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The importance of being stable: New results about the survival of PAHs in extreme astrophysical environments

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 October 2020

Elisabetta R. Micelotta Open the ORCID record for Elisabetta R. Micelotta [Opens in a new window]
Elisabetta R. Micelotta*
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, PO Box 64, University of Helsinki, FI-00014 Helsinki, Finland email: [email protected]
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Abstract

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Increasing observational evidence shows that a non-negligible fraction of the cosmic carbon is locked into macromolecules like Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs). Interstellar PAHs live in extreme environments where there are processed by energetic photons (UV and X-rays) and by ions and electrons accelerated in hot shocked plasma and arising from cosmic rays. It is therefore important to quantify the capability of PAHs to survive under these extreme conditions and to determine the structural modifications induced by such energetic processing. I will present some novel results on this topic, focusing on the bombardment by ions and electrons in interstellar shocks. This work shows the importance of pairing an appropriate physical description of the interaction between target and projectiles with updated laboratory measurements of the relevant physical parameters. The results from physical modeling allowed to derive updated astronomical lifetimes for PAHs.

Keywords

shock wavesdustextinctionsupernova remnants
Type
Contributed Papers
Information
Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union , Volume 15 , Symposium S350: Laboratory Astrophysics: From Observations to Interpretation , April 2019 , pp. 397 - 398
Copyright
© International Astronomical Union 2020

References

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