Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 11 February 1994:
Vol. 263. no. 5148, pp. 785 - 787
DOI: 10.1126/science.263.5148.785
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Articles

Destruction Rate of H3+ by Low-Energy Electrons Measured in a Storage-Ring Experiment

G. Sundström 1, J. R. Mowat 2, H. Danared 3, S. Datz 4, L. Broström 5, A. Filevich 6, A. Källberg 3, S. Mannervik 5, K. G. Rensfelt 3, P. Sigray 5, M. af Ugglas 3, and M. Larsson 1

1 Physics Department I, The Royal Institute of Technology, S-100 44 Stockholm, Sweden
2 Department of Physics, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695-8202, USA.
3 Manne Siegbahn Laboratory, Stockholm University, S-104 05 Stockholm, Sweden
4 Physics Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831, USA.
5 Atomic Physics, Frescativägen 24, Stockholm University, S-104 05 Stockholm, Sweden
6 Physics Department, Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica, Tandar, Av. Libertador 8250, 1429 Buenos Aires, Argentina

Knowledge of the abundance of H3+ is needed in interstellar and planetary atmospheric chemistry. An important destruction mechanism of H3+ is low-energy electron impact followed by dissociation, but estimates of the reaction rate span several orders of magnitude. As an attempt to resolve this uncertainty, the cross section for dissociative recombination of vibrationally cold H3+ has been measured with an ion storage ring down to collision energies below 1 millielectron volt. A rate coefficient of 1.15 x 10-7 cubic centimeters per second at 300 kelvin was deduced. The cross section scaled with collision energy according to E–1.15, giving thee rate a temperature dependence of T–0.65.

Submitted on September 7, 1993
Accepted on November 23, 1993


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
in the diffuse interstellar medium.
H. S Liszt (2006)
Phil Trans R Soc A 364, 3049-3062
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Deuterated as a probe of isotope fractionation in star-forming regions.
H. Roberts and T.J Millar (2006)
Phil Trans R Soc A 364, 3063-3080
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)