Student or educator? Sign up with your school email and get 6 months of Pro free.
CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 15

The DOI matches its Crossref record; the references it cites are not checked yet.

Proton and Electron Irradiations of CH4:H2O Mixed Ices

Mifsud, Duncan V., Herczku, Péter, Sulik, Béla, Juhász, Zoltán, Vajda, István, Rajta, István, Ioppolo, Sergio, Mason, Nigel J., Strazzulla, Giovanni, Kaňuchová, Zuzana·2023·Atoms
DOI 10.3390/atoms11020019
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

The organic chemistry occurring in interstellar environments may lead to the production of complex molecules that are relevant to the emergence of life. Therefore, in order to understand the origins of life itself, it is necessary to probe the chemistry of carbon-bearing molecules under conditions that simulate interstellar space. Several of these regions, such as dense molecular cores, are exposed to ionizing radiation in the form of galactic cosmic rays, which may act as an important driver of molecular destruction and synthesis. In this paper, we report the results of a comparative and systematic study of the irradiation of CH4:H2O ice mixtures by 1 MeV protons and 2 keV electrons at 20 K. We demonstrate that our irradiations result in the formation of a number of new products, including both simple and complex daughter molecules such as C2H6, C3H8, C2H2, CH3OH, CO, CO2, and probably also H2CO. A comparison of the different irradiation regimes has also revealed that proton irradiation resulted in a greater abundance of radiolytic daughter molecules compared to electron irradiation, despite a lower radiation dose having been administered. These results are important in the context of the radiation astrochemistry occurring within the molecular cores of dense interstellar clouds, as well as on outer Solar System objects.

