86 research outputs found
Reconstruction of water ice: the neglected process OH + OH â H2O + O
ProducciĂłn CientĂficaContext. Although H2O is the most important molecular material found in the solid state in the interstellar medium, the chemical routes leading to ice through surface reactions are still a matter of discussion. Three reaction pathways proposed in the past are at the heart of current research: hydrogenation of atomic oxygen, molecular oxygen, and ozone. The reaction network finally leads to a small number of processes giving H2O: H + OH, H2 + OH, and H + H2O2. To these processes, OH + OH should be added. It is known to be efficient in atmospheric chemistry and takes the irradiations of the interstellar grains into account that, directly or indirectly, create a number of OH radicals on and in the icy mantles.
Aims. We study the role of the existing ice in its own reconstruction after it is destroyed by the constant irradiation of interstellar grains and focus on the OH + OH reaction in the triplet state.
Methods. We used numerical simulations with a high level of coupled cluster ab initio calculations for small water aggregates and methods relevant to density functional theory for extended systems, including a periodic description in the case of solid water of infinite dimensions.
Results. OH + OH â H2O + O reaction profiles are reported that take the involvement of an increasing number of H2O support molecules into account. It is found that the top of the barrier opposing the reaction gradually decreases with the number of supporting H2O and falls below the level of the reactants for H2O layers or solid water.
Conclusions. In contrast to the gas phase, the reaction is barrierless on water ice. By adding a reconstructed H2O molecule and a free oxygen atom at the surface of the remaining ice, this reaction leaves open the possibility of the ice reconstruction
A Spectroscopic Survey of Electronic Transitions of CH, CH, and CD
Electronic spectra of CH are measured in the cm
domain using cavity ring-down spectroscopy of a supersonically expanding
hydrocarbon plasma. In total, 19 (sub)bands of CH are presented, all
probing the vibrational manifold of the B electronically excited state.
The assignments are guided by electronic spectra available from matrix
isolation work, isotopic substitution experiments (yielding also spectra for
CH and CD), predictions from ab initio calculations as well as
rotational fitting and vibrational contour simulations using the available
ground state parameters as obtained from microwave experiments. Besides the
origin band, three non-degenerate stretching vibrations along the
linear backbone of the CH molecule are assigned: the mode
associated with the C-C bond vibration and the and modes
associated with CC triple bonds. For the two lowest and
bending modes, a Renner-Teller analysis is performed identifying the
() and both () and
() components. In addition, two higher lying bending
modes are observed, which are tentatively assigned as ()
and () levels. In the excitation region below the first
non-degenerate vibration (), some transitions are
observed that are assigned as even combination modes of low-lying bending
vibrations. The same holds for a transition found above the
level. From these spectroscopic data and the vibronic analysis a
comprehensive energy level diagram for the B state of CH is derived
and presented.Comment: Accepted for publication in The Journal of Physical Chemistry A (26
July 2016
Origin of molecular oxygen in Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko
Molecular oxygen has been detected in the coma of comet
67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko with abundances in the 1-10% range by the ROSINA-DFMS
instrument on board the Rosetta spacecraft. Here we find that the radiolysis of
icy grains in low-density environments such as the presolar cloud may induce
the production of large amounts of molecular oxygen. We also show that
molecular oxygen can be efficiently trapped in clathrates formed in the
protosolar nebula, and that its incorporation as crystalline ice is highly
implausible because this would imply much larger abundances of Ar and N2 than
those observed in the coma. Assuming that radiolysis has been the only O2
production mechanism at work, we conclude that the formation of comet
