Silicon chemistry in interstellar clouds

Details Silicon chemistry in interstellar clouds Silicon chemistry in interstellar clouds

Mar 1990

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1990apj...352..123l&link_type=abstract

Astrophysical Journal, Part 1 (ISSN 0004-637X), vol. 352, March 20, 1990, p. 123-131. Research supported by NASA.

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

56

Interstellar Chemistry, Interstellar Matter, Molecular Clouds, Silicon, Abundance, Electron Transitions, Interstellar Gas, Molecular Energy Levels, Molecular Interactions

Scientific paper

A new model of interstellar silicon chemistry is presented that explains the lack of SiO detections in cold clouds and contains an exponential temperature dependence for the SiO abundance. A key aspect of the model is the sensitivity of SiO production by neutral silicon reactions to density and temperature, which arises from the dependence of the rate coefficients on the population of the excited fine-structure levels of the silicon atom. As part of the explanation of the lack of SiO detections at low temperatures and densities, the model also emphasizes the small efficiencies of the production routes and the correspondingly long times needed to reach equilibrium. Measurements of the abundance of SiO, in conjunction with theory, can provide information on the physical properties of interstellar clouds such as the abundance of oxygen bearing molecules and the depletion of interstellar silicon.

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