Overview

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.3390/atoms11020019

Cites

Statistics

Verification

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Citations

The citation lists haven’t been fetched yet

Cited by 15

Research works printed but not linked: 64

  1. McGuire, 2022, 2021 census of interstellar, circumstellar, extragalactic, protoplanetary disk, and exoplanetary molecules, Astrophys. J. Suppl. Ser., 259, 30, 10.3847/1538-4365/ac2a48 · DOI · Paper page
  2. Lacy, 1991, Discovery of interstellar methane: Observations of gaseous and solid CH4 absorption toward young stars in molecular clouds, Astrophys. J., 376, 556, 10.1086/170304 · doi:10.1086/170304
  3. Qasim, 2020, An experimental study of the surface formation of methane in interstellar molecular clouds, Nat. Astron., 4, 781, 10.1038/s41550-020-1054-y · DOI
  4. Boogert, 2008, The c2d Spitzer spectroscopic survey of ices around low-mass young stellar objects. III. CH4, Astrophys. J., 678, 1032, 10.1086/533425 · DOI · Paper page
  5. Kawara, 1988, Infrared spectroscopic observation of methane in comet P/Halley, Astron. Astrophys., 207, 174
  6. Schuhmann, 2019, Aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons in comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko seen by ROSINA, Astron. Astrophys., 630, A31, 10.1051/0004-6361/201834666 · doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201834666
  7. Rubin, 2019, Volatile species in comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko: Investigating the link from the ISM to the terrestrial planets, ACS Earth Space Chem., 3, 1792, 10.1021/acsearthspacechem.9b00096 · DOI
  8. Lunine, 2008, The methane cycle on Titan, Nat. Geosci., 1, 159, 10.1038/ngeo125 · DOI
  9. Bertrand, 2020, Equatorial mountains on Pluto are covered by methane frosts resulting from a unique atmospheric process, Nat. Commun., 11, 5056, 10.1038/s41467-020-18845-3 · doi:10.1038/s41467-020-18845-3
  10. Mason, 2014, Electron induced chemistry: A new frontier in astrochemistry, Faraday Discuss., 168, 235, 10.1039/C4FD00004H · DOI
  11. Boyer, 2016, The role of low-energy (<20 eV) electrons in astrochemistry, Surf. Sci., 652, 26, 10.1016/j.susc.2016.03.012 · doi:10.1016/j.susc.2016.03.012
  12. Baratta, 2002, A comparison of ion irradiation and UV photolysis of CH4 and CH3OH, Astron. Astrophys., 384, 343, 10.1051/0004-6361:20011835 · doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20011835
  13. Baratta, 2003, Ion irradiation of CH4-containing icy mixtures, Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. B Beam Interact. Mater. Atom., 209, 283, 10.1016/S0168-583X(02)02010-4 · doi:10.1016/s0168-583x(02)02010-4
  14. Bennett, 2006, Laboratory studies on the irradiation of methane in interstellar, cometary, and Solar System ices, Astrophys. J., 653, 792, 10.1086/508561 · DOI
  15. Bordalo, 2013, Cosmic ray-ice interaction studied by radiolysis of 15 K methane ice with MeV O, Fe and Zn ions, Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc., 433, 2368, 10.1093/mnras/stt902 · doi:10.1093/mnras/stt902
  16. Vasconcelos, 2017, Ion irradiation of pure and amorphous CH4 ice relevant for astrophysical environments, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 19, 12845, 10.1039/C7CP00883J · doi:10.1039/c7cp00883j
  17. Turner, 2016, Probing the carbon-phosphorus bond coupling in low-temperature phosphine (PH3)-methane (CH4) interstellar ice analogues, Astrophys. J., 819, 97, 10.3847/0004-637X/819/2/97 · DOI
  18. Zhu, 2018, Formation and high-order carboxylic acids (RCOOH) in interstellar analogous ices of carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4), Astrophys. J. Suppl. Ser., 234, 15, 10.3847/1538-4365/aa9f28 · DOI
  19. Esmaili, 2018, Glycine formation in CO2:CH4:NH3 ices induced by 0–70 eV electrons, J. Chem. Phys., 148, 164702, 10.1063/1.5021596 · doi:10.1063/1.5021596
  20. Herbst, 2013, Interstellar water chemistry: From laboratory to observations, Chem. Rev., 113, 9043, 10.1021/cr4003177 · doi:10.1021/cr4003177
  21. Moore, 1998, Infrared study of ion-irradiated water-ice mixtures with hydrocarbons relevant to comets, Icarus, 135, 518, 10.1006/icar.1998.5996 · doi:10.1006/icar.1998.5996
