{"id":{"repo_id":"trento","oai_identifier":"oai:iris.unitn.it:11572/368436"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/trento/oai:iris.unitn.it:11572/368436","repository":{"repo_id":"trento","name":"Università degli Studi di Trento","base_url":"https://iris.unitn.it/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"Dissociative charge transfer of organic molecules induced by collisions with the He+ cation. A joint experimental and theoretical study of relevance for the interstellar medium evolution","abstract":"Collisions with He+ are an important pathway for the destruction of complex organic molecules in the interstellar medium (ISM). We have carried out dissociative charge transfer reactions of He+ with two oxygen containing organic molecules, ubiquitous in ISM: dimethyl ether (DME, CH3OCH3 ) and methyl formate (MF, HCOOCH3). Since they have a prebiotic relevance, several models were developed to explain how these molecules are formed and destroyed in the ISM. The reactions have been investigated by using the home-built Guided-Ion Beam Mass Spectrometer (GIB-MS) apparatus. Absolute cross sections and branching ratios of the products have been measured as a function of the collision energy in the hyperthermal energy range (i.e. from about 0.1 eV to 7 eV). The presence of the molecular ion was not observed among the products for these reactions, which means that the nascent DME and MF radical cations are formed in a dissociative state. Insights on both the charge transfer processes have been obtained by investigating the nature of the non-adiabatic transitions between the reactant and product potential energy surfaces (PES). The PES has been represented by using a semi-empirical method to model the inter-molecular interactions. To explain the experimental evidence, two excited states of DME and MF radical cations have been invoked: He+ captures an electron from inner valence orbitals of both the organic molecules, having binding energies ~10 eV higher than the HOMO. An improved Landau-Zener-StÃ1⁄4ckelberg model has been developed to obtain the total integral cross-section to be compared with the experimental results. Inter-molecular interaction and electron densities of the orbitals involved in the reaction turned out to be key points to describe the dynamics of the two studied dissociative charge transfers. A very good agreement is obtained between the experimental and calculated total cross-sections at low collision energy, which is the most relevant range for the interstellar environment. These results represent a significant starting point to estimate rate constants for the total dissociation of DME and MF by collisions with He+ ions in the ISM at low temperatures.","abstract_html":"Collisions with He+ are an important pathway for the destruction of complex organic molecules in the interstellar medium (ISM). We have carried out dissociative charge transfer reactions of He+ with two oxygen containing organic molecules, ubiquitous in ISM: dimethyl ether (DME, CH3OCH3 ) and methyl formate (MF, HCOOCH3). Since they have a prebiotic relevance, several models were developed to explain how these molecules are formed and destroyed in the ISM. The reactions have been investigated by using the home-built Guided-Ion Beam Mass Spectrometer (GIB-MS) apparatus. Absolute cross sections and branching ratios of the products have been measured as a function of the collision energy in the hyperthermal energy range (i.e. from about 0.1 eV to 7 eV). The presence of the molecular ion was not observed among the products for these reactions, which means that the nascent DME and MF radical cations are formed in a dissociative state. Insights on both the charge transfer processes have been obtained by investigating the nature of the non-adiabatic transitions between the reactant and product potential energy surfaces (PES). The PES has been represented by using a semi-empirical method to model the inter-molecular interactions. To explain the experimental evidence, two excited states of DME and MF radical cations have been invoked: He+ captures an electron from inner valence orbitals of both the organic molecules, having binding energies ~10 eV higher than the HOMO. An improved Landau-Zener-StÃ1⁄4ckelberg model has been developed to obtain the total integral cross-section to be compared with the experimental results. Inter-molecular interaction and electron densities of the orbitals involved in the reaction turned out to be key points to describe the dynamics of the two studied dissociative charge transfers. A very good agreement is obtained between the experimental and calculated total cross-sections at low collision energy, which is the most relevant range for the interstellar environment. These results represent a significant starting point to estimate rate constants for the total dissociation of DME and MF by collisions with He+ ions in the ISM at low temperatures.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Cernuto, Andrea"],"institution":"Università degli studi di Trento","degree_name":null,"degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Ascenzi, Daniela"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2017,"date_issued":"2017","date_published":"2017","updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:04:12Z","subjects":["Settore FIS/01 - Fisica Sperimentale","Settore CHIM/02 - Chimica Fisica"],"languages":["eng"],"rights":["info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess","license:Tutti i diritti riservati (All rights reserved)","license uri:iris.PRI01"],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["http://dx.doi.org/10.15168/11572_368436","10.15168/11572_368436"],"render_values":[{"text":"http://dx.doi.org/10.15168/11572_368436","href":"http://dx.doi.org/10.15168/11572_368436","code":true},{"text":"10.15168/11572_368436","href":"https://doi.org/10.15168/11572_368436","code":true}]}]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://hdl.handle.net/11572/368436","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Cernuto, Andrea","Ascenzi, Daniela"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Cernuto, Andrea"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2017"]},{"key":"dc:publisher","label":"Institution","values":["Università degli studi di Trento","place:TRENTO"]},{"key":"dc:relation","label":"Dc