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Production of ions at high energy and its role in extraterrestrial environments

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Abstract

Ions in space are formed in various ways, the relevance of which depends on the specific conditions of the considered extraterrestrial environment. The interaction of neutral molecules with cosmic rays, UV photons, X-rays and other phenomena such as shock waves are all important processes for their production. Once formed, ions are able to drive some chemistry that leads to molecular ions and, via dissociative recombination, molecules of increasing complexity. Therefore, ion-chemistry plays a pivotal role in the chemistry of the interstellar medium and upper planetary atmospheres (ionospheres). Molecular ions have also been detected in comet tails. In this paper, we briefly review experimental results obtained in our laboratory and concerning the formation of free ions in two different types of processes: double photoionization and collisional ionization induced by highly excited species (Penning ionization). A detailed characterization of these processes in laboratory experiments is of crucial importance to understand the chemistry of extraterrestrial environments. The double photoionization occurs when high energy photons are available and, as dications are generally metastable and rapidly decay into two fragment ions, contributes to the global budget of ion formation. The effects of Penning ionization have never been considered in modeling extraterrestrial objects so far, even though metastable helium is known to be formed by radiative recombination of He+ ions with electrons. Because helium is the second most abundant element of the Universe, Penning ionization of molecules by He*(23S1) is plausibly an active route of ionization in relatively dense environments exposed to cosmic rays.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. IOM CNR Laboratorio TASC, 34012, Trieste, Italy

    Michele Alagia & Stefano Stranges

  2. Dipartimento di Chimica, Università di Perugia, 06123, Perugia, Italy

    Nadia Balucani & Fernando Pirani

  3. Dipartimento di Ingegneria Civile ed Ambientale, Università di Perugia, 06125, Perugia, Italy

    Pietro Candori, Stefano Falcinelli, Marzio Rosi & Franco Vecchiocattivi

  4. Sincrotrone Trieste, Area Science Park, 34149, Basovizza, Trieste, Italy

    Robert Richter

  5. ISTM CNR, 06123, Perugia, Italy

    Marzio Rosi

  6. Dipartimento di Chimica, Università di Roma “La Sapienza”, 00185, Rome, Italy

    Stefano Stranges

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  1. Michele Alagia
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  2. Nadia Balucani
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  3. Pietro Candori
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  4. Stefano Falcinelli
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  5. Fernando Pirani
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  7. Marzio Rosi
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  8. Stefano Stranges
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  9. Franco Vecchiocattivi
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Correspondence to Franco Vecchiocattivi.

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Alagia, M., Balucani, N., Candori, P. et al. Production of ions at high energy and its role in extraterrestrial environments. Rend. Fis. Acc. Lincei 24, 53–65 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12210-012-0215-z

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