Interstellar medium ISM

The variation of reaction rate with temperature follows the Arrhenius equation, which we have used to study the rate of chemical reactions in the interstellar medium ISM (Section 5.4, Equation 5.9), and can be applied to the liquid phase or reactions occurring on surfaces. Even the smallest increases in temperature can have a marked effect on the rate constants, as can be seen in the increased rate of chemical reactions at body temperature over room temperature. Considering a reaction activation energy that is of the order of a bond energy, namely 100 kJ mol-1, the ratio of the rate constants at 310 K and 298 K is given by ... 

Interstellar medium (ISM) The tenuous medium between the stars with molecular densities as low as 1 molecule cm-3 rising to 106 molecules cm-3 in giant molecular clouds. Temperatures may be as low as 10-40 K. 

The existence and distribution of the chemical elements and their isotopes is a consequence of nuclear processes that have taken place in the past in the Big Bang and subsequently in stars and in the interstellar medium (ISM) where they are still ongoing. These processes are studied theoretically, experimentally and obser-vationally. Theories of cosmology, stellar evolution and interstellar processes are involved, as are laboratory investigations of nuclear and particle physics, cosmo-chemical studies of elemental and isotopic abundances in the Earth and meteorites and astronomical observations of the physical nature and chemical composition of stars, galaxies and the interstellar medium. 

Various forms of molecular carbon, from ions to radicals, have been detected in the diffuse interstellar medium (ISM) using electronic, rotational, and vibrational spectroscopies (Henning and Salama 1998 Snow and Witt 1995). Discrete absorption and emission bands seen toward diffuse interstellar clouds indicate the presence of numerous two-atom molecules such as CO, CN and C2. In addition to these interstellar features, a large family of spectral bands observed from the far-UV to the far-IR still defies explanation. Currently, it is the general consensus that many of the unidentified spectral features are formed by a complex, carbonaceous species that show rich chemistry in interstellar dust clouds (Ehrenfreund... 

Using the total abundance of elemental H = 2.79 x lo10 per million silicon atoms in solar-system matter and an initial isotope ratio in the Sun of D/H = 1.5 x 10-5, as determined in today s interstellar medium (ISM), the D isotope has... 

There is evidence from chondrites that the solar nebula was well mixed between 0.1 and 10 AU during its first several million years of the evolution, as shown by the homogeneity in concentrations of many isotopes of refractory elements (Boss 2004 Chapter 9). This is likely caused by the evaporation and recondensation of solids in the very hot inner nebula, followed by outward transport due to turbulent diffusion and angular momentum removal. Materials out of which terrestrial planets and asteroids are built have been heated to temperatures above 1300 K and are thus depleted in volatile elements. The inner solar nebula, with some exceptions, does not retain memories of the pristine interstellar medium (ISM) chemical composition (Palme 2001 Trieloff Palme 2006). 

Gail (2002, 2004) has set up a series of large-scale simulations predicting the abundances of minerals formed in the early Solar System as based on assumptions on the input dust materials from the interstellar medium (ISM), and condensation,... 

There is convincing observational evidence that the placental interstellar medium (ISM) from which the solar system originated was a dense molecular cloud (Wasserburg et al., 1982 1979). In fact, the recent evidence of the presence of short-lived nuclei in meteorites requires that the free-fall time scale for gravitational collapse (tft) be less than or comparable to the mean lifetime of Al ( 10 yrs), i.e. ttt 4.10 / /n < 10 yrs, which requires nn lOVcc, a value typical of molecular clouds. Since molecular clouds are observed to be a major feature in our galaxy, they constitute a most reliable starting point for the processes that will eventually lead to the formation of stars and planetary systems (Falk and... 

The primary cosmic rays propagate through the interstellar medium (ISM) until they either escape into extragalactic space, or are removed by interaction or energy losses in the ISM. Their interstellar equilibrium intensity may be recorded with a detector which is usually carried above the earth s atmosphere on spacecraft or balloon. Secondary cosmic rays are those that are generated as products from interactions of the primaries in the ISM positrons and antiprotons mostly come from interactions of primary protons, while the secondary nuclei such as Li, Be, B, and the elements just below iron, which cannot be produced by primary nucleosynthesis, are the products of spallation reactions of heavier primaries in the ISM. The overall arriving cosmic-ray intensity represents a mix of primary and secondary particles. 

These metals, together with the pristine stellar material is restored into the interstellar medium (ISM) at the star death. This process clearly affects crucially the chemical evolution of the ISM. In order to take into account the elemental production by stars we define the yields , in particular the stellar yields (the amount of elements produced by a single star) and the yields per stellar generation (the amount of elements produced by an entire stellar generation). 

In the laboratory, the study of the properties of pure polyynes and poly-cumulenes is inhibited because of their extreme reactivity with oxygen and the formation of cross linked chains. In space, refractory dust made of silicates or carbonaceous material are formed in the atmosphere of evolved stars and released into the interstellar medium (ISM). In dense molecular clouds ( Hydrogen > 10 cm, 10-20 K) atoms and molecules that... 

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