Navegando por Assunto "Astrochemistry"

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    Characterization of acetonitrile ice irradiated by X-rays employing the procoda code – II. Desorption processes
    (Royal Astronomical Society) Carvalho, Geanderson Araújo; Pilling, Sergio; Gerasimenko, Svitlana
    In this work, we focus on the study of radiation-induced desorption processes that occurred in acetonitrile ice irradiated by broad-band X-rays (6 eV to 2 keV) monitored by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy at different radiation fluences. In a previous work, we used the procoda code to derive the chemical evolution of the ice. Here, we have observed that the acetonitrile desorbed column density is at least two orders of magnitude larger than the desorbed column densities of daughter or granddaughter molecular species at chemical equilibrium stage. This indicates that total desorption column density is mainly governed by the father molecule, as also previously hypothesized in experimental studies. This occurs basically because the acetonitrile column density is larger than the other ones. In particular, at chemical equilibrium acetonitrile desorption column density represents almost 98 per cent of the total, while it is close to 1 per cent for H, CN, and CH2, the species with larger molecular desorption percentages at chemical equilibrium. Another derived quantity is what we called intrinsic desorption rate, which is a number per second for individual species. Some of the larger intrinsic desorption rates were 6.2 × 10−6 (CH3CN), 6.2 × 10−6 (CN), 5.7 × 10−6 (H), 5.7 × 10−6 (CH2), and 4.4 × 10−6 (C2N2). These results help to put constraints in astrochemical models and can also be useful to clarify some astronomical radio observations.
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    Chemical evolution of electron-bombarded crystalline water ices at different temperatures using the procoda code
    (Royal Astronomical Society) Pilling, Sergio; Silveira, Carolina Hahn da; Ojeda-González, Arian
    Water ices are a common component of cold space environments, including molecular and protostellar clouds, and the frozen surfaces of moons, planets, and comets. When exposed to ionizing and/or thermal processing, they become a nursery for new molecular species and are also responsible for their desorption to the gas-phase. Crystalline water ice, produced by the deposition of gaseous water at warm (80–150 K) surfaces or by the heating of cold amorphous water ice (up to ∼150 K), is also regularly detected by astronomical observations. Here, we employed the procoda code to map the chemical evolution of 5 keV electron-bombarded crystalline water-ices at different temperatures (12, 40, 60 and 90 K). The chemical network considered a total of 61 coupled reactions involving nine different chemical species within the ice. Among the results, we observe that the average calculated effective rate constants for radiation-induced dissociation decrease as the ice´s temperature increases. The abundance of molecular species in the ice at chemical equilibrium and its desorption to gas-phase depend on both the temperature of the ice. H2O molecules are the dominant desorbed species, with a desorption yield of about 1 molecule per 100 electrons, which seems to be enhanced for warmer crystalline ices. The obtained results can be employed in astrochemical models to simulate the chemical evolution of interstellar and planetary environments. These findings have implications for astrochemistry and astrobiology, providing insight into crucial chemical processes and helping us understand the chemistry in cold regions in space.
