Related papers: Revised Models of Interstellar Nitrogen Isotopic F…
Context. The nitrogen isotopic ratio is considered an important diagnostic tool of the star formation process, and $N_2H^+$ is particularly important because it is directly linked to molecular nitrogen $N_2$. However, theoretical models…
We present very high signal-to-noise ratio absorption-line observations of CN and CH+ along 13 lines of sight through diffuse molecular clouds. The data are examined to extract precise isotopologic ratios of 12CN/13CN and 12CH+/13CH+ in…
Context: Dark cloud chemical models usually predict large amounts of O2, often above observational limits. Aims: We investigate the reason for this discrepancy from a theoretical point of view, inspired by the studies of Jenkins and Whittet…
Context: The $^{15}$N fractionation has been observed to show large variations among astrophysical sources, depending both on the type of target and on the molecular tracer used. These variations cannot be reproduced by the current chemical…
The nitrogen isotope ratio 14N/15N is a powerful tool to trace Galactic stellar nucleosynthesis and constraining Galactic chemical evolution. Previous observations have found lower 14N/15N ratios in the Galactic center and higher values in…
Photodissociation of 14N2 and 14N15N occurs in interstellar clouds, circumstellar envelopes, protoplanetary discs, and other environments due to UV radiation from stellar sources and the presence of cosmic rays. This source of N atoms…
Nitrogen bearing species are common tracers of the physical conditions in a wide variety of objects, and most remarkably in dark clouds. The reservoir of gaseous nitrogen is expected to be atomic or molecular, but none of the two species…
We report the first detection of C$^{15}$N in diffuse molecular gas from a detailed examination of CN absorption lines in archival VLT/UVES spectra of stars probing local diffuse clouds. Absorption from the C$^{15}$N isotopologue is…
Isotopic ratios have been used as chemical diagnostics to investigate the origin of the material in the Solar System. We have determined the HCN, HNC, and N2H+ isotopic ratios and the chemical age in a large sample of 23 starless cores…
We upgraded the chemical network from the UMIST Database for Astrochemistry 2006 to include isotopes such as ^{13}C and ^{18}O. This includes all corresponding isotopologues, their chemical reactions and the properly scaled reaction rate…
We survey the current situation regarding chemical modelling of the synthesis of molecules in the interstellar medium. The present state of knowledge concerning the rate coefficients and their uncertainties for the major gas-phase processes…
The variations of elemental abundance and their ratios along the Galactocentric radius result from the chemical evolution of the Milky Way disks. The $\rm ^{12}C/^{13}C$ ratio in particular is often used as a proxy to determine other…
We interpret the peculiar super-solar nitrogen abundance recently reported by the James Webb Space Telescope observations for GN-z11 ($z=10.6$) using our state-of-the-art chemical evolution models. The observed CNO ratios can be…
Aim: To determine whether or not gas-phase chemical models with homogeneous and time-independent physical conditions explain the many observed molecular abundances in astrophysical sources, it is crucial to estimate the uncertainties in the…
Nitrogen fractionation is commonly used to assess the thermal history of Solar System volatiles. With ALMA it is for the first time possible to directly measure 14N/15N ratios in common molecules during the assembly of planetary systems. We…
We have investigated the chemistry of dense interstellar clouds and found new bistable solutions in the nitrogen and carbon chemistries. We identify the autocatalytic processes that are present in the pure, reduced, chemical networks and,…
From millimeter and optical observations of the Jupiter-family comet 17P/Holmes performed soon after its huge outburst of October 24, 2007, we derive 14 N/15N = 139 +/- 26 in HCN, and 14N/15N = 165 +/- 40 in CN, establishing that HCN has…
We review the reactions between carbon chain molecules and radicals, namely Cn, CnH, CnH2, C2n+1O, CnN, HC2n+1N, with C, N and O atoms. Rate constants and branching ratios for these processes have been re-evaluated using experimental and…
Isotopic ratios are keys to understanding the origin and early evolution of the solar system in the context of Galactic nucleosynthesis. The large range of measured $^{14}$N/$^{15}$N isotopic ratios in the solar system reflects distinct…
Chemical networks used for models of interstellar clouds contain many reactions, some of them with poorly determined rate coefficients and/or products. In this work, we report a method for improving the predictions of molecular abundances…