Elementary Processes at Low Temperatures - Reactions of H3+ and N2H+ in Afterglow Plasmas

Abstract

Electron-ion recombination and ion-neutral interactions play a piv- otal role in the chemical evolution of molecules in the Interstellar Medium (ISM). Physical conditions under which these processes un- dergo in the ISM include a wide range of temperatures and particle number densities. This work contributes to the experimental study of named low temperature phenomena in the range of 30 K to 300 K focusing on the reactions of hydrogen-containing light molecules. The employed experimental techniques are based on a combination of a Stationary Afterglow (SA) instrument with a Continuous Wave Cavity Ring-down Spectrometer (cw-CRDS). The main contributions of this work can be split into three topics. (1) The proton and deuteron con- taining isotopic system of H3 + ions. The isotopic fractionation process in collisions with hydrogen and deuterium gas was investigated in low temperature discharges, nominal ion temperatures of 80 K to 140 K, to deduce relative ion densities in the experiments. These are necessary for afterglow studies of isotopic effects in electron-ion recombination of the studied ions. (2) Vibrational spectroscopy of N2H+ ions focusing on first overtone (2ν1 band) transitions and ion thermometry, the first step towards studies of electron-ion recombination. (3) The role of para/ortho spin..