1. A Search for Hydroxlyamine (NH 2 OH) Towards IRC+10216, Orion-S, Orion(KL), SgrB2(N), SgrB2(OH), W512M, W3(IRS5) R. L. Pulliam NRAO / North American ALMA Science Center A.J. Remijan, NRAO/ NAASC J. Corby, University of Virginia, NRAO

2. 2 Background Nitrogen chemistry in the ISM – 5 th most abundant element with >50 nitrogen species identified in gas phase in space Nitrogen chemistry is still poorly understood Hydroxylamine – NH 2 OH Formation first studied by Nishi et al. (1984) [NH 2 + H*] + H 2 O → NH 2 OH + H 2 NH 2,3 OH + + CH 3 COOH → N 2,3 CH 2 COOH + + H 2 O NH 2,3 OH + + CH 3 CH 2 COOH → NH 2,3 CH 2 CH 2 COOH + + H 2 O Suggested in its role towards formation of interstellar amino acids (Blagojevic et al. 2003) Astrobiology implications and the origin of life

3. NH + OH addition on grain followed by hydrogenation NH 2 + OH → NH 2 OH (dominates - as OH becomes more mobile ) 3 Models NH 2 OH should be within detectable limits in star forming regions Charnley et al. (2001) A&A, 378, 1024 -- NO possibly converted to NH 2 OH through hydrogenation Garrod et al. (2008) ApJ, 682, 283 --- Radical recombination reactions and uses gradual warm up technique within star forming regions [NH 2 OH]/[H 2 ] ~10 -6

4. B.E. Turner Survey arXiv: 0802.2273v1 Data taken between 1993-1995 at the 12m Telescope Data are available and distributed through the Spectral Line Search Engine (SLiSE) www.cv.nrao.edu/~aremijan/SLiSE

5. SLiSE 5

6. NH 2 OH 6 Asymmetric Top a, c-type transitions with the a-dipole ~ 10 x c-dipole 3(1,3) – 2(1,2): 151020.7 3(2,2) – 2(2,1): 151101.9 3(2,1) – 2(2,0): 151102.3 3(0,3) – 2(0,2): 151117.7 3(1,2) – 2(1,1): 151207.0

7. The Data 7

8. 8

9. NH 2 OH Column Densities 9 SourceColumn Density (cm -2 ) Orion (KL)<4 x 10 12 Orion S<2 x 10 12 IRC+10216<2 x 10 12 SgrB2 (OH)<4 x 10 12 SgrB2 (N)<6 x 10 12 W51M<2 x 10 12 W3IRS5<3 x 10 12 Simple Radiative Transfer Analysis T ~ 130 K (Garrod et al.), optically thin upper limits calculated

10. Formation Mechanism? 10 Is NH 2 OH formed through radical- radical recombination on the surface of grains? Grain surface? Experimental study of a solid argon matrix – NH 2 disappears when the ice sample was warmed up to 20K.  NH 2 recombines very efficiently with H  More complex ices?  Ices in the ISM are more complex – free hydrogen can collide with other molecules or recombine with other H atoms to yield H 2 NH 2 free to combine with other species (such as OH) Gas phase production? (Blagojevic et al. 2003) HNO + + H 2 → NH 2 OH +

11. Temperature Problem? 11 Formation of NH 2 OH in Ammonia-Water ices (Zheng and Kaiser, J. Chem. Phys. A (2010) 114, 5251) NH 2 OH was observed in the gas phase around 174 K Is NH 2 OH in the gas phase of these regions? Are higher resolution observations needed? Cycle 0 ALMA proposals deadline June 30 th, 2011 NH 2 + OH → NH 2 OH

12. 12 Protonated NH 2 OH? Is NH 2 OH quickly protonated after formation? * High proton affinity (Blajojevic et al. 2003) → H 3 +, HCO +, CH 5 +, H 3 O + *Snow et al. 2007 → Reaction of CH 5 + or H 3 + with NH 2 OH is barrier-less and exothermically favorable under ISM conditions If NH 2 OH is formed through grain chemistry or other methods, the sequence of protonation could result in a very low abundance NH 3 OH + or NH 2 OH 2 + in the ISM? Lab Data is Needed

13. 13 Summary NH 2 OH not detected within any of the sources with upper limits on the order of ~ 10 12 cm -2 Current NH 2 OH abundance predications too high – Is NH 2 OH formed through the suggested mechanisms? – Is there a temperature problem? Higher resolution observations needed – Is NH 2 OH quickly protonated following release into the gas phase? NH 3 OH + /NH 2 OH 2 + in the ISM? Laboratory data is needed

14. 14 The Atacama Large Millimeter/sub-millimeter Array (ALMA), an international astronomy facility, is a partnership of Europe, North America and East Asia in cooperation with the Republic of Chile. ALMA is funded in Europe by the European Organization for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere (ESO), in North America by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) in cooperation with the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) and the National Science Council of Taiwan (NSC) and in East Asia by the National Institutes of Natural Sciences (NINS) of Japan in cooperation with the Academia Sinica (AS) in Taiwan. ALMA construction and operations are led on behalf of Europe by ESO, on behalf of North America by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), which is managed by Associated Universities, Inc. (AUI) and on behalf of East Asia by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ). The Joint ALMA Observatory (JAO) provides the unified leadership and management of the construction, commissioning and operation of ALMA. 14 Acknowledgments B.E. Turner A.J. Remijan NRAO, ALMA NAASC