Interstellar space: The astrochemist's laboratory

Details Interstellar space: The astrochemist's laboratory Interstellar space: The astrochemist's laboratory

Jul 1976

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1976phdt.........5a&link_type=abstract

Ph.D. Thesis California Inst. of Tech., Pasadena.

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

4

Granular Materials, Interstellar Space, Lattice Vibrations, Spaceborne Astronomy, Energy Absorption, Hydrogen Compounds, Molecular Interactions, Oxygen

Scientific paper

A mechanism for the formation of molecules on small interstellar grains is proposed. The energy liberated when a chemical bond is formed between two atoms on a grain is transferred to the lattice vibrations of the grain, heating up the grain. The hot grain, during the time that it is radiatively recooling, may then liberate its adsorbed volatiles. The timescales for molecular desorption from a grain are calculated for OH and CO for four different grain compositions. A simplified H2 formation model is presented that utilizes this surface reaction mechanism. The nascent H2 molecules are ejected in excited states in qualitative agreement with Copernicus observations. With the synthesis of H2 as the dominant process, a time-dependent treatment of the chemical evolution of a dark cloud with little or no ionizing radiation shows that the clouds require more than 10 to the 7th power years to achieve chemical equilibrium.

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