TRAPPING OF NOBLE GASES BY RADIATIVE ASSOCIATION WITH IN THE PROTOSOLAR NEBULA

The heavy noble gas deficiencies observed in Titan's atmosphere and in comets have been proposed to be related to a sequestration process by in the gas phase at the early protosolar nebula. Chemical thermodynamics and astrophysics modeling are favorable to this hypothesis, as presented in preceding papers. However, there is a point still to be raised, i.e., that no dynamical study of the efficiency of the collisional processes had been performed so far. Here, we show that, apart from the expected exception of Ne, the rate constants obtained, i.e., 0.7 × 10−18, 0.5 × 10−16, and 10−16 (cm3 s−1) for Ar, Kr, and Xe, respectively, are reasonably high for such processes, particularly in the case of Kr and Xe. The temperature dependence is also considered, showing a similar behavior for all noble gases with a peak efficiency in the range 50–60 K. Globally, we can conclude that the scenario of sequestration by is definitively comforted by the results of our quantum dynamical treatment. This process may also be responsible of the Ar impoverishment just measured in comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko by the ROSINA mass spectrometer on board the Rosetta spacecraft.