67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko is possible in a dense and early protosolar nebula in
the framework of two extreme scenarios: (1) agglomeration from pristine
amorphous icy grains/particles formed in ISM and (2) agglomeration from
clathrates that formed during the disk's cooling. The former scenario is found
consistent with the strong correlation between O2 and H2O observed in 67P/C-G's
coma while the latter scenario requires that clathrates formed from ISM icy
grains that crystallized when entering the protosolar nebula.Comment: The Astrophysical Journal Letters, in pres
Revealing the mid-infrared emission structure of IRAS 16594-4656 and IRAS 07027-7934
TIMMI2 diffraction-limited mid-infrared images of a multipolar
proto-planetary nebula IRAS 16594-4656 and a young [WC] elliptical planetary
nebula IRAS 07027-7934 are presented. Their dust shells are for the first time
resolved (only marginally in the case of IRAS 07027-7934) by applying the
Lucy-Richardson deconvolution algorithm to the data, taken under exceptionally
good seeing conditions (<0.5"). IRAS 16594-4656 exhibits a two-peaked
morphology at 8.6, 11.5 and 11.7 microns which is mainly attributed to emission
from PAHs. Our observations suggest that the central star is surrounded by a
toroidal structure observed edge-on with a radius of 0.4" (~640 AU at an
assumed distance of 1.6 kpc) with its polar axis at P.A.~80 degrees, coincident
with the orientation defined by only one of the bipolar outflows identified in
the HST optical images. We suggest that the material expelled from the central
source is currently being collimated in this direction and that the multiple
outflow formation has not been coeval. IRAS 07027-7934 shows a bright,
marginally extended emission (FWHM=0.3") in the mid-infrared with a slightly
elongated shape along the N-S direction, consistent with the morphology
detected by HST in the near-infrared. The mid-infrared emission is interpreted
as the result of the combined contribution of small, highly ionized PAHs and
relatively hot dust continuum. We propose that IRAS 07027-7934 may have
recently experienced a thermal pulse (likely at the end of the AGB) which has
produced a radical change in the chemistry of its central star.Comment: 35 pages, 8 figures (figures 1, 2, 4 and 6 are in low resolution)
accepted for publication in Ap
Infrared Emission from Interstellar Dust. II. The Diffuse Interstellar Medium
We present a quantitative model for the infrared emission from dust in the
diffuse interstellar medium. The model consists of a mixture of amorphous
silicate grains and carbonaceous grains, each with a wide size distribution
ranging from molecules containing tens of atoms to large grains > 1 um in
diameter. We assume that the carbonaceous grains have polycyclic aromatic
hydrocarbon (PAH)-like properties at very small sizes, and graphitic properties
for radii a > 50 A. On the basis of recent laboratory studies and guided by
astronomical observations, we propose "astronomical" absorption cross sections
for use in modeling neutral and ionized PAHs from the far ultraviolet to the
far infrared. We also propose modifications to the far-infrared emissivity of
"astronomical silicate". We calculate energy distribution functions for small
grains undergoing "temperature spikes" due to stochastic absorption of
starlight photons, using realistic heat capacities and optical properties.
Using a grain size distribution consistent with the observed interstellar
extinction, we are able to reproduce the near-IR to submillimeter emission
spectrum of the diffuse interstellar medium, including the PAH emission
features at 3.3, 6.2, 7.7, 8.6, and 11.3um. The model is compared with the
observed emission at high Galactic latitudes as well as in the Galactic plane,
as measured by COBE and IRTS. We calculate infrared emission spectra for our
dust model heated by a range of starlight intensities, and we provide tabulated
dust opacities (extended tables available at
http://www.astro.princeton.edu/~draine/dust/dustmix.html)Comment: Final version published in ApJ, 554, 778 but with factor 1.086 error
in Table 6 and Fig. 16 corrected. Main change from astro-ph version 1 is
correction of typographical errors in Table 1, and correction of typo in eq.
