Interstellar chemistry of sulphur
Abstract
The paper demonstrates that the proposed ion-molecule schemes for the formation of sulfur containing molecules in dense clouds in the interstellar medium are very inefficient in producing the observed species. This problem can be alleviated if the proposed radiative association is rapid, although the non-observation of SH in diffuse clouds appears to preclude this; however, if S is depleted over the surface of oxide grains, the ion reactions at the grain surface can be an efficient source of sulfur bearing molecules to the gas. The ion reactions at the grain surface can lead to all 10 observed sulfur molecules; existing gas chemistry does not predict the presence of sulfur bearing molecules in diffuse clouds, so that detection of these molecules in such regions will be a test of the effect of grain surface chemistry or of a radiative association which are usually neglected.
- Publication:
-
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Pub Date:
- September 1980
- DOI:
- 10.1093/mnras/192.4.945
- Bibcode:
- 1980MNRAS.192..945D
- Keywords:
-
- Interstellar Chemistry;
- Interstellar Matter;
- Sulfur;
- Abundance;
- Molecular Interactions;
- Reaction Kinetics;
- Astrophysics