scholarly journals Species cycling and the enhancement of ammonia in pre-stellar cores

2020 ◽  
Vol 501 (1) ◽  
pp. 1228-1242
Author(s):  
Azrael A von Procházka ◽  
T J Millar

ABSTRACT The quantity of NH3 produced on grain surfaces in the pre-stellar core is thought to be one of the determining factors regarding the chemical complexity achievable at later stages of stellar birth. In order to investigate how this quantity might be influenced by the gas–grain cycling of molecular material within the cloud, we employ a modified rates gas–grain chemical code and follow the time-dependent chemistry of NH3 as the system evolves. Our models incorporate an updated version of the most recent UDfA network of reaction rate coefficients, desorption from the grains through standard thermal and non-thermal processes, and physisorbed and chemisorbed binding of atomic and molecular hydrogen to a population of carbonaceous and siliceous grains. We find that (1) observable abundances of NH3 can exist in the gas phase of our models at early times when the N atom is derived from CN via an efficient early-time hydrocarbon chemistry, (2) a time-dependent gradient exists in the observational agreement between different species classes in our models, consistent with possible physical substructures within the TMC-1 Cyanopolyyne Peak, and (3) the gaseous and solid-state abundances of NH3 are sensitive to the presence of gas–grain cycling within the system. Our results suggest that the degree of chemical complexity achievable at later stages of the cloud’s chemical evolution is indeed influenced by the manner in which the gas–grain cycling occurs.

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (S350) ◽  
pp. 382-383
Author(s):  
Niclas A. West ◽  
Edward Rutter ◽  
Mark A. Blitz ◽  
Leen Decin ◽  
Dwayne E. Heard

AbstractStellar winds of Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) stars are responsible for the production of ∼85% of the gas molecules in the interstellar medium (ISM), and yet very few of the gas phase rate coefficients under the relevant conditions (10 – 3000 K) needed to model the rate of production and loss of these molecules in stellar winds have been experimentally measured. If measured at all, the value of the rate coefficient has often only been obtained at room temperature, with extrapolation to lower and higher temperatures using the Arrhenius equation. However, non-Arrhenius behavior has been observed often in the few measured rate coefficients at low temperatures. In previous reactions studied, theoretical simulations of the formation of long-lived pre-reaction complexes and quantum mechanical tunneling through the barrier to reaction have been utilized to fit these non-Arrhenius behaviours of rate coefficients.Reaction rate coefficients that were predicted to produce the largest change in the production/loss of Complex Organic Molecules (COMs) in stellar winds at low temperatures were selected from a sensitivity analysis. Here we present measurements of rate coefficients using a pulsed Laval nozzle apparatus with the Pump Laser Photolysis - Laser Induced Fluorescence (PLP-LIF) technique. Gas flow temperatures between 30 – 134 K have been produced by the University of Leeds apparatus through the controlled expansion of N2 or Ar gas through Laval nozzles of a range of Mach numbers between 2.49 and 4.25.Reactions of interest include those of OH, CN, and CH with volatile organic species, in particular formaldehyde, a molecule which has been detected in the ISM. Kinetics measurements of these reactions at low temperatures will be presented using the decay of the radical reagent. Since formaldehyde and the formal radical (HCO) are potential building blocks of COMs in the interstellar medium, low temperature reaction rate coefficients for their production and loss can help to predict the formation pathways of COMs observed in the interstellar medium.


2015 ◽  
Vol 47 (9) ◽  
pp. 596-605 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tristan Braure ◽  
Véronique Riffault ◽  
Alexandre Tomas ◽  
Romeo Iulian Olariu ◽  
Cecilia Arsene ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhengqing Tong ◽  
Margaret S. Cheung ◽  
Barry D. Dunietz ◽  
Eitan Geva ◽  
Xiang Sun

The nonequilibrium Fermi’s golden rule (NE-FGR) describes the time-dependent rate coefficient for electronic transitions, when the nuclear degrees of freedom start out in a <i>nonequilibrium</i> state. In this letter, the linearized semiclassical (LSC) approximation of the NE-FGR is used to calculate the photoinduced charge transfer rates in the carotenoid-porphyrin-C<sub>60</sub> molecular triad dissolved in explicit tetrahydrofuran. The initial nonequilibrium state corresponds to impulsive photoexcitation from the equilibrated ground-state to the ππ* state, and the porphyrin-to-C<sub>60</sub> and the carotenoid-to-C<sub>60</sub> charge transfer rates are calculated. Our results show that accounting for the nonequilibrium nature of the initial state significantly enhances the transition rate of the porphyrin-to-C<sub>60</sub> CT process. We also derive the instantaneous Marcus theory (IMT) from LSC NE-FGR, which casts the CT rate coefficients in terms of a Marcus-like expression, with explicitly time-dependent reorganization energy and reaction free energy. IMT is found to reproduce the CT rates in the system under consideration remarkably well.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oisin Shiels ◽  
P. D. Kelly ◽  
Cameron C. Bright ◽  
Berwyck L. J. Poad ◽  
Stephen Blanksby ◽  
...  

<div> <div> <div> <p>A key step in gas-phase polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) formation involves the addition of acetylene (or other alkyne) to σ-type aromatic radicals, with successive additions yielding more complex PAHs. A similar process can happen for N- containing aromatics. In cold diffuse environments, such as the interstellar medium, rates of radical addition may be enhanced when the σ-type radical is charged. This paper investigates the gas-phase ion-molecule reactions of acetylene with nine aromatic distonic σ-type radical cations derived from pyridinium (Pyr), anilinium (Anl) and benzonitrilium (Bzn) ions. Three isomers are studied in each case (radical sites at the ortho, meta and para positions). Using a room temperature ion trap, second-order rate coefficients, product branching ratios and reaction efficiencies are reported. </p> </div> </div> </div>


1976 ◽  
Vol 56 (2) ◽  
pp. 71-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. R. CAMERON ◽  
C. G. KOWALENKO

A small subsystem model was developed to simulate the major nitrogen flow pathways in an unsaturated soil treated with ammonium sulphate. A nonlinear Freundlich equilibrium model and a Langmuir kinetic model were used to describe mathematically the adsorption–desorption of soluble NH4+ to the exchangeable and clay-fixed phases, respectively. Time dependent, microbial mediated first-order kinetic models were used to quantify the ammonification and nitrification processes. The subsystem model was then used as a research tool to derive ammonification and nitrification rate coefficients for a preceding incubation experiment conducted using different soil moisture contents and temperatures. The model yields reasonably good fits to the observed data. A subsequent regression analysis relating the coefficients to temperature and moisture pointed out the importance of the temperature–water content interaction term in quantifying microbial mediated processes.


1992 ◽  
Vol 282 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael R. Zachariah ◽  
Wing Tsang

ABSTRACTAb initio molecular orbital calculations coupled to RRKM reaction rate theory have been conducted on some important reactions involved in the oxidation of silane in a high-temperature/high H2O environment. The results indicate thatH2O acts as an oxygen donor to SiH2 to form H3SiOH or SiH2O. Subsequent reactions involve the formation of (HSiOOH, H2Si(OH)2,:Si(OH)2 or SiO). In turn SiO polymerizes into planar rings, without an activation energy barrier. A list of calculated thermochemical data are also presented for a number of equilibrium species.


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