Modeling the processing of interstellar ices by energetic particles

Context. Interstellar ice is the main form of metal species in dark molecular clouds. Experiments and observations have shown that the ice is significantly processed after the freeze-out of molecules onto grains. The processing is caused by cosmic-ray particles and cosmic-ray-induced UV photons. These transformations are included in current astrochemical models only to a very limited degree. Aims. We aim to establish a model of the "cold" chemistry in interstellar ices and to evaluate its general impact on the composition of interstellar ices. Methods. The ice was treated as consisting of two layers - the surface and the mantle (or subsurface) layer. Subsurface chemical processes are described with photodissociation of ice species and binary reactions on the surfaces of cavities inside the mantle. Hydrogen atoms and molecules can diffuse between the layers. We also included deuterium chemistry. Results. The modeling results show that the content of chemically bound H is reduced in subsurface molecules by about 30 % on average. This promotes the formation of more hydrogen-poor species in the ice. The enrichment of ice molecules with deuterium is significantly reduced by the subsurface processes. On average, it follows the gas-phase atomic D-to-H abundance ratio, with a delay. The delay produced by the model is on the order of several Myr. Conclusions. The processing of ice may place new constraints on the production of deuterated species on grains. In a mantle with a two-layer structure the upper layer (CO) should be processed substantially more intensively than the lower layer (H2O). Chemical explosions in interstellar ice might not be an important process. They destroy the structure of the mantle, which forms over long timescales. Besides, ices may lack the high radical content needed for the explosions.Comment: 13 pages, 9 figures, 3 tables, 94 reference

Recent updates on the Maser Monitoring Organisation

The Maser Monitoring Organisation (M2O) is a research community of telescope operators, astronomy researchers and maser theoreticians pursuing a joint goal of reaching a deeper understanding of maser emission and exploring its variety of uses as tracers of astrophysical events. These proceedings detail the origin, motivations and current status of the M2O, as was introduced at the 2021 EVN symposium

The Effect of an Inert Solid Reservoir on Molecular Abundances in Dense Interstellar Clouds

The question, what is the role of freeze-out of chemical species in determining the molecular abundances in the interstellar gas is a matter of debate. We investigate a theoretical case of a dense interstellar molecular cloud core by time-dependent modeling of chemical kinetics, where grain surface reactions deliberately are not included. That means, the gas-phase and solid-phase abundances are influenced only by gas reactions, accretion on grains and desorption. We compare the results to a reference model where no accretion occurs, and only gas-phase reactions are included. We can trace that the purely physical processes of molecule accretion and desorption have major chemical consequences on the gas-phase chemistry. The main effect of introduction of the gas-grain interaction is long-term molecule abundance changes that come nowhere near an equilibrium during the typical lifetime of a prestellar core