Sulfur Ice Astrochemistry: A Review of Laboratory Studies

Abstract

Sulfur is the tenth most abundant element in the universe and is known to play a significant role in biological systems. Accordingly, in recent years there has been increased interest in the role of sulfur in astrochemical reactions and planetary geology and geochemistry. Among the many avenues of research currently being explored is the laboratory processing of astrophysical ice analogues. Such research involves the synthesis of an ice of specific morphology and chemical composition at temperatures and pressures relevant to a selected astrophysical setting (such as the interstellar medium or the surfaces of icy moons). Subsequent processing of the ice under conditions that simulate the selected astrophysical setting commonly involves radiolysis, photolysis, thermal processing, neutral-neutral fragment chemistry, or any combination of these, and has been the subject of several studies. The in-situ changes in ice morphology and chemistry occurring during such processing has been monitored via spectroscopic or spectrometric techniques. In this paper, we have reviewed the results of laboratory investigations concerned with sulfur chemistry in several astrophysical ice analogues. Specifically, we review (i) the spectroscopy of sulfur-containing astrochemical molecules in the condensed phase, (ii) atom and radical addition reactions, (iii) the thermal processing of sulfur-bearing ices, (iv) photochemical experiments, (v) the non-reactive charged particle radiolysis of sulfur-bearing ices, and (vi) sulfur ion bombardment of and implantation in ice analogues. Potential future studies in the field of solid phase sulfur astrochemistry are also discussed in the context of forthcoming space missions, such as the NASA James Webb Space Telescope and the ESA Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer mission.

Peer-reviewed version accepted for publication in Space Science Reviews

References in corpus (15)

• The James Webb Space Telescope
• A Unified Representation of Gas-Phase Element Depletions in the Interstellar Medium
• Photochemistry and astrochemistry: photochemical pathways to interstellar complex organic molecules
• Atmospheric Sulfur Photochemistry on Hot Jupiters
• Astrochemistry During the Formation of Stars
• Modeling Sulfur Depletion in Interstellar Clouds
• Atom addition reactions in interstellar ice analogues
• Efficient Production of S${}_8$ in Interstellar Ices: The effects of cosmic ray-driven radiation chemistry and non-diffusive bulk reactions
• A new study of an old sink of sulfur in hot molecular cores: the sulfur residue
• Sulfur-driven Haze Formation in Warm CO2-rich Exoplanet Atmospheres
• Search for Interstellar monohydric Thiols
• Thermal and energetic processing of astrophysical ice analogues rich in SO${}_2$
• Qualitative observation of reversible phase change in astrochemical ethanethiol ices using infrared spectroscopy
• Submillimeter spectroscopy and astronomical searches of vinyl mercaptan, C${}_2$H${}_3$SH
• A laboratory study of water ice erosion by low-energy ions

Cited by in corpus (12)

• Electron Irradiation and Thermal Chemistry Studies of Interstellar and Planetary Ice Analogues at the ICA Astrochemistry Facility
• Energetic Electron Irradiations of Amorphous and Crystalline Sulphur-Bearing Astrochemical Ices
• The Role of Terahertz and Far-IR Spectroscopy in Understanding the Formation and Evolution of Interstellar Prebiotic Molecules
• Discovery of two infrared objects with strong ice absorption in the AKARI slit-less spectroscopic survey of the Galactic Plane
• Formation of thiocarbonic acid (H${}_2$CS${}_3$) -- the sulfur counterpart of carbonic acid (H${}_2$CO${}_3$) - in interstellar analog ices
• L-shell Photoionisation Cross Sections in the S^{+}, S^{2+}, S^{3+} Isonuclear Sequence
• Leveraging the ALMA Atacama Compact Array for Cometary Science: An Interferometric Survey of Comet C/2015 ER61 (PanSTARRS) and Evidence for a Distributed Source of Carbon Monosulfide
• Reflections on future problems in cluster science
• Discovery of sulfur oxides in the ejecta of a B[e] supergiant
• Temperature-programmed desorption of SO2 from water ice surfaces: Adsorption energy distributions
• Probing sulfur chemistry in oxygen-rich AGB stars with ALMA
• High resolution ALMA observations of H${}_2$S in LIRGS (Dense gas and shocks in outflows and CNDs)