Destruction of formic acid by soft X-rays in star-forming regions.pdf

a r X i v : a s t r o - p h / 0 5 0 5 0 8 2 v 1 4 M a y 2 0 0 5 Astronomy Astrophysics manuscript no. 2588 February 2, 2008 (DOI: will be inserted by hand later) Destruction of formic acid by soft X-rays in star-forming regions H. M. Boechat-Roberty 1 , S. Pilling 12 , and A. C. F. Santos 3 1 Observato?rio do Valongo, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Ladeira Pedro Anto?nio 43, CEP 20080-090, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil. 2 Instituto de Qu??mica, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Ilha do Funda?o, CEP 21949-900, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil 3 Instituto de F??sica, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Caixa Postal 68528, CEP 21941-972, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil. Received / Accepted Abstract. Formic acid is much more abundant in the solid state, both in interstellar ices and cometary ices, than in the in- terstellar gas (ice/gas ～ 104) and this point remains a puzzle. The goal of this work is to experimentally study ionization and photodissociation processes of HCOOH (formic acid), a glycine precursor molecule. The measurements were taken at the Brazilian Synchrotron Light Laboratory (LNLS), employing soft X-ray photons from toroidal grating monochromator TGM) beamline (200 - 310 eV). Mass spectra were obtained using photoelectron photoion coincidence (PEPICO) method. Kinetic energy distributions and abundances for each ionic fragment have been obtained from the analysis of the corresponding peak shapes in the mass spectra. Photoionization and photodissociation cross sections were also determined. Due to the large pho- todissociation cross section of HCOOH it is possible that in PDRs regions, just after molecules evaporation from the grain surface, formic acid molecules are almost totally destroyed by soft X-rays, justifying the observed low abundance of HCOOH in the gaseous phase. The preferential path for the glycine formation from formic acid may be through the ice phase reaction. Key words. HCOOH – Photoionization – X-rays – Astrochemistry 1. Intr