Solid State Chemistry in Dense Clouds Along Quiescent Lines of Sight

Details Solid State Chemistry in Dense Clouds Along Quiescent Lines of Sight Solid State Chemistry in Dense Clouds Along Quiescent Lines of Sight

Sep 2004

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2004sptz.prop.3320p&link_type=abstract

Spitzer Proposal ID #3320

Computer Science

Scientific paper

We propose 5.3-21.8 um spectroscopic observations of background field stars along sight-lines through dense interstellar clouds, with little or no star formation activity, to assess the early chemistry of molecular cloud dust. Dense clouds produce molecules and ices critical to star and planet formation. The formation of organic compounds in these ices is one of the first steps towards the complex molecular materials needed for life. Infrared spectroscopy provides a powerful tool for the study of the composition and evolution of interstellar ices. The most diagnostic features of solid-state materials occur in the mid-infrared. To date, mid-IR absorption studies have primarily been towards embedded protostars where the ice may well have been processed either thermally or by FUV photons from the star. Such sightlines demonstrate a preponderance of simple molecules (H2O, CH3OH, CO, CO2, and NH3) and energetically processed species (X- CN) in the surrounding ices, revealing that protostars strongly influence their circumstellar environments. Lines of sight to these objects are unlikely to be representative of dense cloud materials as a whole. A more complete understanding of the composition of dense clouds and their chemical dynamics requires that we also probe lines of sight through the general quiescent cloud medium. We will obtain low resolution IRS spectra (including 6.0 um H2O, 6.85 um NH4+/CH3OH, 7.6 um CH4, and 15.2 um CO2 band), plus high resolution IRS spectra for selected high AV sources, to study detailed band profiles. We will correlate band strengths with Av to determine the abundances and densities required for the ice components to appear, and study the chemical changes in molecular clouds as a function of temperature and density. These observations will provide a snapshot of the chemical state of a molecular cloud prior to the formation of stars, and a general baseline for studies of dust chemistry in regions of star formation.

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