  22. Wada, 2006, Methanol formation from electron-irradiated mixed H2O/CH4 ice at 10 K, Astrophys. J., 644, 300, 10.1086/503380 · DOI
  23. Rothard, 2020, Radiolysis of ices by cosmic rays: CH4 and H2O ices mixtures irradiated by 40 MeV 58Ni11+ ions, Astrophys. J., 894, 132, 10.3847/1538-4357/ab8935 · doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ab8935
  24. Krim, 2019, VUV photolysis of CH4-H2O mixture in methane-rich ices: Formation of large complex organic molecules in astronomical environments, Low Temp. Phys., 45, 606, 10.1063/1.5103253 · doi:10.1063/1.5103253
  25. Moore, 2003, Infrared study of ion-irradiated N2 dominated ices relevant to Triton and Pluto: Formation of HCN and HNC, Icarus, 161, 486, 10.1016/S0019-1035(02)00037-4 · DOI
  26. Herczku, 2021, The Ice Chamber for Astrophysics-Astrochemistry (ICA): A new experimental facility for ion impact studies of astrophysical ice analogues, Rev. Sci. Instrum., 92, 084501, 10.1063/5.0050930 · doi:10.1063/5.0050930
  27. Mifsud, 2021, Electron irradiation and thermal chemistry studies of interstellar and planetary ice analogues at the ICA astrochemistry facility, Eur. Phys. J. D, 75, 182, 10.1140/epjd/s10053-021-00192-7 · doi:10.1140/epjd/s10053-021-00192-7
  28. Rajta, 2018, Accelerator characterization of the new ion beam facility at MTA Atomki in Debrecen, Hungary, Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. A, 880, 125, 10.1016/j.nima.2017.10.073 · DOI
  29. Biri, 2021, The Atomki accelerator center, Eur. Phys. J. Plus, 136, 247, 10.1140/epjp/s13360-021-01219-z · doi:10.1140/epjp/s13360-021-01219-z
  30. Gerakines, 2020, A modified and open-source computational package for the determination of infrared optical constants relevant to astrophysics, Astrophys. J., 901, 52, 10.3847/1538-4357/abad39 · doi:10.3847/1538-4357/abad39
  31. Bouilloud, 2015, Bibliographic review and new measurements of the infrared band strengths of pure molecules at 25 K: H2O, CO2, CO, CH4, NH3, CH3OH, HCOOH, and H2CO, Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc., 451, 2145, 10.1093/mnras/stv1021 · DOI
  32. Ziegler, 2010, SRIM—The stopping and range of ions in matter (2010), Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. B Beam Interact. Mater. Atom., 268, 1818, 10.1016/j.nimb.2010.02.091 · DOI · Paper page
  33. Mifsud, 2022, Laboratory experiments on the radiation astrochemistry of water ice phases, Eur. Phys. J. D Atom. Mol. Opt. Plasma Phys., 76, 87
  34. Palumbo, 2006, Formation of compact solid water after ion irradiation at 15 K, Astron. Astrophys., 453, 903, 10.1051/0004-6361:20042382 · doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20042382
  35. Raut, 2007, Compaction of microporous amorphous solid water by ion irradiation, J. Chem. Phys., 126, 244511, 10.1063/1.2746858 · doi:10.1063/1.2746858
  36. Dartois, 2013, Swift heavy ion irradiation of water ice from MeV to GeV energies: Approaching true cosmic ray compaction, Astron. Astrophys., 557, A97, 10.1051/0004-6361/201321636 · DOI
  37. Herrero, 2009, Spectroscopic effects in CH4/H2O ices, Astrophys. J., 703, 2101, 10.1088/0004-637X/703/2/2101 · DOI
  38. Herrero, 2010, Interaction of CH4 and H2O in ice mixtures, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 12, 3164, 10.1039/b922598f · doi:10.1039/b922598f
  39. DeMeo, 2010, A search for ethane on Pluto and Triton, Icarus, 208, 412, 10.1016/j.icarus.2010.01.014 · doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2010.01.014
  40. Lunine, 1983, Ethane ocean on Titan, Science, 222, 1229, 10.1126/science.222.4629.1229 · DOI · Paper page
  41. Glein, 2013, A geochemical model of non-ideal solutions in the methane-ethane-propane-nitrogen-acetylene system on Titan, Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta, 115, 217, 10.1016/j.gca.2013.03.030 · DOI
  42. Mumma, 1996, Detection of abundant ethane and methane, along with carbon monoxide and water, in comet C/1996 B2 Hyakutake: Evidence for interstellar origin, Science, 272, 1310, 10.1126/science.272.5266.1310 · DOI · Paper page
  43. Herbst, 1983, Laboratory measurements of ion-molecule reactions pertaining to interstellar hydrocarbon synthesis, Astrophys. J., 269, 329, 10.1086/161046 · doi:10.1086/161046
