OH as a probe of the warm water cycle in planet-forming disks

• DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2312.14056
• Publication Date: 2023-01-01
• Authors: Zannese, Marion; Tabone, Benoît; Habart, Emilie; Goicoechea, Javie...; Zanchet, Alexandre; van Dishoeck, Ewi...; van Hemert, Marc C.; Black, John H.; Tielens, Alexande...; Veselinova, A.; Jambrina, P. G.; Menendez, M.; Verdasco, E.; Aoiz, F. J.; Gonzalez-Sanchez, L.; Trahin, Boris; Dartois, Emmanuel; Berné, Olivier; Peeters, Els; He, Jinhua; Sidhu, Ameek; Chown, Ryan; Schroetter, Ilane; Van De Putte, Dries; Canin, Amélie; Alarcón, Felipe; Abergel, Alain; Bergin, Edwin A.; Bernard-Salas, Je...; Boersma, Christiaan; Bron, Emeric; Cami, Jan; Dicken, Daniel; Elyajouri, Meriem; Fuente, Asunción; Gordon, Karl D.; Issa, Lina; Joblin, Christine; Kannavou, Olga; Khan, Baria; Lacinbala, Ozan; Languignon, David; Gal, Romane Le; Maragkoudakis, Al...; Meshaka, Raphael; Okada, Yoko; Onaka, Takashi; Pasquini, Sofia; Pound, Marc W.; Robberto, Massimo; Röllig, Markus; Schefter, Bethany; Schirmer, Thiébaut; Vicente, Sílvia; Wolfire, Mark G.
• Keywords: Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP); Astrophysics - Solar and Stellar Astrophysics; Astrophysics of Galaxies (astro-ph.GA); FOS: Physical sciences; Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies; Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR); Astrophysics - Earth and Planetary Astrophysics

Version submitted to Nature Astronomy<br/>Water is a key ingredient for the emergence of life as we know it. Yet, its destruction and reformation in space remains unprobed in warm gas. Here, we detect the hydroxyl radical (OH) emission from a planet-forming disk exposed to external far-ultraviolet (FUV) radiation with the James Webb Space Telescope. The observations are confronted with the results of quantum dynamical calculations. The highly excited OH infrared rotational lines are the tell-tale signs of H2O destruction by FUV. The OH infrared ro-vibrational lines are attributed to chemical excitation via the key reaction O+H=OH+H which seeds the formation of water in the gas-phase. We infer that the equivalent of the Earth ocean's worth of water is destroyed per month and replenished. These results show that under warm and irradiated conditions water is destroyed and efficiently reformed via gas-phase reactions. This process, assisted by diffusive transport, could reduce the HDO/H2O ratio in the warm regions of planet-forming disks.<br/>