(A2). 51 pages, 16 figures, Late
Limits on the Contribution of Endogenic Radiolysis to the Presence of Molecular Oxygen in Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko
Radiolytic production has been proposed as a potential source for the molecular oxygen observed in comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Radiolysis can be exogenic or endogenic, the latter due to radionuclides present in the dust constitutive of the comet nucleus. We investigated the possibility of forming a significant amount of molecular oxygen through endogenic radiolysis. We applied a model of radiolytic production, developed for an Earth rock-water mixture, and improved it to account for the effect of the size of a radionuclide-bearing grain on the net radiation deposited in its ice mantle. We calculated the possible production of molecular oxygen considering the available experimental values of radiolytic yields. We found that endogenic radiolysis cannot account for the totality of the 3.8% (relative to water) O2abundance derived from the ROSINA observations, with an end member case of our model producing at most a 1% abundance. By contrast, we predict H2O2production leads to an abundance up to two orders of magnitude above observed values
Outflows from Massive YSOs as Seen with the Infrared Array Camera
The bipolar outflow from the massive star forming cluster in DR21 is one of
the most powerful known, and in IRAC images the outflow stands out by virtue of
its brightness at 4.5 um (Band 2). Indeed, IRAC images of many galactic and
extragalactic star formation regions feature prominent Band 2 morphologies. We
have analyzed archival ISOSWS spectra of the DR21 outflow, and compare them to
updated H2 shocked and UV-excitation models. We find that H2 line emission
contributes about 50% of the flux of the IRAC bands at 3.6 um, 4.5 um , and 5.8
um, and is a significant contributor to the 8.0 um band as well, and confirm
that the outflow contains multiple excitation mechanisms. Other potentially
strong features, in particular Br alpha and CO emission, have been suggested as
contributing to IRAC fluxes in outflows, but they are weak or absent in DR21;
surprisingly, there also is no evidence for strong PAH emission. The results
imply that IRAC images can be a powerful detector of, and diagnostic for,
outflows caused by massive star formation activity in our galaxy, and in other
galaxies as well. They also suggest that IRAC color-color diagnostic diagrams
may need to take into account the possible influence of these strong emission
lines. IRAC images of the general ISM in the region, away from the outflow, are
in approximate but not precise agreement with theoretical models.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal; 32 pages; 7
figure
ISOCAM Mid-infrared spectroscopy and NIR photometry of the HII complex N4 in LMC
[Abridged] We present the analysis of ISOCAM-CVF and NIR photometry data of
the HII region complex N4 in LMC. The aim is twofold: 1) to study the
connection between the ISM and the star content of this region; 2)to
investigate the effects of the lower than galactic metallicity on dust
properties. A dust features -- gas lines -- continuum fitting technique on the
data, allows the production of images in each single emission and the detailed
analysis of dust, and ionized gas. The NIR photometry provides, for the first
time, information on the stellar content of N4. The images in single dust
feature bands and gas lines clearly show that the HII region core is completely
devoid of the carriers responsible for the Aromatic Features (AFs). On the
other hand, the ionized gas arises almost completely in this dust cavity, where
also the two main exciting stars of N4 are located. We find evidences that the
effect of lower than Galactic metallicity on the carriers responsible for the
AFs, is not to prevent their formation or to modify their chemical properties,
but to enhance their destruction by the high and hard ISRF. We show that this
mechanism is more efficient on smaller dust particles/molecules thus affecting
the dust-size distribution. We argue that effects on dust--size distribution,
rather than thedifferent dust properties due to a lower metallicity, should be
taken into account when analyzing more distant relatively low metallicity
galaxies. Finally, the analysis of the stellar content of N4 reveals 7 stars: 4
reddened O MS stars and 3 stars with envelopes. In particular, one of these,
seems to be an Ultra Compact HII region containing an embedded YSO.Comment: 14 pages including 16 figures, Accepted for publication in A&
The composition of the protosolar disk and the formation conditions for comets
Conditions in the protosolar nebula have left their mark in the composition
of cometary volatiles, thought to be some of the most pristine material in the
solar system. Cometary compositions represent the end point of processing that
began in the parent molecular cloud core and continued through the collapse of
that core to form the protosun and the solar nebula, and finally during the
evolution of the solar nebula itself as the cometary bodies were accreting.
Disentangling the effects of the various epochs on the final composition of a
comet is complicated. But comets are not the only source of information about
the solar nebula. Protostellar disks around young stars similar to the protosun
provide a way of investigating the evolution of disks similar to the solar
nebula while they are in the process of evolving to form their own solar
systems. In this way we can learn about the physical and chemical conditions
under which comets formed, and about the types of dynamical processing that
shaped the solar system we see today.
This paper summarizes some recent contributions to our understanding of both
cometary volatiles and the composition, structure and evolution of protostellar
disks.Comment: To appear in Space Science Reviews. The final publication is
available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11214-015-0167-
Vibrational and Electronic Structure of the α- and ÎČ-Naphthyl Radicals via Slow Photoelectron Velocity-Map Imaging
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