First detection of CHD2OH towards pre-stellar cores

The inheritance of material across the star and planet formation process is traced by deuterium fractionation. We report here the first detection of doubly deuterated methanol towards pre-stellar cores. We study the deuterium fractionation of methanol, CH$_{3}$OH, towards two starless and two pre-stellar cores. We derive a D/H ratio of 0.8-1.9$\%$ with CH$_{2}$DOH in pre-stellar cores H-MM1 and L694-2, consistent with measurements in more evolved Class 0/I objects and comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, suggesting a direct chemical link arising in the pre-stellar stage. Furthermore, the column density ratios of CHD$_{2}$OH/CH$_{2}$DOH are $\sim$50-80$\%$, consistently high as that towards Class 0/I objects, indicating an efficient formation mechanism of CHD$_{2}$OH, possibly through H atom additions to D$_{2}$CO. The CH$_{2}$DOH/CH$_{3}$OH and CHD$_{2}$OH/CH$_{3}$OH column density ratios in the two pre-stellar cores are larger than that in the two starless cores B68 and L1521E, representing an evolutionary trend of methanol deuteration in early-stage cores.
Comment: accepted by A&A letter