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Chemistry in Turbulent Flows

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 August 2010

Roland Gredel
Affiliation:
European Southern Observatory, Casilla 19001, Santiago 19, Chile
Jose Franco
Affiliation:
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
Alberto Carraminana
Affiliation:
Instituto Nacional de Astrofisica, Optica y Electronica, Tonantzintla, Mexico
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Summary

The ubiquitous amount of interstellar CH+ in translucent molecular clouds presents one of the outstanding problems of interstellar chemistry. The chemical pathways which lead to the formation and the destruction of the CH+ ion in the quiescent gas are well understood, yet the predicted abundances are orders of magnitudes below the observed values. This led to the suggestion that disturbances upon the quiescent material increase the CH+ formation rate via the reaction C+ + H2 → CH+ + H, which is endothermic by 4650 K. Interstellar turbulence may very well provide the energy source to drive this reaction. The various formation scenarios of interstellar CH+ are discussed, with an emphasis on processes which involve the dissipation of interstellar turbulence. The chemical properties of regions which are affected by the dissipation of turbulence are summarized.

Introduction

Interstellar turbulence may affect the chemistry of translucent and dense molecular clouds in various ways. Turbulent mixing of material from dense cores to the surface of molecular clouds, and vice versa, may alter the abundances inferred from chemical networks. In particular, turbulent transport and diffusion was invoked to explain the large abundance of atomic carbon and that of complex organic molecules which is observed in dense molecular clouds (Boland & de Jong 1982; Chièze, Pineau des Forêts & Herbst 1991; Xie, Allen & Langer 1995).

The dissipation of turbulence in translucent molecular clouds is another physical process which has recently been considered to alter chemical abundances.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1999

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  • Chemistry in Turbulent Flows
    • By Roland Gredel, European Southern Observatory, Casilla 19001, Santiago 19, Chile
  • Edited by Jose Franco, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Alberto Carraminana, Instituto Nacional de Astrofisica, Optica y Electronica, Tonantzintla, Mexico
  • Book: Interstellar Turbulence
  • Online publication: 04 August 2010
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511564666.021
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  • Chemistry in Turbulent Flows
    • By Roland Gredel, European Southern Observatory, Casilla 19001, Santiago 19, Chile
  • Edited by Jose Franco, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Alberto Carraminana, Instituto Nacional de Astrofisica, Optica y Electronica, Tonantzintla, Mexico
  • Book: Interstellar Turbulence
  • Online publication: 04 August 2010
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511564666.021
Available formats
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Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Chemistry in Turbulent Flows
    • By Roland Gredel, European Southern Observatory, Casilla 19001, Santiago 19, Chile
  • Edited by Jose Franco, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Alberto Carraminana, Instituto Nacional de Astrofisica, Optica y Electronica, Tonantzintla, Mexico
  • Book: Interstellar Turbulence
  • Online publication: 04 August 2010
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511564666.021
Available formats
×