Complex Ice Chemistry: A comparative study of electron irradiated planetary ice analogues containing methane

Kristina A. Kipfer, André Galli, Andreas Riedo, Marek Tulej, Peter Wurz, Niels F.W. Ligterink

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

4 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Various Solar System objects are covered in layers of ice that are dominated by H 2O, CH 4, and N 2 and in which complex chemical processes take place. In this work, the influence of composition and irradiation duration on the volatile irradiation products of mixed CH 4:N 2, CH 4:H 2O, and CH 4:H 2O:N 2 ices after electron irradiation are studied. The ices were irradiated for 2 or 4 h with 5 keV electrons, followed by a temperature programmed desorption, where the desorption of the volatile irradiation products was observed. The formation of C 2H x and C 3H x is observed in all ices and for both irradiation times. For the ices containing H 2O, molecules as large as tentatively identified C 4H x and C 5H x are observed to co-desorb with water, whereas for CH 4:N 2 a continuous desorption signal is observed instead of a sharp desorption peak. A decrease in signal intensity from the 2 to the 4 h irradiation is observed for most m/z signals in CH 4:H 2O and CH 4:H 2O:N 2 ices, whereas the opposite is recorded for CH 4:N 2, where in general larger signal for longer irradiation duration is seen. The addition of nitrogen to the CH 4:H 2O ice did not lead to clear identification of different molecules, but instead to a decrease of the observed signal for complex molecules, suggesting that the addition of nitrogen to the CH 4:H 2O mixture primarily leads to a more effective incorporation of material in an organic residue. The analysis of the residue will be subject of future work to complement the findings in this study.

Original languageEnglish
Article number115742
JournalIcarus
Volume410
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2024
Externally publishedYes

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