Ice coverage of dust grains in cold astrophysical environments

Abstract

Surface processes on cosmic solids in cold astrophysical environments lead to gas phase depletion and molecular complexity. Most astrophysical models assume that the molecular ice forms a thick multilayer substrate, not interacting with the dust surface. In contrast, we present experimental results demonstrating the importance of the surface for porous grains. We show that cosmic dust grains may be covered by a few monolayers of ice only. This implies that the role of dust surface structure, composition, and reactivity in models describing surface processes in cold interstellar, protostellar, and protoplanetary environments has to be reevaluated.

arXiv commentAccepted for publication in Physical Review Letters

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• Where does the energy go during the interstellar NH${}_3$ formation on water ice? A computational study
• Ammonia snow-lines and ammonium salts desorption
• Is water ice an efficient facilitator for dust coagulation?
• Thermal Desorption of H2O-Ice: From Nanoscale Films to the Bulk
• Chemical Kinetics Simulations of Ice Chemistry on Porous Versus Non-Porous Dust Grains
• Cosmology, astrobiology, and the RNA world. Just add quintessential water