Related papers: Re-evaluation of the cosmic-ray ionization rate in…
Chemistry in diffuse molecular clouds relies primarily on rapid ion-molecule reactions. Formation of the initial ions, H$^+$ and H$_2^+$, is dominated by cosmic-ray ionization of H and H$_2$, making the cosmic-ray ionization rate (denoted…
Observations of H3+ in the Galactic diffuse interstellar medium (ISM) have led to various surprising results, including the conclusion that the cosmic-ray ionization rate (zeta_2) is about 1 order of magnitude larger than previously…
Using high resolution infrared spectroscopy we have surveyed twenty sightlines for H3+ absorption. H3+ is detected in eight diffuse cloud sightlines with column densities varying from 0.6x10^14 cm^-2 to 3.9x10^14 cm^-2. This brings to…
The spatial distribution of the cosmic-ray flux is important in understanding the Interstellar Medium (ISM) of the Galaxy. This distribution can be analyzed by studying different molecular species along different sight lines whose…
We report cosmic ray ionization rates towards ten reddened stars studied within the framework of the EDIBLES (ESO Diffuse Interstellar Bands Large Exploration Survey) program, using the VLT-UVES. For each sightline, between 2 and 10…
We have obtained estimates for the cosmic-ray ionization rate (CRIR) in the Galactic disk, using a detailed model for the physics and chemistry of diffuse interstellar gas clouds to interpret previously-published measurements of the…
Newly-computed collisional rate coefficients for the excitation of C$_2$ in collisions with H$_2$, presented recently by Najar and Kalugina (2020), are significantly larger than the values adopted previously in models for the excitation of…
Absorption lines from the molecules OH+, H2O+, and H3+ have been observed in a diffuse molecular cloud along a line of sight near W51 IRS2. We present the first chemical analysis that combines the information provided by all three of these…
The cosmic-ray ionization rate ($\zeta_2$) is one of the key parameters in star formation, since it regulates the chemical and dynamical evolution of molecular clouds by ionizing molecules and determining the coupling between the magnetic…
The cosmic-ray ionization rate (CRIR, $\zeta_2$) is one of the key parameters controlling the formation and destruction of various molecules in molecular clouds. However, the current most commonly used CRIR tracers, such as H$_3^+$, OH$^+$,…
Low-energy cosmic rays ($<1$ TeV) are a pivotal source of ionisation of the interstellar medium, where they play a central role in determining the gas chemical composition and drastically influence the formation of stars and planets. Over…
The cosmic-ray ionization rate (zeta) of dense molecular clouds is a key parameter for their dynamics and chemistry. Variations of zeta are well established, but it is unclear if these are related to source column density or to Galactic…
Cosmic rays regulate the dynamics and the chemical processes in the densest and coldest regions of the ISM. Still, the determination of the cosmic-ray ionisation rate of H$_2$ (${\zeta^{\rm ion}_{{\rm H}_2}}$) is plagued by uncertainties in…
We present a new method for the simultaneous calculation of the cosmic ray ionization rate, zeta(H2), and the ionization fraction, chi(e), in dense molecular clouds. A simple network of chemical reactions dominant in the creation and…
Low-energy cosmic-rays (CRs) control the thermo-chemical state and the coupling between gas and magnetic fields in dense molecular clouds, the sites of star-formation. However, current estimates of the low-energy CR spectrum ($E \lesssim 1$…
Cosmic rays are a global source of ionisation, and the ionisation fraction represents a fundamental parameter in the interstellar medium. Ions couple to magnetic fields, affect the chemistry, and the dynamics of star-forming regions as well…
Ions (e.g., H$_3^+$, H$_2$O$^+$) have been used extensively to quantify the cosmic-ray ionization rate (CRIR) in diffuse sightlines. However, measurements of CRIR in low-to-intermediate density gas environments are rare, especially when…
The H3+ molecular ion plays a fundamental role in interstellar chemistry, as it initiates a network of chemical reactions that produce many interstellar molecules. In dense clouds, the H3+ abundance is understood using a simple chemical…
(Abridged) We aim to determine the degrees of CO depletion, deuterium fractionation, and ionisation in a sample of seven massive clumps associated with IRDCs. The APEX telescope was used to observe the C17O(2-1), H13CO+(3-2), DCO+(3-2),…
We report on the effects of cosmic rays (CRs) on the abundance of CO in $\rm H_2$ clouds under conditions typical for star-forming galaxies in the Universe. We discover that this most important molecule for tracing H$_2$ gas is very…