Understanding the Molecular Kinetics and Chemical Equilibrium Phase of Frozen CO during Bombardment by Cosmic Rays by Employing the PROCODA Code

Abstract

Within the cold regions of space, ices that are enriched with carbon monoxide (CO) molecules are exposed to ionizing radiation, which triggers new reactions and desorption processes. Laboratory studies on astrochemical ices employing different projectiles have revealed the appearance of several new species. In this study, we employed the upgraded PROCODA code, which involves a calculation phase utilizing thermochemistry data, to map the chemical evolution of pure CO ice irradiated by cosmic-ray analogs. In the model, we have considered 18 different chemical species (six observed: CO, CO2, C3, O3, C2O, and C5O3; 12 unobserved: C, O, C2, O2, CO3, C3O, C4O, C5O, C2O2, C2O3, C3O2, and C4O2) coupled at 156 reaction routes. Our best-fit model provides effective reaction rates (effective rate constants, (ERCs)), branching ratios for reactions within reaction groups, several desorption parameters, and the characterization of molecular abundances at the chemical equilibrium (CE) phase. The most abundant species within the ice at the CE phase were atomic oxygen (68.2%) and atomic carbon (18.2%), followed by CO (11.8%) and CO2 (1.6%). The averaged modeled desorption yield and rate were 1.3e5 molecules ion−1 and 7.4e13 molecules s−1, respectively, while the average value of ERCs in the radiation-induced dissociation reactions was 2.4e-1 s−1 and for the bimolecular reactions it was 4.4e-24 cm3 molecule−1 s−1. We believe that the current kinetics study can be used in future astrochemical models to better understand the chemical evolution of embedded species within astrophysical ices under the presence of an ionizing radiation field.