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Deuterium in the Galactic Centre as a result of recent infall of low-metallicity gas

Nature volume 405, pages 1025–1027 (2000)Cite this article

Abstract

The Galactic Centre is the most active and heavily processed region of the Milky Way, so it can be used as a stringent test for the abundance of deuterium (a sensitive indicator of conditions in the first 1,000 seconds in the life of the Universe). As deuterium is destroyed in stellar interiors, chemical evolution models1 predict that its Galactic Centre abundance relative to hydrogen is D/H = 5 × 10-12, unless there is a continuous source of deuterium from relatively primordial (low-metallicity) gas. Here we report the detection of deuterium (in the molecule DCN) in a molecular cloud only 10 parsecs from the Galactic Centre. Our data, when combined with a model of molecular abundances, indicate that D/H = (1.7 ± 0.3) × 10-6, five orders of magnitude larger than the predictions of evolutionary models with no continuous source of deuterium. The most probable explanation is recent infall of relatively unprocessed metal-poor gas into the Galactic Centre (at the rate inferred by Wakker2). Our measured D/H is nine times less than the local interstellar value, and the lowest D/H observed in the Galaxy. We conclude that the observed Galactic Centre deuterium is cosmological, with an abundance reduced by stellar processing and mixing, and that there is no significant Galactic source of deuterium.

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Figure 1: The DCN spectra in the Sgr A 50 km s-1 cloud.
Figure 2: The DCN/HCN ratio calculated14,15 for D/H = 1.7 × 10-6 as a function of temperature.

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Acknowledgements

We thank H. Reeves and D. Tytler for comments, and A. Mancuso, S. Diaz, M. Pickard, R. Souza, K. Pagliuca and M. L. Kutner for their help. T.J.B. was a visiting scientist at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Tucson. The NRAO is a facility of the NSF operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc. We acknowledge a Research and Development Grant from Hofstra University, a Bronfman Science Center Grant from Williams College, and a PPARC grant at UMIST. J.M.P. and T.J.B. benefited from the Keck Northeast Astronomy Consortium.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics and Astronomy Hofstra University, Hempstead, 11550 , New York, USA

    D. A. Lubowich

  2. American Institute of Physics, Suite 1NO1, 2 Huntington Quadrangle, Melville, 11747-4502, New York, USA

    D. A. Lubowich

  3. Williams College–Hopkins Observatory , Williamstown, 01267, Massachusetts, USA

    Jay M. Pasachoff & Robert P. Galloway

  4. Department of Physics and Astronomy, Colgate University, Hamilton, 13346 , New York, USA

    Thomas J. Balonek & Christy Tremonti

  5. Department of Physics, University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology, Box 88, Manchester , M60 1QD, UK

    T. J. Millar & Helen Roberts

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  1. D. A. Lubowich
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Correspondence to D. A. Lubowich.

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Lubowich, D., Pasachoff, J., Balonek, T. et al. Deuterium in the Galactic Centre as a result of recent infall of low-metallicity gas. Nature 405, 1025–1027 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1038/35016506

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