High-resolution obs. of CO isotopologues in YSOs

This study reports an unusual heterogeneity in [^12^C^16^O]/[^13^C^16^O] abundance ratios of carbon monoxide observed in the gas phase toward seven ~solar-mass young stellar objects (YSOs) and three dense foreground clouds in the nearby star-forming regions, Ophiuchus, Corona Australis, Orion, and Vela, and an isolated core, L43. Robust isotope ratios were derived using infrared absorption spectroscopy of the 4.7{mu}m fundamental and 2.3{mu}m overtone rovibrational bands of CO at very high spectral resolution ({lambda}/{Delta}{lambda}~95000), observed with the Cryogenic Infrared Echelle Spectrograph (CRIRES) on the Very Large Telescope.

We find [^12^C^16^O]/[^13^C^16^O] values ranging from ~85 to 165, significantly higher than those of the local interstellar medium (ISM) (~65-69). These observations are evidence for isotopic heterogeneity in carbon reservoirs in solar-type YSO environments, and encourage the need for refined galactic chemical evolution models to explain the ^12^C/^13^C discrepancy between the solar system and local ISM. The oxygen isotope ratios are consistent with isotopologue-specific photodissociation by CO self-shielding toward the disks, VV CrA N and HL Tau, further substantiating models predicting CO self-shielding on disk surfaces.