Water is the main constituent of interstellar ices, and it plays a key role in the evolution of many regions of the interstellar medium, from molecular clouds to planet-forming disks [1]. In cold regions of the ISM, water is expected to be completely frozen out onto the dust grains. Nonetheless, observations indicate the presence of cold water vapor, implying that non-thermal desorption mechanisms are at play. Photodesorption by UV photons has been proposed to explain these observations [2,3], with the support of extensive experimental and theoretical work on ice analogues [4,5,6]. In contrast, photodesorption by X-rays, another viable mechanism, has been little studied. The potential of this process to desorb key molecules, such as water, intact rather than fragmented or ionised, remains unexplored. We experimentally investigated X-ray photodesorption from water ice, monitoring all desorbing species. We find that desorption of neutral water is efficient, while ion desorption is minor. We derive for the first time yields that can be implemented in astrochemical models. These results open up the possibility of taking into account the X-ray photodesorption process in the modelling of protoplanetary disks or X-ray dominated re-Numerous studies have explored the effects of Xrays on the chemistry of various regions of the ISM [7,8,9,10], with a few taking into account solid phase processes [11,12]. In the example of protoplanetary disks, as sketched in figure 1, the X-ray dominated region corresponds to a thin layer. The extent of the X-ray layer will depend on the type of star, the degree of evolution of the disk (dust settling, etc) and the physical model of disk considered. In the T Tauri model of ref [11], the limit between the UV and X-ray dominated layers occurs around z/R ∼ 0.2. The location of ices is disk-dependent as well, with the horizontal onset varying between <1 and 10 AU. Beyond a few tens of AU dust temperatures are cold enough for water to freeze out throughout the whole disk, and the X-ray layer overlaps with the icy region (cf fig.1). The region where X-rays are dominant can extend to the whole midplane if the disk is shielded from cosmic rays, as suggested by [13].The goal of this study is to provide experimental constraints on X-ray photodesorption, which allows modellers to assess the relevance of this process to the physics and chemistry of disks and other regions. Previous experimental studies have mainly focused on ion desorption [15,16,17], and only a few have attempted to derive quantitative desorption yields [18]. We used synchrotron radiation from the SEXTANTS beamline (SOLEIL facility) to irradiate amorphous solid water at either 15 K or 90 K in an ultra-high vacuum chamber (see Methods). Our set-up allows us 1 arXiv:1807.03725v1 [astro-ph.GA] 10 Jul 2018 (External X-rays) Cosmic Rays (External UV) z R Figure 1: Schematic representation of a vertical slice of a protoplanetary disk showing the various sources of irradiation in the ice-containing regions.To the left is the central star, wi...
Core-excitation of water ice releases many different molecules and ions in the gas phase. Studying these desorbed species and the underlying mechanisms can provide useful information on the effects of X-ray irradiation in ice. We report a detailed study of the X-ray induced desorption of a number of neutral, cationic and anionic species from amorphous solid water. We discuss the desorption mechanisms, and the relative contributions of Auger and secondary electrons (X-ray induced Electron Stimulated Desorption) and initial excitation (direct desorption) as well as the role of photochemistry. Anions are shown to desorb not just through processes linked with secondary electrons but also through direct dissociation of the core-excited molecule. The desorption spectra of oxygen ions (O + , OH + , H2O + , O − , OH − ) give a new perspective on their previously reported very low desorption yields for most types of irradiation of water, showing that they mostly originate from the dissociation of photoproducts such as H2O2.
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