HDO ice detected toward an isolated low-mass protostar with JWST (2505.14686v3)

Abstract: Water is detected in environments representing every stage of star and solar system formation, but its chemical evolution throughout these stages remains poorly constrained. Deuterium ratios offer a means of probing chemical links between water in different cosmic regions because of their sensitivity to physicochemical conditions. Here, we present the first detection of the 4.1 $\mu$m HDO ice feature with JWST toward a low-mass protostar, L1527 IRS, which may eventually grow to a sun-like mass. We measure an ice HDO/H${2}$O ratio of 4.4$^{+3.7}{-1.7}$$\times$10$^{-3}$, where the reported error is dominated by uncertainties in continuum definition and ice band strengths. This fraction is similar to the gas HDO/H${2}$O ratios measured in the warm ($>$100 K) inner cores of other low-mass protostellar envelopes and protoplanetary disks found in comparably isolated star-forming regions. Such a similarity tentatively supports the assumption that water vapor detected in these regions is not significantly altered by gas-phase reactions following ice sublimation. It also supports the hypothesis that pre- and protostellar water ice is largely inherited in a chemically unaltered state by outer protoplanetary disks. However, the fraction is a factor of $\sim$4-10 times higher than the gas HDO/H${2}$O ratios measured toward comets and low-mass protostars in clustered star-forming regions. This difference may be due to either gas-phase water reprocessing in protostellar envelopes and protoplanetary disks, or differences between prestellar conditions of isolated dense cores and the clustered star-forming regions that are more analogous to the environment in which our Sun formed.