Work

Dissociative Electron Attachment to the HNC 3 Molecule

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Dissociative electron attachment (DEA) to HNC_{3} is modeled theoretically using a first-principles approach. In HNC_{3}+e^{-} collisions, there is a low-energy resonance, which has a repulsive character along the H+NC_{3} coordinate and becomes a bound electronic state of the HNC_{3}^{-} anion near the equilibrium of HNC_{3}. The anion state dissociates without a potential barrier toward C_{3} N^{-}+H. The cross section and the rate coefficient of the process are computed. The obtained rate coefficient at low temperatures is 5×10^{-9} cm^{3}/s at 300 K. Such a value of the DEA rate coefficient makes the DEA process three orders of magnitude more efficient at producing negative molecular ions in interstellar space than radiative electron attachment (REA). It is suggested that negative molecular carbon-chain ions, observed in the interstellar medium, are produced by DEA rather than REA.

Source: Physical Review Letters

DOI: 10.1103/mc31-kbnf

Authors: Elizabeth Aubin, Jean-Christophe Loison, Mehdi Ayouz, Joshua Forer, Viatcheslav Kokoouline

Institutions: University of Central Florida, Université de Bordeaux, Université Paris-Saclay, Columbia University

Language: English

Topic: Atomic and Molecular Physics

Subfield: Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics

Field: Physics and Astronomy

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funders: National Science Foundation, Agence Nationale de la Recherche, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Institut national des sciences de l'Univers

Awards: Non-Adiabatic Photonic Processes in Molecular Plasma, Quantum technologies: Education and training to fulfill the strategic skill needs of research and industry in France, Postdoctoral Fellowship: AAPF: Improved Astrochemical Data for Diffuse Cloud Models: Theoretical Dissociative Recombination Rate Coefficients for OH+, H2O+, and H2Cl+