Determinations of the Products of Electron-Ion Recombinationfor Interstellar Ions

亚当斯博士将使用流动余辉的实验室技术来创建电子-离子等离子体，这些离子参与星际分子的合成。可以产生足够密度的等离子体，以确保这些离子在进行进一步的离子中性反应之前，通过解离的电子-离子复合快速复合。在文献中没有数据的情况下，将使用朗缪尔探头来确定重组的速率系数。将使用激光诱导荧光、共振增强多光子电离、真空紫外吸收光谱和发射光谱等光谱技术来鉴定中性产物并确定它们对产物分布的贡献。亚当斯博士将获得的数据对于建立星际气体云中分子合成的离子化学路线至关重要。有了这些数据，现有的分子合成理论模型就可以放心地使用，如果要利用分子发射和吸收的天文观测来推断分子云的许多基本性质，这是一个基本要求。速率数据对于确定当前重组过程理论的可行性也是必要的。

Dr. Adams will use the laboratory technique of flowing afterglow to create electron-ion plasmas of those ions which take part in the synthesis of interstellar molecules. Plasmas of sufficient density can be created to ensure that these ions rapidly recombine by dissociative electron-ion recombination before they can undergo further ion-neutral reactions. The rate coefficients for the recombinations will be determined using a Langmuir probe for cases where the data are not available in the literature. The neutral products will be identified and their contribution to the product distribution will be determined using the spectroscopic techniques of laser induced fluorescence, resonance enhanced multi-photon ionization, vacuum ultraviolet absorption spectroscopy, and emission spectroscopy. The data that Dr. Adams will obtain are critical for establishing the ion-chemical routes for molecular synthesis in interstellar gas clouds. With these data, the available theoretical models for molecular synthesis can be used with confidence, an essential requirement if the astronomical observations of molecular emissions and absorptions are to be used to deduce many of the fundamental properties of the molecular clouds. The rate data are also necessary for determining the viability of the current theories of the recombination process.