Related papers: The chemistry of interstellar molecules containing…

Observations of CO+ suggest column densities on the order 10^12 cm^-2 that can not be reproduced by many chemical models. CO+ is more likely to be destroyed than excited in collisions with hydrogen. An anomalous excitation mechanism may…

Chlorine and molecular hydrogen are known to be tightly linked together in the cold phase of the local interstellar medium through rapid chemical reactions. We present here the first systematic study of this relation at high redshifts using…

The knowledge of the binding energy of molecules on astrophysically relevant ices can help to obtain an estimate of the desorption rate, i.e. the molecules residence time on the surface. This represents an important parameter for…

We report a detection of the fundamental rotational transition of hydrogen fluoride in absorption towards Orion KL using Herschel/HIFI. After the removal of contaminating features associated with common molecules ("weeds"), the HF spectrum…

The molecular species hydrogen peroxide, HOOH, is likely to be a key ingredient in the oxygen and water chemistry in the interstellar medium. Our aim with this investigation is to determine how abundant HOOH is in the cloud core {\rho} Oph…

The internal energy available in vibrationally excited H2 molecules can be used to overcome or diminish the activation barrier of various chemical reactions of interest for molecular astrophysics. In this article we investigate in detail…

Context. The abundances of many observed compounds in interstellar molecular clouds still lack an explanation, despite extensive research that includes both gas and solid (dust-grain surface) phase reactions. Aims. We aim to qualitatively…

We report on the detection with the HIFI instrument on board the Herschel satellite of the two hydrogen chloride isotopologues, H35Cl and H37Cl, towards the massive star-forming region W3A. The J=1-0 line of both species was observed with…

HD molecule is one the most abundant molecule in the Universe and due to its sensibility to the conditions in the medium, it can be used to constrain physical parameters in the medium where HD resides. Lately we have shown that HD abundance…

Clusters of galaxies as the largest clearly defined objects in our Universe are ideal laboratories to study the distribution of the most abundant chemical elements heavier than hydrogen and helium and the history of their production. The…

Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) data is used to investigate the molecular hydrogen (H_2) content of intermediate-velocity clouds (IVCs) in the lower halo of the Milky Way. We analyze interstellar absorption towards 56 (mostly…

The sulfur content in dense molecular regions of the interstellar medium is highly depleted in comparison to diffuse clouds. The reason of this phenomenon is unclear, thus it is necessary to carry out observational studies of sulfur-bearing…

The chemistry of the diffuse interstellar medium is driven by the combined influences of cosmic rays, ultraviolet (UV) radiation, and turbulence. Previously detected at the outer edges of photodissociation regions (PDRs) and formed from the…

In an effort to further our interest in understanding basic chemistry of interstellar molecules, we carry out here an extensive investigation of the stabilities of interstellar carbon chains; Cn, H2Cn, HCnN and CnX (X=N, O, Si, S, H, P, H-,…

The detection of CF$^+$ in interstellar clouds potentially allows astronomers to infer the elemental fluorine abundance and the ionization fraction in ultraviolet-illuminated molecular gas. Because local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE)…

Molecular hydrogen is the most abundant molecule in the universe. It is the first one to form and survive photo-dissociation in tenuous environments. Its formation involves catalytic reactions on the surface of interstellar grains. The…

We present Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) observations of interstellar molecular hydrogen (H_2) in two Galactic high-velocity clouds (HVCs). Molecular hydrogen absorption is detected in the Magellanic Stream (abundance ~0.3…

We report high-sensitivity millimetre observations of several molecular species (13CO, HCN, HNC, CN, HCO+ and N2H+) in a sample of compact planetary nebulae. Some species such as HCO+ and CN are particularly abundant compared to envelopes…

Aims. The HIFI instrument onboard Herschel has allowed high spectral resolution and sensitive observations of ground-state transi- tions of three molecular ions: the methylidyne cation CH+, its isotopologue 13CH+, and sulfanylium SH+.…

We report the first astronomical detection of the CF+ (fluoromethylidynium) ion obtained by recent observations of its J = 1 - 0 (102.6 GHz), J = 2 - 1 (205.2 GHz), and J = 3 - 2 (307.7 GHz) pure rotational emissions toward the Orion Bar.…