  44. Knez, 2012, Laboratory IR studies and astrophysical implications of C2H2-containing binary ices, Astrophys. J., 748, 95, 10.1088/0004-637X/748/2/95 · doi:10.1088/0004-637x/748/2/95
  45. Song, 2015, Cross sections for electron collisions with methane, J. Phys. Chem. Ref. Data, 44, 023101, 10.1063/1.4918630 · DOI
  46. Bug, 2013, Ionization cross section data of nitrogen, methane, and propane for light ions and electrons and their suitability for use in track structure simulations, Phys. Rev. E, 88, 043308, 10.1103/PhysRevE.88.043308 · DOI
  47. Qasim, 2018, Formation of interstellar methanol ice prior to the heavy CO freeze-out stage, Astron. Astrophys., 612, A83, 10.1051/0004-6361/201732355 · doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201732355
  48. Watanabe, 2002, Efficient formation of formaldehyde and methanol by the addition of hydrogenation atoms to CO in H2O-CO ice at 10 K, Astrophys. J., 571, L173, 10.1086/341412 · doi:10.1086/341412
  49. Watanabe, 2004, Hydrogenation of CO on pure solid CO and CO-H2O mixed ice, Astrophys. J., 616, 638, 10.1086/424815 · doi:10.1086/424815
  50. Fuchs, 2009, Hydrogenation reactions in interstellar CO ice analogues: A combined experimental/theoretical approach, Astron. Astrophys., 505, 629, 10.1051/0004-6361/200810784 · doi:10.1051/0004-6361/200810784
  51. Gomis, 2005, CO2 production by ion irradiation of H2O ice on top of carbonaceous materials and its relevance to the Galilean satellites, Icarus, 177, 570, 10.1016/j.icarus.2005.04.003 · doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2005.04.003
  52. Mennella, 2004, Formation of CO and CO2 molecules by ion irradiation of water ice-covered hydrogenated carbon grains, Astrophys. J., 615, 1073, 10.1086/424685 · doi:10.1086/424685
  53. Mennella, 2006, Synthesis of CO and CO2 molecules by UV irradiation of water ice-covered hydrogenated carbon grains, Astrophys. J., 643, 923, 10.1086/502965 · doi:10.1086/502965
  54. Palumbo, 1999, Ion irradiation effects on frozen methanol (CH3OH), Astron. Astrophys., 342, 551
  55. Domaracka, 2011, Radiolysis of frozen methanol by heavy cosmic ray and energetic solar particle analogues, Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc., 418, 1363, 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2011.19587.x · doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2011.19587.x
  56. Jheeta, 2013, The irradiation of pure CH3OH and 1:1 mixture of NH3:CH3OH ices at 30 K using low energy electrons, Chem. Phys. Lett., 556, 359, 10.1016/j.cplett.2012.11.074 · DOI
  57. Boamah, 2014, Low-energy electron-induced chemistry of condensed methanol: Implications for the interstellar synthesis of prebiotic molecules, Faraday Discuss., 168, 249, 10.1039/C3FD00158J · doi:10.1039/c3fd00158j
  58. Schmidt, 2021, Electron-induced processing of methanol ice, ACS Earth Space Chem., 5, 391, 10.1021/acsearthspacechem.0c00250 · DOI
  59. Goumans, 2008, Formation of CO2 on a carbonaceous surface: A quantum chemical study, Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc., 384, 1158, 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2007.12788.x · doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2007.12788.x
  60. Ioppolo, 2011, Surface formation of CO2 ice at low temperatures, Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc., 413, 2281, 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2011.18306.x · doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2011.18306.x
  61. Grim, 1986, Time-dependent chemistry in dense molecular clouds. IV. Interstellar grain surface reactions inferred from a matrix isolation study, Astron. Astrophys., 167, 161
  62. Roser, 2001, Formation of carbon dioxide by surface reactions on ices in the interstellar medium, Astrophys. J., 555, L61, 10.1086/321732 · DOI
  63. Madzunkov, 2006, Measurements of polyatomic molecule formation on an icy grain analog using fast atoms, Phys. Rev. A, 73, 020901(R), 10.1103/PhysRevA.73.020901 · doi:10.1103/physreva.73.020901
  64. Hudson, 2014, Infrared spectra and optical constants of astronomical ices: II. Ethane and ethylene, Icarus, 243, 148, 10.1016/j.icarus.2014.09.001 · doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2014.09.001

