Related papers: Bistability in Interstellar Gas-Phase Chemistry
The origin of bistable solutions in the kinetic equations describing the chemistry of dense interstellar clouds is explained as being due to the autocatalysis and feedback of oxygen nuclei from the oxygen dimer (O2). We identify four…
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,…
We have studied gas-grain chemical models of interstellar clouds to search for nonlinear dynamical evolution. A prescription is given for producing oscillatory solutions when a bistable solution exists in the gas-phase chemistry and we…
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…
Non-linear behavior in interstellar chemical models has been recognized for 25 years now. Different mechanisms account for the possibility of multiple fixed-points at steady state, characterized by the ionization degree of the gas. Chemical…
Context. The presence of dust in the interstellar medium has profound consequences on the chemical composition of regions where stars are forming. Recent observations show that many species formed onto dust are populating the gas phase,…
Nitrogen-bearing molecules display variable isotopic fractionation levels in different astronomical environments such as in the interstellar medium or in the Solar System. Models of interstellar chemistry are unable to induce nitrogen…
Context. Interstellar dust particles, which represent 1% of the total mass, are recognized to be very powerful interstellar catalysts in star-forming regions. The presence of dust can have a strong impact on the chemical composition of…
Chemical reactions on dust grains are of crucial importance in interstellar chemistry because they produce molecular hydrogen and various organic molecules. Due to the submicron size of the grains and the low flux, the surface populations…
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…
We develop a model of dust evolution in a multiphase, inhomogeneous ISM including dust growth and destruction processes. The physical conditions for grain evolution are taken from hydrodynamical simulations of giant molecular clouds in a…
We review the reactions involving HCN and HNC in dark molecular clouds to elucidate new chemical sources and sinks of these isomers. We find that the most important reactions for the HCN-HNC system are Dissociative Recombination (DR)…
With the high-resolution spectroscopy now available in the optical and satellite UV, it is possible to determine the neutral/ionized column density ratios for several different elements in a single cloud. Assuming ionization equilibrium for…
Observations of diffuse clouds showed that they contain a number of simple hydrocarbons (e.g. CH, C$_2$H, (l- and c-)C$_3$H$_2$, and C$_4$H) in abundances that may be difficult to understand on the basis of conventional gas-phase chemical…
We examine the linear stability and nonlinear growth of the thermal instability in isobarically contracting gas with various metallicities and FUV field strengths. When the H2 cooling is suppressed by FUV fields (G_0>10^-3) or the…
Dust plays an important role in the evolution of a galaxy, since it is one of the main ingredients for efficient star formation. Dust grains are also a sink/source of metals when they are created/destroyed, and, therefore, a self-consistent…
With the chemical reaction rate database UMIST95 (Millar et al. 1997) we analyze how uncertainties in rate constants of gas-phase chemical reactions influence the modelling of molecular abundances in the interstellar medium. Random…
Processing by interstellar photons affects the composition of the icy mantles on interstellar grains. The rate of photodissociation in solids differs from that of molecules in the gas phase. The aim of this work was to determine an average,…
We investigate the formation and evolution of interstellar dust-grain ices under dark-cloud conditions, with a particular emphasis on CO2. We use a three-phase model (gas/surface/mantle) to simulate the coupled gas--grain chemistry,…
Ionization-recombination balance in dense interstellar and circumstellar environments is a key factor for a variety of important physical processes, such as chemical reactions, dust charging and coagulation, coupling of the gas with…