Modeling of subsurface ice mantle on interstellar dust grains with astrochemical code ALCHEMIC (research note)

TL;DR

This paper introduces a new subsurface ice layer model into the ALCHEMIC astrochemical code, enhancing the simulation of interstellar ice chemistry in molecular clouds and potentially in protoplanetary disks.

Contribution

It integrates a subsurface ice description into ALCHEMIC, advancing astrochemical modeling capabilities for interstellar environments.

Findings

Enhanced modeling of subsurface ice effects on molecular chemistry.

Potential applications to protoplanetary disk studies.

Improved understanding of ice mantle formation processes.

Abstract

Interstellar ices are layers of molecules deposited on !ne dust grains in dark and dense molecular cloud cores. Subsurface ice has been considered in a few astrochemical models, which have shown that it can be of great importance. The aim of this work is to introduce an established subsurface ice description into the state-of-the-art astrochemical model ALCHEMIC. The model has been developed by the Heidelberg astrochemistry group. The result is an up-to-date model for interstellar molecular cloud research with possible application for protoplanetary disks.