Title

H2 Formation on Interstellar Grains in Different Physical Regimes

Author(s)/Creator(s)

Gianfranco Vidali, Syracuse University
Ofer Biham, The Hebrew University of JerusalemFollow
Itay Furman, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
N. Katz, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Valerio Pirronello, Universita di Catania

Document Type

Article

Date

6-14-1998

Keywords

TBD

Language

English

Disciplines

Physics

Description/Abstract

An analysis of the kinetics of H2 formation on interstellar dust grains is presented using rate equations. It is shown that semi-empirical expressions that appeared in the literature represent two different physical regimes. In particular, it is shown that the expression given by Hollenbach, Werner and Salpeter [ApJ, 163, 165 (1971)] applies when high flux, or high mobility, of H atoms on the surface of a grain, makes it very unlikely that H atoms evaporate before they meet each other and recombine. The expression of Pirronello et al.\ [ApJ, 483, L131 (1997)] -- deduced on the basis of accurate measurements on realistic dust analogue -- applies to the opposite regime (low coverage and low mobility). The implications of this analysis for the understanding of the processes dominating in the Interstellar Medium are discussed.

Additional Information

4 pages, MN style More information at http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/9807133

Recommended Citation

Vidali, Gianfranco; Biham, Ofer; Furman, Itay; Katz, N.; and Pirronello, Valerio, "H2 Formation on Interstellar Grains in Different Physical Regimes" (1998). Physics - All Scholarship. 511.
https://surface.syr.edu/phy/511

Source

Harvested from Arxiv.org

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.