Neutral Aromatic Pathways Enhanced by EUV Irradiation in a Titan's Atmosphere Simulation Photochemical Experiment

Jérémy Bourgalais (1, 2) , Nathalie Carrasco (2) , Ludovic Vettier (2) , Antoine Comby (3) , Valérie Blanchet (3) , Jerôme Gaudin (3) , Yann Mairesse (3) , Bernard Marty (1)

1 CRPG - Centre de Recherches Pétrographiques et Géochimiques
2 LATMOS - Laboratoire Atmosphères, Milieux, Observations Spatiales
3 CELIA - Centre d'Etudes Lasers Intenses et Applications

In the atmosphere of Titan, Saturn's main satellite, molecular growth is initiated by a chemistry involving charged and free-radical species. However, the respective contribution of these species to the complexification of matter is far from being known. This work presents a chemical analysis by mass spectrometry at relatively low pressure to characterize the formation pathways of the first aromatics, notably benzene, by irradiating a mixture N 2 /CH 4 with EUV photons.

Domains: Sciences of the Universe [physics]

Jérémy Bourgalais, Nathalie Carrasco, Ludovic Vettier, Antoine Comby, Valérie Blanchet, et al.. Neutral Aromatic Pathways Enhanced by EUV Irradiation in a Titan's Atmosphere Simulation Photochemical Experiment. Europlanet Science Congress 2020. EPSC 2020, Sep 2020, Virtual Meeting, Germany. pp.EPSC2020-1036. ⟨insu-02947304⟩