Chemical fractionation of deuterium in the protosolar nebula

Understanding gas-grain chemistry of deuterium in star-forming objects may help to explain their history and present state. We aim to clarify how processes in ices affect the deuterium fractionation. In this regard, we investigate a Solar-mass protostellar envelope using an astrochemical rate-equation model that considers bulk-ice chem- istry. The results show a general agreement with the molecular D/H abundance ratios observed in low-mass protostars. The simultaneous processes of ice accumulation and rapid synthesis of HD on grain surfaces in the prestellar core hampers the deuteration of icy species. The observed very high D/H ratios exceeding 10 per cent, i.e., super- deuteration, are reproduced for formaldehyde and dimethyl ether, but not for other species in the protostellar envelope phase. Chemical transformations in bulk ice lower D/H ratios of icy species and do not help explaining the super-deuteration. In the protostellar phase, the D2O/HDO abundance ratio was calculated to be higher than the HDO/H2O ratio owing to gas-phase chemistry. Species that undergo evaporation from ices have high molecular D/H ratio and a high gas-phase abundance.
Comment: 11 pages, 4 tables, 6 figures; +3 figures in appendix. Accepted for publication in MNRAS