Formation of the methyl cation by photochemistry in a protoplanetary disk

Olivier Berné¹, Marie-Aline Martin-Drumel², Ilane Schroetter³, Javier R Goicoechea⁴, Ugo Jacovella², Bérenger Gans², Emmanuel Dartois², Laurent H Coudert², Edwin Bergin⁵, Felipe Alarcon⁵, Jan Cami^{6

7

8}, Evelyne Roueff⁹, John H Black¹⁰, Oskar Asvany¹¹, Emilie Habart¹², Els Peeters^{6

7

8}, Amelie Canin³, Boris Trahin¹², Christine Joblin³, Stephan Schlemmer¹¹, Sven Thorwirth¹¹, Jose Cernicharo⁴, Maryvonne Gerin⁹, Alexander Tielens^{13

14}, Marion Zannese¹², Alain Abergel¹², Jeronimo Bernard-Salas^{15

16}, Christiaan Boersma¹⁷, Emeric Bron⁹, Ryan Chown^{6

7}, Sara Cuadrado⁴, Daniel Dicken¹², Meriem Elyajouri¹², Asunción Fuente¹⁸, Karl D Gordon¹⁹, Lina Issa³, Olga Kannavou¹², Baria Khan⁶, Ozan Lacinbala²⁰, David Languignon⁹, Romane Le Gal^{21

22}, Alexandros Maragkoudakis¹⁷, Raphael Meshaka⁹, Yoko Okada¹¹, Takashi Onaka^{23

24}, Sofia Pasquini⁶, Marc W Pound¹⁴, Massimo Robberto¹⁹, Markus Röllig^{25

26}, Bethany Schefter⁶, Thiébaut Schirmer^{10

12}, Ameek Sidhu^{6

7}, Benoit Tabone¹², Dries Van De Putte¹⁹, Sílvia Vicente²⁷, Mark G Wolfire¹⁴

Affiliations

¹ Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie, Université de Toulouse, CNRS, CNES, UPS, Toulouse, France. olivier.berne@irap.omp.eu.
² Institut des Sciences Moléculaires d'Orsay, Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS, Orsay, France.
³ Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie, Université de Toulouse, CNRS, CNES, UPS, Toulouse, France.
⁴ Instituto de Física Fundamental (CSIC), Madrid, Spain.
⁵ Department of Astronomy, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
⁶ Department of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada.
⁷ Institute for Earth and Space Exploration, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada.
⁸ Carl Sagan Center, SETI Institute, Mountain View, CA, USA.
⁹ LERMA, Observatoire de Paris, PSL University, Sorbonne Université, CNRS, Meudon, France.
¹⁰ Department of Space, Earth, and Environment, Chalmers University of Technology, Onsala Space Observatory, Onsala, Sweden.
¹¹ I. Physikalisches Institut, Universität zu Köln, Cologne, Germany.
¹² Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale, Université Paris-Saclay CNRS, Orsay, France.
¹³ Leiden Observatory, Leiden University, Leiden, the Netherlands.
¹⁴ Astronomy Department, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA.
¹⁵ ACRI-ST, Centre dEtudes et de Recherche de Grasse (CERGA), Grasse, France.
¹⁶ INCLASS Common Laboratory, Grasse, France.
¹⁷ NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA, USA.
¹⁸ Observatorio Astronómico Nacional (OAN,IGN), Madrid, Spain.
¹⁹ Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD, USA.
²⁰ KU Leuven Quantum Solid State Physics (QSP), Leuven, Belgium.
²¹ Institut de Planétologie et d'Astrophysique de Grenoble, Université Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, Grenoble, France.
²² Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique (IRAM), Saint-Martin d'Hères, France.
²³ Department of Physics, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Meisei University, Tokyo, Japan.
²⁴ Department of Astronomy, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
²⁵ Physikalischer Verein-Gesellschaft für Bildung und Wissenschaft, Frankfurt, Germany.
²⁶ Physikalisches Institut, Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt, Germany.
²⁷ Instituto de Astrofísica e Ciências do Espaço, Lisbon, Portugal.