Relation","values":["firstpage:1","lastpage:169","numberofpages:169"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["info:eu-repo/semantics/doctoralThesis"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Settore FIS/01 - Fisica Sperimentale","Settore CHIM/02 - Chimica Fisica"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["eng"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess","license:Tutti i diritti riservati (All rights reserved)","license uri:iris.PRI01"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://hdl.handle.net/11572/368436","http://dx.doi.org/10.15168/11572_368436","10.15168/11572_368436"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["Collisions with He+ are an important pathway for the destruction of complex organic molecules in the interstellar medium (ISM). We have carried out dissociative charge transfer reactions of He+ with two oxygen containing organic molecules, ubiquitous in ISM: dimethyl ether (DME, CH3OCH3 ) and methyl formate (MF, HCOOCH3). Since they have a prebiotic relevance, several models were developed to explain how these molecules are formed and destroyed in the ISM. The reactions have been investigated by using the home-built Guided-Ion Beam Mass Spectrometer (GIB-MS) apparatus. Absolute cross sections and branching ratios of the products have been measured as a function of the collision energy in the hyperthermal energy range (i.e. from about 0.1 eV to 7 eV). The presence of the molecular ion was not observed among the products for these reactions, which means that the nascent DME and MF radical cations are formed in a dissociative state. Insights on both the charge transfer processes have been obtained by investigating the nature of the non-adiabatic transitions between the reactant and product potential energy surfaces (PES). The PES has been represented by using a semi-empirical method to model the inter-molecular interactions. To explain the experimental evidence, two excited states of DME and MF radical cations have been invoked: He+ captures an electron from inner valence orbitals of both the organic molecules, having binding energies ~10 eV higher than the HOMO. An improved Landau-Zener-StÃ1⁄4ckelberg model has been developed to obtain the total integral cross-section to be compared with the experimental results. Inter-molecular interaction and electron densities of the orbitals involved in the reaction turned out to be key points to describe the dynamics of the two studied dissociative charge transfers. A very good agreement is obtained between the experimental and calculated total cross-sections at low collision energy, which is the most relevant range for the interstellar environment. These results represent a significant starting point to estimate rate constants for the total dissociation of DME and MF by collisions with He+ ions in the ISM at low temperatures."]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Dissociative charge transfer of organic molecules induced by collisions with the He+ cation. A joint experimental and theoretical study of relevance for the interstellar medium evolution"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Cernuto, Andrea","Ascenzi, Daniela"],"dc:creator":["Cernuto, Andrea"],"dc:date":["2017"],"dc:description":["Collisions with He+ are an important pathway for the destruction of complex organic molecules in the interstellar medium (ISM). We have carried out dissociative charge transfer reactions of He+ with two oxygen containing organic molecules, ubiquitous in ISM: dimethyl ether (DME, CH3OCH3 ) and methyl formate (MF, HCOOCH3). Since they have a prebiotic relevance, several models were developed to explain how these molecules are formed and destroyed in the ISM. The reactions have been investigated by using the home-built Guided-Ion Beam Mass Spectrometer (GIB-MS) apparatus. Absolute cross sections and branching ratios of the products have been measured as a function of the collision energy in the hyperthermal energy range (i.e. from about 0.1 eV to 7 eV). The presence of the molecular ion was not observed among the products for these reactions, which means that the nascent DME and MF radical cations are formed in a dissociative state. Insights on both the charge transfer processes have been obtained by investigating the nature of the non-adiabatic transitions between the reactant and product potential energy surfaces (PES). The PES has been represented by using a semi-empirical method to model the inter-molecular interactions. To explain the experimental evidence, two excited states of DME and MF radical cations have been invoked: He+ captures an electron from inner valence orbitals of both the organic molecules, having binding energies ~10 eV higher than the HOMO. An improved Landau-Zener-StÃ1⁄4ckelberg model has been developed to obtain the total integral cross-section to be compared with the experimental results. Inter-molecular interaction and electron densities of the orbitals involved in the reaction turned out to be key points to describe the dynamics of the two studied dissociative charge transfers. A very good agreement is obtained between the experimental and calculated total cross-sections at low collision energy, which is the most relevant range for the interstellar environment. These results represent a significant starting point to estimate rate constants for the total dissociation of DME and MF by collisions with He+ ions in the ISM at low temperatures."],"dc:identifier":["https://hdl.handle.net/11572/368436","http://dx.doi.org/10.15168/11572_368436","10.15168/11572_368436"],"dc:language":["eng"],"dc:publisher":["Università degli studi di Trento","place:TRENTO"],"dc:relation":["firstpage:1","lastpage:169","numberofpages:169"],"dc:rights":["info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess","license:Tutti i diritti riservati (All rights reserved)","license uri:iris.PRI01"],"dc:subject":["Settore FIS/01 - Fisica Sperimentale","Settore CHIM/02 - Chimica Fisica"],"dc:title":["Dissociative charge transfer of organic molecules induced by collisions with the He+ cation. A joint experimental and theoretical study of relevance for the interstellar medium evolution"],"dc:type":["info:eu-repo/semantics/doctoralThesis"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:04:12Z"}