Ortho-to-Para Ratio in Interstellar Water on the Sightline toward Sagittarius B2(N)

Abstract

The determination of the water ortho-to-para ratio (OPR) is of great interest for studies of the formation and thermal history of water ices in the interstellar medium and protoplanetary disk environments. We present new Herschel observations of the fundamental rotational transitions of ortho- and para-water on the sightline toward Sagittarius B2(N), which allow improved estimates of the measurement uncertainties due to instrumental effects and assumptions about the excitation of water molecules. These new measurements, suggesting a spin temperature of 24-32 K, confirm the earlier findings of an OPR below the high-temperature value on the nearby sightline toward Sagittarius B2(M). The exact implications of the low OPR in the galactic center molecular gas remain unclear and will greatly benefit from future laboratory measurements involving water freeze-out and evaporation processes under low-temperature conditions, similar to those present in the galactic interstellar medium. Given the specific conditions in the central region of the Milky Way, akin to those encountered in active Galactic nuclei, gas-phase processes under the influence of strong X-ray and cosmic ray ionization also have to be carefully considered. We summarize some of the latest laboratory measurements and their implications here.