Physical and chemical processes in icy grain mantles

Publication

Reference: Schmitt B. (1994). Physical and chemical processes in icy grain mantles. Proc. 5th International Meeting of Physical Chemistry: Molecules and Grains in Space, 312, 735 - 757.

Names

Title: Physical and chemical processes in icy grain mantles
Abstract: Many questions are still largely open concerning the composition and evolution of the icy mantles of interstellar and circumstellar grains. They include the physico‐chemical origin of the condensed species, the efficiency of the different chemical processes which may alter the composition of the grains, as well as the various exchange processes between the gas and solid phases and their time constants. We will review the different physical and chemical processes by which icy mantles are formed, evolve and are destroyed. Grain formation involves adsorption and condensation of gas species as well as molecule formation by surface reactions. The chemical evolution of grains includes destruction and synthesis of new species by UV photolysis and by cosmic ray irradiation. The physical evolution and destruction processes consist of thermal or induced desorption and evaporations, differentiations by selective evaporations, and sputtering. In addition, some specific destruction processes, such as chemical explosions of radical‐rich ice mantles, have been proposed.
Keywords: molecular solid, ice, adsorption, sublimation, surface reactions, irradiation process - photons, irradiation process - cosmic rays, interstellar grains, circumstellar grains
Content: thermodynamic data, chemistry, astrophysics

Name: 5th International Meeting of Physical Chemistry: Molecules and Grains in Space
Location: Mont Sainte-Odile, France
Dates: September 1993

Doi

10.1063/1.46630

Identifiers

Publications