Related papers: Molecular photodissociation
Pure acetonitrile (CH3CN) and mixed CO:CH3CN and H2O:CH3CN ices have been irradiated at 15K with Vacuum UltraViolet (VUV) photons in the 7-13.6 eV range using synchrotron radiation. VUV photodesorption yields of CH3CN and of photo-products…
As many organic molecules, formic acid (HCOOH) has two conformers (trans and cis). The energy barrier to internal conversion from trans to cis is much higher than the thermal energy available in molecular clouds. Thus, only the most stable…
The presence of dust can strongly affect the chemical composition of the interstellar medium. We model the chemistry in photodissociation regions (PDRs) using both gas-phase and dust-phase chemical reactions. Our aim is to determine the…
Isotope separation is one of the grand challenges of modern society and holds great potential for basic science, medicine, energy, and defense. We consider here a new and general approach to isotope separation. The method is based on an…
The formation of low-mass stars in molecular clouds involves accretion disks and jets, which are of broad astrophysical interest. Accreting stars represent the closest examples of these phenomena. Star and planet formation are also…
External photoevaporation of protoplanetary discs, by massive O stars in stellar clusters, is thought to be a significant process in the evolution of a disc. It has been shown to result in significant mass loss and disc truncation,…
We modelled \HH\ and CO formation incorporating the fractionation and selective photodissociation affecting CO when \AV\ $\la2$mag. UV absorption measurements typically have N(\cotw)/N(\coth) $\approx 65$ that are reproduced with the…
We investigate photoisomerization (PI), the shape change of a molecule upon photoabsorption, in a dissipative environment using a simple spin-boson model. We identify two classes of environment depending on whether it "entangles" with the…
We present a time-resolved study of the photodissociation dynamics of OCS after UV-photoexcitation at $\lambda=237$ nm. OCS molecules ($X\,^1\Sigma^+$) were primarily excited to the $1\,^1\!A''$ and the $2\,^1\!A'$ Renner-Teller components…
Photophoresis is a physical process based on momentum exchange between an illuminated dust particle and its gaseous environment. Its net effect in protoplanetary discs (PPD) is the outward transport of solid bodies from hot to cold regions.…
Photonic molecules, named by analogy with chemical molecules, are clusters of closely located electromagnetically interacting microcavities or "photonic atoms". As two or several microcavities are brought close together, their optical modes…
We present a method to control photodissociation by manipulating the bond softening mechanism occurring in strong shaped laser fields, by varying the chirp sign and magnitude of an ultra-short laser pulse. Manipulation of bond-softening is…
Recent observations indicate that star formation occurs only in the molecular phase of a galaxy's interstellar medium. A realistic treatment of star formation in simulations and analytic models of galaxies therefore requires that one…
We present a self-consistent theory, as well as an illustrative application to a realistic system, of phase control of photoabsorption in an optically dense medium. We demonstrate that, when propagation effects are taken into consideration,…
The effects of the UV background radiation on the formation of sub-galactic clouds are studied by means of one-dimensional hydrodynamical simulations. The radiative transfer of the ionizing photons due to the absorption by HI, HeI and HeII,…
An overview is given of the chemical processes that occur in primordial systems under the influence of radiation, metal abundances and dust surface reactions. It is found that radiative feedback effects differ for UV and X-ray photons at…
We study the photo-desorption occurring in H$_2$O:CO:NH$_3$ ice mixtures irradiated with monochromatic (550 and 900 eV) and broad band (250--1250 eV) soft X-rays generated at the National Synchrotron Radiation Research Center (Hsinchu,…
The study and quantification of UV photon-induced desorption of frozen molecules furthers our understanding of the chemical evolution of cold interstellar regions. Nitric oxide (NO) is an important intermediate species in both gas-phase and…
A new mechanism is described, analyzed and visualized, for the dissipation of suprathermal rotation energy of molecules in magnetic fields, a necessary condition for their alignment. It relies upon the Lorentz force perturbing the motion of…
Photofragment translational spectroscopy has been used to characterize the photodissociation of CH$_3$I and CF$_3$I adsorbed on thin films of a variety of aromatic molecules, initiated by near-UV light. Thin films (nominally 10 monolayers)…