Deep Search For Molecular Oxygen in TW Hya

Abstract

The dominant form of oxygen in cold molecular clouds is gas-phase carbon monoxide (CO) and ice-phase water (H${}_2$O). Yet, in planet-forming disks around young stars, gas-phase CO and H${}_2$O are less abundant relative to their ISM values, and no other major oxygen-carrying molecules have been detected. Some astrochemical models predict that gas-phase molecular oxygen (O${}_2$) should be a major carrier of volatile oxygen in disks. We report a deep search for emission from the isotopologue ${}^{16}$O${}^{18}$O ($N_J=2_1-0_1$ line at 233.946 GHz) in the nearby protoplanetary disk around TW Hya. We used imaging techniques and matched filtering to search for weak emission but do not detect ${}^{16}$O${}^{18}$O. Based on our results, we calculate upper limits on the gas-phase O${}_2$ abundance in TW Hya of $(6.4-70)\times 10^{-7}$ relative to H, which is $2-3$ orders of magnitude below solar oxygen abundance. We conclude that gas-phase O${}_2$ is not a major oxygen-carrier in TW Hya. Two other potential oxygen-carrying molecules, SO and SO${}_2$, were covered in our observations, which we also do not detect. Additionally, we report a serendipitous detection of the C${}^{15}$N $N_J=2_{5/2}-1_{3/2}$ hyperfine transitions, $F=3-2$ and $F=2-1$, at 219.9 GHz, which we found via matched filtering and confirm through imaging.

10 pages, 6 figures, Accepted for publication in ApJ