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    Influence of temperature on the chemical evolution and desorption of pure CO ices irradiated by cosmic-rays analogues
    (Royal Astronomical Society) Pilling, Sergio; Mateus, Marcelo Silva; Ojeda-González, Arian; Ferrão, Luiz Fernando de Araujo; Galvão, Breno R. L.; Boduch, Philippe; Rothard, Hermann
    Carbon monoxide (CO) plays a vital role in interstellar chemistry, existing abundantly in both gaseous and frozen environments. Understanding the radiation-driven chemistry of CO-rich ices is crucial for comprehending the formation and desorption of C-bearing molecules in the interstellar medium (ISM), particularly considering the potential impact of temperature on these processes. We report experimental data on irradiation processing of pure CO ice by cosmic ray analogues (95.2 MeV 136Xe23+ ions) at temperatures of 10, 15, and 20 K, in the IGLIAS set-up coupled to the IRRSUD beamline at GANIL (Caen, France). The evolution of the irradiated frozen samples was monitored by infrared spectroscopy. The computational PROCODA code allows us to quantify the chemical evolution of the samples, determining effective reaction rates coefficients (ERCs), molecular abundances at the chemical equilibrium (CE) phase, and desorption processes. The model integrated 18 chemical species – 8 observed (CO, CO2, C3, O3, C2O, C3O, C3O2, and C5O3) and 10 non-observed but predicted (C, O, C2, O2, CO3, C4O, C5O, C2O2, C2O3, C4O2) – linked via 156 reactions. Our findings reveal temperature-driven influences on molecular abundances at chemical equilibrium, desorption yields and rates, and ERC values. Certain reaction routes exhibit distinct thermochemical behaviours of gas- and ice-phase reactions which may be attributed to the presence of neighbouring molecules within the ice matrix. This study provides pivotal insights into the chemical evolution of CO-enriched ice under irradiation, impacting solid-state astrochemistry, clarifying molecular abundances, and advancing our understanding of ISM chemistry and temperature effects on ionized radiation-processed frozen ices.
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    Modeling the chemical evolution and kinetics of pure H2O Ices under various types of radiation employing the PROCODA code
    (Elsevier) Silveira, Carolina Hahn da; Pilling, Sergio
    Water is one of the most abundant molecules in space, especially in cold environments, where it is the main constituting of astrophysical ices. The space ionizing radiation affects these ices and induces chemical changes, including desorption to gas-phase, which increase the complexity of the interstellar medium. In this work, we employed the PROCODA code to investigate the behavior of several pure water ices under different type of ionizing radiation such as UV, X-rays, electrons and cosmic rays analogues. Here, we employ molecular column densities from laboratory and solved a set of coupled chemical reactions to calculated effective reaction rates (ERCs) and characterize the chemical equilibrium of water ices under high radiation fluences. Briefly, we monitored the evolution of nine species (including the observed ones H2O, H2O2, and O3, and the predicted ones H, O, H2, OH, O2, and HO2). A discussion on the branching ratio for the considered reactions with the type of ionizing radiation is provided. Among the results, we observed that approximately 63% of the modeled molecules quantified at chemical equilibrium were non-observed species in the X-rays experiment, highlighting the importance of this work in providing insights into the processes that occur on the surface of icy interstellar grains exposed to cosmic radiation, including the formation and destruction of water ice. Accurate modeling of these processes can lead to a better understanding of the chemical evolution of interstellar and circumstellar environments, as well as offer insight into the formation and composition of celestial objects such as comets.
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    Understanding the astrophysical-ice nanostructures formation through classical molecular dynamics
    (Universidade do Vale do Paraíba) Silva, Priscila Alves da; Pilling, Sergio; Amarim, Rodrigo Garcia
    Astrophysical ices (formed by water, among other molecules) act as a catalyst and a reservoir of carbonaceous species, both of which have major implications for astrobiology. In this work, we studied the formation of astrophysical ice nanostructures found in the interstellar medium, having a sheet of graphene as a catalyst substrate, using the classical molecular dynamics technique to model these astrophysical environments. For this, two systems were designed: the first composed of graphene and H2Oand the second composed of graphene, H2Oand CO2. Initially, a simulation box was built where the area was delimited by graphene whose height varied from 4, 6, 8 and 10 nm. The molecules were evenly distributed throughout the box. The molecular dynamics technique proved to be a promising tool to understand the phenomenon of adsorption of molecules on the substrate, allowing us to realize that the random distribution of molecules in the system interferes with the geometric structure formed by an ice nanostructure. This study allows us to understand, from the nanometric point of view, the influence of some physical-chemical parameters, regarding the formation of nanostructures of astrophysical ices, such as the number of hydrogen bonds, the initial size of the simulation box, and its density during the freezing process