Related papers: A Revised Description of the Cosmic Ray-Induced De…
The standard model of cosmic ray heating-induced desorption of interstellar ices is based on a continuous representation of the sporadic desorption of ice mantle components from classical (0.1 micron) dust grains. This has been re-evaluated…
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.…
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…
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…
Context. Interstellar surface chemistry is a complex process that occurs in icy layers accumulated onto grains of different sizes. Efficiency of surface processes often depends on the immediate environment of adsorbed molecules. Aims. We…
Major components of ices on interstellar grains in molecular clouds - water and carbon oxides - occur at various optical depths. This implies that selective desorption mechanisms are at work. An astrochemical model of a contracting low-mass…
Context. Evaporative (sublimation) cooling of icy interstellar grains occurs when the grains have been suddenly heated by a cosmic-ray (CR) particle or other process. It results in thermal desorption of icy species, affecting the chemical…
Cosmic-ray (CR) induced heating of whole interstellar grains is an important desorption mechanism for grain surface molecules in interstellar molecular clouds. This study aims to provide a detailed temperature spectra for such CR-induced…
Context. While radiative cooling of interstellar grains is a well-known process, little detail is known about the cooling of grains with an icy mantle that contains volatile adsorbed molecules. Aims. We explore basic details for the cooling…
Cosmic-ray-induced whole-grain heating induces evaporation and other processes that affect the chemistry of interstellar clouds. With recent data on grain heating frequencies as an input for a modified rate-equation astrochemical model,…
Aims: The gas-phase abundance of methanol in dark quiescent cores in the interstellar medium cannot be explained by gas-phase chemistry. In fact, the only possible synthesis of this species appears to be production on the surfaces of dust…
The typical amount of molecular hydrogen (${\rm H_2}$) in interstellar ices is not known, but significant freeze-out of ${\rm H_2}$ on dust grains is not expected. However, chemical models ubiquitously predict large amounts of $\rm H_2$…
The desorption of molecular species from ice mantles back into the gas phase in molecular clouds results from a variety of very poorly understood processes. We have investigated three mechanisms; desorption resulting from H_2 formation on…
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…
Heating of whole interstellar dust grains by cosmic-ray (CR) particles affects the gas-grain chemistry in molecular clouds by promoting molecule desorption, diffusion, and chemical reactions on grain surfaces. The frequency of such heating…
We present a new gas-grain chemical model to constrain the effect of grain size distribution on molecular abundances in starless and pre-stellar cores. We introduce grain-size dependence simultaneously for cosmic-ray (CR)-induced desorption…
The evolution of star-forming regions and their thermal balance are strongly influenced by their chemical composition, that, in turn, is determined by the physico-chemical processes that govern the transition between the gas phase and the…
The local cosmic-ray (CR) spectra are calculated for typical characteristic regions of a cold dense molecular cloud, to investigate two so far neglected mechanisms of dust charging: collection of suprathermal CR electrons and protons by…
In regions where stars form, variations in density and temperature can cause gas to freeze-out onto dust grains forming ice mantles, which influences the chemical composition of a cloud. The aim of this paper is to understand in detail the…
To explain grain growth and destruction in warm media, ice mantle formation and sublimation in cold media, and gas line emission spectroscopy, astrochemical models must mimic the gas--solid abundance ratio. Ice-sublimation mechanisms…