No nitrogen fractionation on 600 au scale in the Sun progenitor analogue OMC-2 FIR4

2020 
We show the first interferometric maps of the 14N/15N ratio obtained with the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) towards the Solar-like forming protocluster OMC-2 FIR4. We observed N2H+, 15NNH+, N15NH+ (1-0), and N2D+ (2-1), from which we derive the isotopic ratios 14N/15N and D/H. The target is one of the closest analogues of the environment in which our Sun may have formed. The ALMA images, having synthesised beam corresponding to ~600 au, show that the emission of the less abundant isotopologues is distributed in several cores of ~10'' (i.e. ~0.02~pc or 4000 au) embedded in a more extended N2H+ emission. Overall, our results indicate that: (1) 14N/15N does not change across the region at core scales, and (2) 14N/15N does not depend on temperature variations. Our findings also suggest that the 14N/15N variations found in pristine Solar System objects are likely not inherited from the protocluster stage, and hence their reason has to be found elsewhere.
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