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    Deuteration of molecular clumps induced by cosmic rays
    (Elsevier) Pilling, Sergio; Pazianotto, Maurício Tizziani; Molina, Jose Manuel Quesada
    The D/H ratio in astrophysical environments has instigated the scientists for at least 50 years. The wide range of values in the interstellar medium (ISM) from 10e to 7 to 10e-1 have usually been claimed to be due to small zero-point energy differences between reactants and products involving D and H (mainly at low temperatures). Here, we present a new source of deuteration processes in the ISM clouds as a result of cosmic ray irradiation. As a study object, we consider a typical molecular clump under the presence of incoming cosmic rays simulated computationally. The calculations were performed employing the Monte Carlo toolkit GEANT4 code (considering hadronic physics) and considering mainly the proton and alpha component of the incoming cosmic rays from the ISM (the dominant ones for the production of secondary protons and deuterons). The results suggest an increasing D/H ratio as function of time in the central part of molecular clumps (<200 AU) with the largest deuteration in the central region of the cloud, and a bump in the D/H ratio around 2–10 AU (which becomes more pronounced for clouds with larger timescales; > 10 Myrs). The results also show that for timescales between 10 and 100 Myrs the central part of the cloud has D/H around 6-16e-3, a value compatible with the observed D/H in some interstellar clouds. This work adds a new piece to the D/H puzzle of the ISM and might also help to explain the D/H ratio measured in different objects inside the Solar system.
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    Energy Deposition by Cosmic Rays in the Molecular Cloud Using GEANT4 Code and Voyager I Data
    (IOP science) Pazianotto, Maurício Tizziani; Pilling, Sergio; Molina, Jose Manuel Quesada; Federico, Claudio Antonio
    Molecular clouds (MCs) are exposed to Galactic and extragalactic cosmic rays (CR) that trigger several physical and physicochemical changes, including gas and grain heating and molecular destruction and formation. Here we present a theoretical model describing the energy delivered by CRs, composed of protons, alphas, and electrons taken from Voyager I measurements, into a typical MC with 5400 M☉ (composed mainly of H with a density law of r −1.2) and size around 1 × 106 au. The calculation was performed employing the Monte Carlo toolkit GEANT4 to obtain the energy deposition per mass from several types of secondary particles (considering nuclear and hadron physics). The results indicate that incoming protons contribute to most of the energy delivered in the MC in all regions (maximum ∼230 MeV g−1 s −1 at outer regions of the cloud). Secondary electrons are the second most important component for energy deposition in almost all layers of the MC and can deliver an energy rate of ∼130 MeV g−1 s −1 in the outer region of the MC. Other cascade particles have their major energy delivery in the central and denser core of the MC. From a temperature model (considering CR data from Voyager I), we observed (i) a small bump in temperature at the distance of 3 × 103 –2 × 104 au from the center, (ii) a rapid temperature decrease (roughly 7 K) between the outer layer and the second most outer layer, and (iii) that, at a distance of 5 × 104 au (Av > 10), the gas temperature of the MC is below 15 K.
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    Computational simulation of the bombardment of molecular clump by realistic cosmic ray field employing GEANT4 code
    (Royal Astronomical Society) Pazianotto, Maurício Tizziani; Pilling, Sergio
    Here, we present calculations on the energy delivered (and heating) by realistic cosmic rays (CRs) field at a typical molecular clump. The current model describes, with unprecedented spatial resolution, the energy delivery by a realistic CR field in molecular clumps. The calculations were performed employing the Geant4 code (considering full cascade physical processes and hadron physics) considering the cosmic ray field taken from the Voyager spacecraft measurements in the interstellar medium. The results showed that the total energy deposition rate, considering light particles (protons, electrons and alphas), medium-mass ions and heavy-ions, ranges from 400 MeV/g/s in the outer layer (at 105 AU) to roughly 100 MeV/g/s in the inner layer of the model (below 0.1 AU). The main energy deposition rate is due to the incoming protons. Incoming alphas represent 15–20 per cent of the energy deposition. In the deep core of the cloud, the fraction of energy delivered by medium-mass ions, electrons, and heavy ions are 5 per cent, 2.5 per cent, and 1 per cent, respectively. The heating induced by cosmic rays seems to affect mostly the regions above ∼500 AU. Considering a balanced heat model with warm dust grains (T∼16–18 K), we observe a small bump in temperature at 2000–5000 AU. We suggest this temperature enhancement by CRs might have some affect on the molecular formation or cometary formation in pristine Oort cloud region inside the Solar System.
