Ion chemistry in interstellar space

Abstract

The temperature dependence of the bimolecular reactions of Cl(+), HCl(+), CH(+), CH2(+), N(+), NH(+), and NH2(+) reacting with H2 have been investigated. For Cl(+) and HCl(+) rate constants have been determined over the temperature range of 150 to 400 K. Preliminary data have been obtained for the other systems. The Cl(+)/H2 system shows a weak, but significant positive temperature dependence that could be important in interstellar modeling studies. The HCl(+)/H2 system shows a substantial negative temperature dependence with the rate constant approaching the collision rate at low temperatures. The association reaction CH3(+) + HCN yields CH3 HCN(+) has been theoretically modeled using statistical phase space theory. Both radiative and collisional stabilization have been included. The results are compared with experiment with good agreement obtained over wide variations in T and p. This system is potentially important in the mechanism of large molecule synthesis in interstellar space