ALMA and ROSINA detections of phosphorus-bearing molecules: the interstellar thread between star-forming regions and comets
Article
Rivilla, V. M., Drozdovskaya, M. N., Altwegg, K., Caselli, P., Beltrán, M. T., Fontani, F., van der Tak, F. F. S., Cesaroni, R., Vasyunin, A., Rubin, M., Lique, F., Marinakis, S., Testi, L. and the ROSINA team 2020. ALMA and ROSINA detections of phosphorus-bearing molecules: the interstellar thread between star-forming regions and comets. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 492 (1), p. 1180–1198. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stz3336
Authors | Rivilla, V. M., Drozdovskaya, M. N., Altwegg, K., Caselli, P., Beltrán, M. T., Fontani, F., van der Tak, F. F. S., Cesaroni, R., Vasyunin, A., Rubin, M., Lique, F., Marinakis, S., Testi, L. and the ROSINA team |
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Abstract | To understand how Phosphorus-bearing molecules are formed in star-forming regions, we have analysed ALMA observations of PN and PO towards the massive star-forming region AFGL 5142, combined with a new analysis of the data of the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko taken with the ROSINA instrument onboard Rosetta. The ALMA maps show that the emission of PN and PO arises from several spots associated with low-velocity gas with narrow linewidths in the cavity walls of a bipolar outflow. PO is more abundant than PN in most of the spots, with the PO/PN ratio increasing as a function of the distance to the protostar. Our data favor a formation scenario in which shocks sputter phosphorus from the surface of dust grains, and gas-phase photochemistry induced by UV photons from the protostar allows efficient formation of the two species in the cavity walls. Our analysis of the ROSINA data has revealed that PO is the main carrier of P in the comet, with PO/PN>10. Since comets may have delivered a significant amount of prebiotic material to the early Earth, this finding suggests that PO could contribute significantly to the phosphorus reservoir during the dawn of our planet. There is evidence that PO was already in the cometary ices prior to the birth of the Sun, so the chemical budget of the comet might be inherited from the natal environment of the Solar System, which is thought to be a stellar cluster including also massive stars. |
Journal | Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society |
Journal citation | 492 (1), p. 1180–1198 |
ISSN | 0035-8711 |
Year | 2020 |
Publisher | Oxford University Press |
Accepted author manuscript | License File Access Level Repository staff only |
Publisher's version | License File Access Level Anyone |
Digital Object Identifier (DOI) | https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stz3336 |
Web address (URL) | https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stz3336 |
Publication dates | |
15 Jan 2020 | |
Publication process dates | |
Accepted | 21 Nov 2019 |
Deposited | 27 Nov 2019 |
Funder | European Commission Horizon 2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant |
Swiss National Science Foundation | |
Latvian Council of Science | |
Swiss National Science Foundation | |
Swiss National Science Foundation | |
Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI) | |
European Space Agency PRODEX Programme | |
Copyright holder | © 2019 The Authors |
Copyright information | This article has been accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society ©: 2020 The Authors. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. |
https://repository.uel.ac.uk/item/8753v
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