Adsorption of xenon ions onto defects in organic surfaces: Implications for the origin and the nature of organics in primitive meteorites

Abstract

Noble gases trapped in primitive meteorites are quantitatively hosted by a poorly defined organic phase, labeled phase Q. Xenon is enriched in heavy isotopes by +1.30 ± 0.06% per atomic mass unit (amu, 1 σ) in phase Q relative to solar. To understand the origin of this fractionation, we have performed adsorption experiments of xenon atoms and ions, ionized in a radiofrequency plasma. Within the reaction vessel, anthracite was heated and the resulting smoke deposited onto the walls of the vessel, resulting in carbon-rich films. Xenon was trapped in the carbon films either as ions in the ionization zone of the vessel, or as neutral atoms outside this zone. Xenon trapped as ionic Xe is tightly bound and is enriched by +1.36 ± 0.05%/amu (1 σ) in heavy isotopes, reproducing the isotopic fractionation of xenon trapped in phase Q relative to solar. Neutral xenon is more loosely trapped, is in much lower concentration, and is not isotopically fractionated. Ionized conditions allow the constant xenon isotopic composition observed in meteorite during stepwise heating release to be reproduced. Furthermore, the trapping efficiency of Xe + estimated from these experiments is consistent with the high xenon concentration measured in phase Q of primitives meteorites. Xenon was not trapped in the film by implantation because the energies of the incident Xe atoms and ions were far too low (<1 eV). From the difference of behavior between ionic and neutral forms, we propose that xenon ions were trapped via chemical bonding at the surface of the newly created C-rich film. The observed mass-dependent fractionation of xenon is unlikely to have occurred in the gas phase. It is more probably related to variations in chemical bonding strengths of Xe isotopes as chemical bonds involving heavy Xe isotopes are more stable than those involving light ones. For young stars, including the young Sun, photons emitted in the far UV energy range able to ionize noble gases (<100 nm) were orders of magnitude more abundant than for the Present-day Sun, allowing efficient ionization of gaseous species. A way to achieve Q-noble gas fractionation and trapping was UV irradiation by nearby young stars from O/B association of the surface of growing organic grains in the outer part of the solar system or by the young Sun at the edge of the disk.