Direct measurements of carbon and sulfur isotope ratios in the Milky Way

Y. T. Yan, C. Henkel, C. Kobayashi, K. M. Menten, Y. Gong, J. S. Zhang, H. Z. Yu, K. Yang, J. J. Xie, X.Y. Wang

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Abstract

Context. Isotope abundance ratios provide a powerful tool for tracing stellar nucleosynthesis, evaluating the composition of stellar ejecta, and constraining the chemical evolution of the Milky Way. Aims. We aim to measure the 12C/13C, 32S/34S, 32S/33S, 32S/36S, 34S/33S, 34S/36S, and 33S/36S isotope ratios across the Milky Way. Methods. With the IRAM 30 meter telescope, we performed observations of the J = 2-1 transitions of CS, C33S, C34S, C36S, 13CS, 13C33S, and 13C34S as well as the J = 3-2 transitions of C33S, C34S, C36S, and 13CS toward a large sample of 110 high-mass star-forming regions. Results. We measured the 12C/13C, 32S/34S, 32S/33S, 32S/36S, 34S/33S, 34S/36S, and 33S/36S abundance ratios with rare isotopologs of CS, thus avoiding significant saturation effects. With accurate distances obtained from parallax data, we confirm previously identified 12C/13C and 32S/34S gradients as a function of galactocentric distance. In the central molecular zone, 12C/13C ratios are higher than suggested by a linear fit to the disk values as a function of galactocentric radius. While 32S/34S ratios near the Galactic center and in the inner disk are similar, this is not the case for 12C/13C, when comparing central values with those near galactocentric radii of 5 kpc. As was already known, there is no 34S/33S gradient but the average ratio of 4.35 ± 0.44 derived from the J = 2-1 transition lines of C34S and C33S is well below previously reported values. A comparison between solar and local interstellar 32S/34S and 34S/33S ratios suggests that the Solar System may have been formed from gas with a particularly high 34S abundance. For the first time, we report positive gradients of 32S/33S, 34S/36S, 33S/36S, and 32S/36S in our Galaxy. The predicted 12C/13C ratios from the latest Galactic chemical-evolution models are in good agreement with our results. While 32S/34S and 32S/36S ratios show larger differences at larger galactocentric distances, 32S/33S ratios show an offset across the entire inner 12 kpc of the Milky Way.

Original languageEnglish
Article numberA98
Pages (from-to)1/63
Number of pages63
JournalAstronomy & Astrophysics
Volume670
Early online date14 Feb 2023
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 14 Feb 2023

Keywords

  • astro-ph.GA
  • nucleosynthesis
  • ISM: molecules
  • abundances
  • ISM: abundances
  • Galaxy: evolution
  • Galaxy: formation
  • HII regions
  • Nuclear reactions

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