PMID: 37364766
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06307-x

Formation of the methyl cation by photochemistry in a protoplanetary disk

Olivier Berné et al. Nature. 2023 Sep.

. 2023 Sep;621(7977):56-59.

doi: 10.1038/s41586-023-06307-x. Epub 2023 Jun 26.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie, Université de Toulouse, CNRS, CNES, UPS, Toulouse, France. olivier.berne@irap.omp.eu.
² Institut des Sciences Moléculaires d'Orsay, Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS, Orsay, France.
³ Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie, Université de Toulouse, CNRS, CNES, UPS, Toulouse, France.
⁴ Instituto de Física Fundamental (CSIC), Madrid, Spain.
⁵ Department of Astronomy, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
⁶ Department of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada.
⁷ Institute for Earth and Space Exploration, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada.
⁸ Carl Sagan Center, SETI Institute, Mountain View, CA, USA.
⁹ LERMA, Observatoire de Paris, PSL University, Sorbonne Université, CNRS, Meudon, France.
¹⁰ Department of Space, Earth, and Environment, Chalmers University of Technology, Onsala Space Observatory, Onsala, Sweden.
¹¹ I. Physikalisches Institut, Universität zu Köln, Cologne, Germany.
¹² Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale, Université Paris-Saclay CNRS, Orsay, France.
¹³ Leiden Observatory, Leiden University, Leiden, the Netherlands.
¹⁴ Astronomy Department, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA.
¹⁵ ACRI-ST, Centre dEtudes et de Recherche de Grasse (CERGA), Grasse, France.
¹⁶ INCLASS Common Laboratory, Grasse, France.
¹⁷ NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA, USA.
¹⁸ Observatorio Astronómico Nacional (OAN,IGN), Madrid, Spain.
¹⁹ Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD, USA.
²⁰ KU Leuven Quantum Solid State Physics (QSP), Leuven, Belgium.
²¹ Institut de Planétologie et d'Astrophysique de Grenoble, Université Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, Grenoble, France.
²² Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique (IRAM), Saint-Martin d'Hères, France.
²³ Department of Physics, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Meisei University, Tokyo, Japan.
²⁴ Department of Astronomy, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
²⁵ Physikalischer Verein-Gesellschaft für Bildung und Wissenschaft, Frankfurt, Germany.
²⁶ Physikalisches Institut, Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt, Germany.
²⁷ Instituto de Astrofísica e Ciências do Espaço, Lisbon, Portugal.

PMID: 37364766
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06307-x

Abstract

Forty years ago, it was proposed that gas-phase organic chemistry in the interstellar medium can be initiated by the methyl cation CH₃⁺ (refs. ^1-3), but so far it has not been observed outside the Solar System^4,5. Alternative routes involving processes on grain surfaces have been invoked^6,7. Here we report James Webb Space Telescope observations of CH₃⁺ in a protoplanetary disk in the Orion star-forming region. We find that gas-phase organic chemistry is activated by ultraviolet irradiation.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

1. Black, J. & Dalgarno, A. Models of interstellar clouds. I-the Zeta Ophiuchi cloud. Astrophys. J. Suppl. Series 34, 405–423 (1977). - DOI
1. Smith, D. The ion chemistry of interstellar clouds. Chem. Rev. 92, 1473–1485 (1992). - DOI
1. Herbst, E. Unusual chemical processes in interstellar chemistry: past and present. Front. Astronom. Space Sci. 8, 776942 (2021). - DOI
1. Roueff, E. et al. CH₂D⁺, the search for the holy grail. J. Phys. Chem. A 117, 9959–9967 (2013). - PubMed - DOI
1. Indriolo, N., Oka, T., Geballe, T. & McCall, B. J. Constraining the environment of CH⁺ formation with CH₃⁺ observations. Astrophys. J. 711, 1338 (2010). - DOI

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources
- Nature Publishing Group

Save citation to file

Email citation

Add to Collections

Add to My Bibliography

Your saved search

Create a file for external citation management software

Your RSS Feed

Formation of the methyl cation by photochemistry in a protoplanetary disk

Affiliations

Formation of the methyl cation by photochemistry in a protoplanetary disk

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

References

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources