Related papers: On Cosmic Ray-Driven Grain Chemistry in Cold Core …
Context. Cosmic ray particles that hit interstellar grains in dark molecular cores may induce whole-grain heating. The high temperature of a CR-heated grain allows energy barriers for bulk diffusion and reactions to be overcome.…
Cosmic rays may be linked to the formation of volatiles necessary for prebiotic chemistry. We explore the effect of cosmic rays in a hydrogen-dominated atmosphere, as a proof-of-concept that ion-neutral chemistry may be important for…
Cosmic rays are able to heat interstellar dust grains. This may enhance molecule mobility in icy mantles that have accumulated on the grains in dark cloud cores. A three-phase astrochemical model was used to investigate the molecule…
Cosmic-rays are the primary initiators of interstellar chemistry, and getting a better understanding of the varying impact they have on the chemistry of interstellar clouds throughout the Milky Way will not only expand our understanding of…
Several complex organic molecules are routinely detected in high abundances towards hot cores and hot corinos. For many of them, their paths of formation in space are uncertain, as gas phase reactions alone seem to be insufficient. In this…
A new, more comprehensive model of gas-grain chemistry in hot molecular cores is presented, in which nondiffusive reaction processes on dust-grain surfaces and in ice mantles are implemented alongside traditional diffusive surface/bulk-ice…
We explore the effects of the expected higher cosmic ray (CR) ionization rates $\zeta_{\rm CR}$ on the abundances of carbon monoxide (CO), atomic carbon (C), and ionized carbon (C$^+$) in the H$_2$ clouds of star-forming galaxies. The study…
Gas-phase processes were long thought to be the key formation mechanisms for complex organic molecules in star-forming regions. However, recent experimental and theoretical evidence has cast doubt on the efficiency of such processes.…
In cold core of dark molecular clouds, where the UV radiation from external sources is strongly attenuated, cosmic rays can induce chemical reactions on the surface of ice-covered grains promoting the ejection of the processed material to…
In this work, we reexamine sulfur chemistry occurring on and in the ice mantles of interstellar dust grains, and report the effects of two new modifications to standard astrochemical models; namely, (a) the incorporation of cosmic…
Under cold conditions in dense cores, gas-phase molecules and atoms are depleted from the gas-phase to the surface of interstellar grains. Considering the time scales and physical conditions within these cores, a portion of these molecules…
We present astrochemical photo-dissociation region models in which cosmic ray attenuation has been fully coupled to the chemical evolution of the gas. We model the astrochemical impact of cosmic rays, including those accelerated by…
In recent years, a significant number of oxygen-bearing complex organic molecules (COMs) have been detected in the gas phase of cold dark clouds such as TMC-1. The formation of these COMs cannot be explained by diffusive mechanisms on…
We study the effects of grain surface reactions on the chemistry of protoplanetary disks where gas, ice surface layers and icy mantles of dust grains are considered as three distinct phases. Gas phase and grain surface chemistry is found to…
The recent discovery of methyl formate and dimethyl ether in the gas phase of cold cores with temperatures as cold as 10 K challenges our previous astrochemical models concerning the formation of complex organic molecules. The strong…
Many species of complex organic molecules (COMs) have been observed in several astrophysical environments but it is not clear how they are produced, particularly in cold, quiescent regions. One process that has been proposed as a means to…
AIM: We have recently developed a microscopic Monte Carlo approach to study surface chemistry on interstellar grains and the morphology of ice mantles. The method is designed to eliminate the problems inherent in the rate-equation formalism…
In the interstellar medium (ISM), the formation of complex organic molecules (COMs) is largely facilitated by surface reactions. However, in cold dark clouds, thermal desorption of COMs is inefficient because of the lack of thermal energy…
The observed gas-phase molecular inventory of hot cores is believed to be significantly impacted by the products of chemistry in interstellar ices. In this study, we report the construction of a full macroscopic Monte Carlo model of both…
Large reservoirs of cold (~ 10^4 K) gas exist out to and beyond the virial radius in the circumgalactic medium (CGM) of all types of galaxies. Photoionization modeling suggests that cold CGM gas has significantly lower densities than…