Formation of the Methyl Cation by Photochemistry in a Protoplanetary Disk
Astrophysics of Galaxies
2024-01-09 v1 Chemical Physics
Abstract
Forty years ago it was proposed that gas phase organic chemistry in the interstellar medium was initiated by the methyl cation CH3+, but hitherto it has not been observed outside the Solar System. Alternative routes involving processes on grain surfaces have been invoked. Here we report JWST observations of CH3+ in a protoplanetary disk in the Orion star forming region. We find that gas-phase organic chemistry is activated by UV irradiation.
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@article{arxiv.2401.03296,
title = {Formation of the Methyl Cation by Photochemistry in a Protoplanetary Disk},
author = {Olivier Berné and Marie-Aline Martin-Drumel and Ilane Schroetter and Javier R. Goicoechea and Ugo Jacovella and Bérenger Gans and Emmanuel Dartois and Laurent Coudert and Edwin Bergin and Felipe Alarcon and Jan Cami and Evelyne Roueff and John H. Black and Oskar Asvany and Emilie Habart and Els Peeters and Amelie Canin and Boris Trahin and Christine Joblin and Stephan Schlemmer and Sven Thorwirth and Jose Cernicharo and Maryvonne Gerin and Alexander Tielens and Marion Zannese and Alain Abergel and Jeronimo Bernard-Salas and Christiaan Boersma and Emeric Bron and Ryan Chown and Sara Cuadrado and Daniel Dicken and Meriem Elyajouri and Asunción Fuente and Karl D. Gordon and Lina Issa and Olga Kannavou and Baria Khan and Ozan Lacinbala and David Languignon and Romane Le Gal and Alexandros Maragkoudakis and Raphael Meshaka and Yoko Okada and Takashi Onaka and Sofia Pasquini and Marc W. Pound and Massimo Robberto and Markus Röllig and Bethany Schefter and Thiébaut Schirmer and Ameek Sidhu and Benoit Tabone and Dries Van De Putte and Sílvia Vicente and Mark G. Wolfire},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2401.03296},
year = {2024}
}
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Published in Nature