Research Note

Photodesorption of H₂O, HDO, and D₂O ice and its impact on fractionation^⋆,⋆⋆

¹ Gorlaeus Laboratories, Leiden Institute of Chemistry, Leiden University, PO Box 9502, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands
² Leiden Observatory, Leiden University, PO Box 9513, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands
e-mail: ewine@strw.leidenuniv.nl
³ Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Giessenbachstrasse 1, 85748 Garching, Germany

Received: 17 September 2013
Accepted: 16 December 2014

Abstract

The HDO/H₂O ratio measured in interstellar gas is often used to draw conclusions on the formation and evolution of water in star-forming regions and, by comparison with cometary data, on the origin of water on Earth. In cold cores and in the outer regions of protoplanetary disks, an important source of gas-phase water comes from photodesorption of water ice. This research note presents fitting formulae for implementation in astrochemical models using previously computed photodesorption efficiencies for all water ice isotopologues obtained with classical molecular dynamics simulations. The results are used to investigate to what extent the gas-phase HDO/H₂O ratio reflects that present in the ice or whether fractionation can occur during the photodesorption process. Probabilities for the top four monolayers are presented for photodesorption of X (X = H, D) atoms, OX radicals, and X₂O and HDO molecules following photodissociation of H₂O, D₂O, and HDO in H₂O amorphous ice at ice temperatures from 10−100 K. Significant isotope effects are found for all possible products: (1) H atom photodesorption probabilities from H₂O ice are larger than those for D atom photodesorption from D₂O ice by a factor of 1.1; the ratio of H and D photodesorbed upon HDO photodissociation is a factor of 2. This process will enrich the ice in deuterium atoms over time; (2) the OD/OH photodesorption ratio upon D₂O and H₂O photodissociation is on average a factor of 2, but the OD/OH photodesorption ratio upon HDO photodissociation is almost constant at unity for all ice temperatures; (3) D atoms are more effective in kicking out neighbouring water molecules than H atoms. However, the ratio of the photodesorbed HDO and H₂O molecules is equal to the HDO/H₂O ratio in the ice, therefore, there is no isotope fractionation when HDO and H₂O photodesorb from the ice. Nevertheless, the enrichment of the ice in D atoms due to photodesorption can over time lead to an enhanced HDO/H₂O ratio in the ice, and, when photodesorbed, also in the gas. The extent to which the ortho/para ratio of H₂O can be modified by the photodesorption process is discussed briefly as well.