Metadata

Authors
Mifsud, D. V., Herczku, P., Sulik, B., Juhász, Z., Vajda, I., Rajta, I., Ioppolo, S., Mason, N. J., Strazzulla, G., & Kaňuchová, Z.
Venue
Atoms
Publisher
MDPI AG
Published
2023-01-22
Volume
11
Issue
2
Pages
19
ISSN
2218-2004
DOI
10.3390/atoms11020019
Cited by
15
Language
en
Licence
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (vor)
Funders
  • European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research Innovation Program (871149, UF130409, RGF/EA/180306, URF/R/191018, ELKH IF-2/2019, ELKH IF-5/2020, GINOP-2.3.3-15-2016-00005, K128621, DNRF150, 2/0059/22, APVV-19-0072, János Bolyai Research Scholarship)
  • Royal Society (871149, UF130409, RGF/EA/180306, URF/R/191018, ELKH IF-2/2019, ELKH IF-5/2020, GINOP-2.3.3-15-2016-00005, K128621, DNRF150, 2/0059/22, APVV-19-0072, János Bolyai Research Scholarship)
  • Eötvös Loránd Research Network (871149, UF130409, RGF/EA/180306, URF/R/191018, ELKH IF-2/2019, ELKH IF-5/2020, GINOP-2.3.3-15-2016-00005, K128621, DNRF150, 2/0059/22, APVV-19-0072, János Bolyai Research Scholarship)
  • European Regional Development Fund (871149, UF130409, RGF/EA/180306, URF/R/191018, ELKH IF-2/2019, ELKH IF-5/2020, GINOP-2.3.3-15-2016-00005, K128621, DNRF150, 2/0059/22, APVV-19-0072, János Bolyai Research Scholarship)
  • Research, Development, and Innovation Fund of Hungary (871149, UF130409, RGF/EA/180306, URF/R/191018, ELKH IF-2/2019, ELKH IF-5/2020, GINOP-2.3.3-15-2016-00005, K128621, DNRF150, 2/0059/22, APVV-19-0072, János Bolyai Research Scholarship)
  • Danish National Research Foundation (871149, UF130409, RGF/EA/180306, URF/R/191018, ELKH IF-2/2019, ELKH IF-5/2020, GINOP-2.3.3-15-2016-00005, K128621, DNRF150, 2/0059/22, APVV-19-0072, János Bolyai Research Scholarship)
  • Slovak Grant Agency for Science (871149, UF130409, RGF/EA/180306, URF/R/191018, ELKH IF-2/2019, ELKH IF-5/2020, GINOP-2.3.3-15-2016-00005, K128621, DNRF150, 2/0059/22, APVV-19-0072, János Bolyai Research Scholarship)
  • Slovak Research and Development Agency (871149, UF130409, RGF/EA/180306, URF/R/191018, ELKH IF-2/2019, ELKH IF-5/2020, GINOP-2.3.3-15-2016-00005, K128621, DNRF150, 2/0059/22, APVV-19-0072, János Bolyai Research Scholarship)
  • University of Kent Vice-Chancellor’s Research Scholarship (871149, UF130409, RGF/EA/180306, URF/R/191018, ELKH IF-2/2019, ELKH IF-5/2020, GINOP-2.3.3-15-2016-00005, K128621, DNRF150, 2/0059/22, APVV-19-0072, János Bolyai Research Scholarship)
  • Hungarian Academy of Sciences (871149, UF130409, RGF/EA/180306, URF/R/191018, ELKH IF-2/2019, ELKH IF-5/2020, GINOP-2.3.3-15-2016-00005, K128621, DNRF150, 2/0059/22, APVV-19-0072, János Bolyai Research Scholarship)

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review

How to cite

Cite CoChat for the checks on this page, and the paper for its own findings.

This page
CoChat. (2026). Citation check: Proton and Electron Irradiations of CH4:H2O Mixed Ices. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.3390/atoms11020019
The paper
Mifsud, D. V., Herczku, P., Sulik, B., Juhász, Z., Vajda, I., Rajta, I., Ioppolo, S., Mason, N. J., Strazzulla, G., & Kaňuchová, Z. (2023). Proton and Electron Irradiations of CH4:H2O Mixed Ices. Atoms. https://doi.org/10.3390/atoms11020019

Data sources

Bibliographic data: Semantic Scholar, OpenAlex, Crossref.

Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).

Semantic Scholar’s data is described in: Kinney, R., et al. (2023). The Semantic Scholar Open Data Platform. arXiv:2301.10140.