Deuteration of Organic Molecules as a Probe of Starless Core and Filament Evolution in Barnard 10
Abstract
The deuterium fractionation of molecules in starless cores is sensitive to their dynamical histories, which recent magnetohydrodynamical simulations have shown to be extremely varied. The deuterated isotopologues of formaldehyde (H2CO) and methanol (CH3OH) probe deuterium fractionation in simple organic molecules. This complete survey targets 11 low-mass starless cores in the small, quiescent Barnard 10 (B10) region of the Taurus Molecular Cloud. The cores were observed using the 12m Arizona Radio Observatory telescope with a 100% detection rate in transitions of o/pH2CO, HDCO, pD2CO, A/E-CH3OH, and CH2DOH and the dense gas tracer N2H+. The HDCO and pD2CO column densities and deuterium fractions are not correlated with those of the grain-surface deuteration tracer CH2DOH, indicating significant gas-phase formation of deuterated formaldehyde. The observed deuterium fractions do not correlate with evolutionary indicators (e.g. core central density) or physical conditions (e.g. core mass). We also find that cores within the northwestern filament have lower deuterium fractions than cores of similar densities in the other two filaments. These could indicate differential core evolution both between and within entire filaments. Comparing the deuterium fractions of the B10 sample to published sources across different evolutionary stages suggests the inheritance of D2CO from starless cores, although more surveys of organic deuteration are needed to conclusively determine inheritance.
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BibTeX
@misc{andrasletanovszky2026deuteration,
title = {{Deuteration of Organic Molecules as a Probe of Starless Core and Filament Evolution in Barnard 10}},
author = {Hanga Andras-Letanovszky and Yancy L. Shirley and Lucille J. Steffes and Brian Svoboda and Hannah Gruber and Samantha Scibelli and Emma Vertachnik},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.00308},
eprint = {2609.00308},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.00308},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Deuteration of Organic Molecules as a Probe of Starless Core and Filament Evolution in Barnard 10
AU - Hanga Andras-Letanovszky
AU - Yancy L. Shirley
AU - Lucille J. Steffes
AU - Brian Svoboda
AU - Hannah Gruber
AU - Samantha Scibelli
AU - Emma Vertachnik
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/01
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.00308
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.00308
AB - The deuterium fractionation of molecules in starless cores is sensitive to their dynamical histories, which recent magnetohydrodynamical simulations have shown to be extremely varied. The deuterated isotopologues of formaldehyde (H_2CO) and methanol (CH_3OH) probe deuterium fractionation in simple organic molecules. This complete survey targets 11 low-mass starless cores in the small, quiescent Barnard 10 (B10) region of the Taurus Molecular Cloud. The cores were observed using the 12m Arizona Radio Observatory telescope with a 100% detection rate in transitions of o/pH_2CO, HDCO, pD_2CO, A/E-CH_3OH, and CH_2DOH and the dense gas tracer N_2H^+. The HDCO and pD_2CO column densities and deuterium fractions are not correlated with those of the grain-surface deuteration tracer CH_2DOH, indicating significant gas-phase formation of deuterated formaldehyde. The observed deuterium fractions do not correlate with evolutionary indicators (e.g. core central density) or physical conditions (e.g. core mass). We also find that cores within the northwestern filament have lower deuterium fractions than cores of similar densities in the other two filaments. These could indicate differential core evolution both between and within entire filaments. Comparing the deuterium fractions of the B10 sample to published sources across different evolutionary stages suggests the inheritance of D_2CO from starless cores, although more surveys of organic deuteration are needed to conclusively determine inheritance.
ER -