| Literature DB >> 31427830 |
Jean-Christophe Loison1, Valentine Wakelam2, Pierre Gratier2, Kevin M Hickson1, Aurore Bacmann3, Marcelino Agùndez4, Nuria Marcelino4, José Cernicharo4, Viviana Guzman5, Maryvonne Gerin6, Javier R Goicoechea7, Evelyne Roueff8, Franck Le Petit8, Jérome Pety9,6, Asunción Fuente10, Pablo Riviere-Marichalar4.
Abstract
We have developed the first gas-grain chemical model for oxygen fractionation (also including sulphur fractionation) in dense molecular clouds, demonstrating that gas-phase chemistry generates variable oxygen fractionation levels, with a particularly strong effect for NO, SO, O2, and SO2. This large effect is due to the efficiency of the neutral 18O + NO, 18O + SO, and 18O + O2 exchange reactions. The modeling results were compared to new and existing observed isotopic ratios in a selection of cold cores. The good agreement between model and observations requires that the gas-phase abundance of neutral oxygen atoms is large in the observed regions. The S16O/S18O ratio is predicted to vary substantially over time showing that it can be used as a sensitive chemical proxy for matter evolution in dense molecular clouds.Entities:
Keywords: ISM: abundances; ISM: clouds; Physical Data and Processes: astrochemistry
Year: 2019 PMID: 31427830 PMCID: PMC6699989 DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stz560
Source DB: PubMed Journal: Mon Not R Astron Soc ISSN: 0035-8711 Impact factor: 5.287