid exchange reactions that are exothermic because of energy differences between deuterated and normal species. In the midplane region, where molecules are heavily depleted onto grain surfaces, the D/H ratios of gaseous molecules are higher than at larger heights. The D/H ratios for the vertical column densities of NH3, H2O, and HCO+ are sensitive to the temperature, and decrease significantly with decreasing radial distance for R < 300 AU. The analogous D/H ratios for CH4 and H2CO, on the other hand, are not very sensitive to the temperature in the range (T=10-50 K) we are concerned with, and do not decrease with decreasing R at R > 50 AU. The D/H column-density ratios also depend on disk mass. In a disk with a larger mass, the ratios of deuterated species to normal species are higher, because of heavier depletion of molecules onto grains. In the second part of the paper, we report molecular column densities for disks embedded in ambient cloud gas. Our results suggest that CN and HCO+ can be tracers of gaseous disks, especially if the central object is a strong X-ray source. Our results also suggest that the radial distributions of CN, C2H, HCN, and H2CO may vary among disks depending on the X-ray luminosity of the central star., Comment: 13 pages

We have investigated molecular distributions in protoplanetary disks, adopting a disk model with a temperature gradient in the vertical direction. The model produces sufficiently high abundances of gaseous CO and HCO+ to account for line observations of T Tauri stars using a sticking probability of unity and without assuming any non-thermal desorption. In regions of radius R > 10 AU, with which we are concerned, the temperature increases with increasing height from the midplane. In a warm intermediate layer, there are significant amounts of gaseous molecules owing to thermal desorption and efficient shielding of ultraviolet radiation by the flared disk. The column densities of HCN, CN, CS, H2CO, HNC and HCO+ obtained from our model are in good agreement with the observations of DM Tau, but are smaller than those of LkCa15. Molecular line profiles from our disk models are calculated using a 2-dimensional non-local-thermal-equilibrium (NLTE) molecular-line radiative transfer code for a direct comparison with observations. Deuterated species are included in our chemical model. The molecular D/H ratios in the model are in reasonable agreement with those observed in protoplanetary disks., Comment: 11 pages, Latex (aa.cls), to be published in Astronomy and Astrophysics

We have investigated the evolution and distribution of molecules in collapsing prestellar cores via numerical chemical models, adopting the Larson-Penston solution and its delayed analogues to study collapse. Molecular abundances and distributions in a collapsing core are determined by the balance among the dynamical, chemical and adsorption time scales. When the central density n_H of a prestellar core with the Larson-Penston flow rises to 3 10^6 cm^{-3}, the CCS and CO column densities are calculated to show central holes of radius 7000 AU and 4000 AU, respectively, while the column density of N2H+ is centrally peaked. These predictions are consistent with observations of L1544. If the dynamical time scale of the core is larger than that of the Larson-Penston solution owing to magnetic fields, rotation, or turbulence, the column densities of CO and CCS are smaller, and their holes are larger than in the Larson-Penston core with the same central gas density. On the other hand, N2H+ and NH3 are more abundant in the more slowly collapsing core. Therefore, molecular distributions can probe the collapse time scale of prestellar cores. Deuterium fractionation has also been studied via numerical calculations. The deuterium fraction in molecules increases as a core evolves and molecular depletion onto grains proceeds. When the central density of the core is n_H=3 10^6 cm^{-3}, the ratio DCO+/HCO+ at the center is in the range 0.06-0.27, depending on the collapse time scale and adsorption energy; this range is in reasonable agreement with the observed value in L1544., Comment: 21 pages, 17 figures

We investigate the evolution of molecular abundance in quiescent protoplanetary disks which are presumed to be around weak-line T Tauri stars. In the region of surface density less than $10^2$ g cm$^{-2}$ (distance from the star $\gtrsim 10$ AU in the minimum- mass solar nebula), cosmic rays are barely attenuated even in the midplane of the disk and produce chemically active ions such as He$^+$ and H$_{3}^+$. Through reactions with these ions CO and N$_2$ are finally transformed into CO$_2$, NH$_3$, and HCN. In the region where the temperature is low enough for these products to freeze onto grains, considerable amount of carbon and nitrogen is locked up in the ice mantle and is depleted from the gas phase in a time scale $\lesssim 3\times 10^6$ yr. Oxidized (CO$_2$) ice and reduced (NH$_3$ and hydrocarbon) ice naturally coexist in this part of the disk. The molecular abundance both in the gas phase and in ice mantle varies significantly with the distance from the central star., Comment: 7 pages latex file (using aas2pp4.sty), 3 figures (ps file), to appear in the Astrophysical Journal Letters