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
AuthorsRivilla, 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
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.

JournalMonthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Journal citation492 (1), p. 1180–1198
ISSN0035-8711
Year2020
PublisherOxford University Press
Accepted author manuscript
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Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stz3336
Web address (URL)https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stz3336
Publication dates
Print15 Jan 2020
Publication process dates
Accepted21 Nov 2019
Deposited27 Nov 2019
FunderEuropean 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 informationThis 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.
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