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    Realistic energy deposition and temperature heating in molecular clouds due to cosmic rays: a computation simulation with the GEANT4 code employing light particles and medium-mass and heavy ions
    (Royal Astronomical Society) Pilling, Sergio; Pazianotto, Maurício Tizziani; Souza, Lucas Alves de; Nascimento, Larissa Maciel do
    In the interstellar medium, Galactic and extragalactic cosmic rays (CRs) penetrate deeper in the molecular clouds (MCs) and promote inside several physical and physicochemical changes due to the energy deposition, including gas and grain heating, and triggering also molecular destruction and formation. In this work, in an attempt to simulate, in a more realistic way, the energy delivered by CRs in a typical MC (mass ∼5400 M and size ∼106 au; mainly composed of H atoms), we combine the energy deposition of light particles and heavy ions, with the new calculations considering the medium-mass ions (3 ≤ Z ≤ 11). To execute the calculation, the Monte Carlo toolkit GEANT4 was applied to get the energy deposition rate per mass from many kinds of secondary particles, used in nuclear and hadron physics. The energy deposition by its induced cascade shower within the MC was characterized, as well as the relative energy deposition for all members of the medium-mass group. The results show that the incoming protons are the dominant source in the energy deposition and heating of the cloud, followed by alphas and electrons, with the medium-mass-ion and heavy-ion groups each contributing roughly 8 per cent. The current model also shows a temperature enhancement of up to 10 per cent in the external layers of the cloud (reaching 22.5 K) with respect to the previous calculations where only light particles were considered. However, neither heavy nor medium-mass ions contribute to the temperature enhancement in the deep core of the cloud.
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    The Influence of Heavy Cosmic Rays in Energy Deposition in Molecular Clouds Employing the GEANT4 Code and Voyager I Data
    (IOP science) Pilling, Sergio; Pazianotto, Maurício Tizziani; Souza, Lucas Alves de
    Galactic and extragalactic cosmic rays fully illuminate and trigger several physical and physicochemical changes in molecular clouds (MCs), including gas and grain heating, molecular destruction and formation, and molecular and atomic desorption (sputtering) from dust/ices to gas phase. Besides the major component in cosmic ray inventory (in flux) being electrons, protons, and alphas, particles with larger atomic numbers have a higher rate of energy delivery (due to richer cosmic ray showers) than the lighter particles, and this may add extra energy input into MCs. To understand this issue, we perform complementary calculations to the previous work on MCs, now adding the heavy ions (12 ≤ Z ≤ 29) in the cosmic ray incoming inventory. Once more, the calculations were performed employing the Monte Carlo toolkit GEANT4 code (considering nuclear and hadron physics). We observe that most projectiles in the heavy ion group have lower deposited energies (roughly 10 times less) than iron with the exception of magnesium (Z = 12) and silicon (Z = 14) which are about double. Cobalt presents the lowest deposited energies with respect to iron (only 0.5%). The total energy deposition in the current model was only roughly 10% higher (outer layers) and virtually the same at the center of the cloud when compared with the previous model (with only protons + alphas + electrons sources). The results show that energy deposition by heavy ions is small compared with the values from light particles, and also suggest a very low temperature enhancement due to heavy ions within the MC, being the protons the dominant agent in the energy delivery and also in the cloud's heating.