			15min:

A SEARCH FOR INTERSTELLAR H₂DO⁺.

CHRISTOPHER P. MORONG, Department of Chemistry, University of Chicago; SHUJI SAITO, TAKASHI FURUYA, Research Center for Development of Far-Infrared Region, Fukui University, Fukui, Japan; HIROKO SHINNAGA, Caltech Submillimeter Observatory; TAKESHI OKA, Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, and Department of Chemistry, University of Chicago.

The recent laboratory discoveries of submillimeter wave spectra of deuterated hydronium ions, H₂DO⁺ and HD₂O⁺, have opened up the possibility to search for these fundamental deuterated molecular ions in dense clouds where deuterium fractionation occur efficiently. We have used the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory to search for the 0₀₀⁺~ rightarrow ~1₁₀⁺ transition at 673.257007 GHz in IRAS16293A and Oph D.

So far the freezing of CO and N₂ has been the main issue of the depletion and deuterium fractionation, but this work adds new information on depletion and deuteration chemistry of O and O₂.

Our observational results and analyses will be presented.