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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 September 2002
We present the results of an experimental study of the structuraleffects induced by Lyman-α UV photons in crystalline water ice atlow temperature carried out by using in situ infrared spectroscopy. Westudied the evolution, under UV irradiation, of the 3 micron bandprofile. We found that an UV dose of few eV per water ice molecule isenough to fully amorphize the structure at the investigated temperatureof 16 K. The evolution of the 3 micron feature during UV irradiation iscompared with that observed for fast ion irradiation carried out in thesame experimental set-up. Both photons and fast ions are present inspace, they can induce variations in the profile of the3 micron bandof crystalline water ice. Thus these effects must be considered when oneattempts to deduce, from the profile of the observed ice band,information on the temperature history of the responsible dust.