Studying the Electronic Kinetics of Molecular Nitrogen in the Middle Atmosphere of Titan during the Precipitation of Cosmic Rays

• Published in: Bulletin of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Physics Vol. 87; no. 7; pp. 985 - 993
• Main Authors: Kirillov, A. S., Werner, R., Guineva, V.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Moscow Pleiades Publishing 01-07-2023; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Acetylene; Cosmic rays; Electron energy; Hadrons; Heavy Ions; Inelastic collisions; Kinetics; Middle atmosphere; Nitrogen; Nuclear Physics; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Satellite atmospheres; Titan
• ISSN: 1062-8738; 1934-9432
• DOI: 10.3103/S1062873823702507

A study is performed of the kinetics of triplet states
B
3
Π
g
, W
3
Δ
u
,
C
3
Π
u
of molecular nitrogen at the altitudes of Titan’s middle atmosphere during the precipitation of cosmic rays. The intramolecular and intermolecular transfer of electron energy during inelastic collisions between electronically excited molecular nitrogen and molecules of N
2
, CH
4
, and CO is considered, as is the interaction between electronically excited N
2
molecules and molecules of acetylene C
2
H
2
and ethylene C
2
H
4
in the middle atmosphere of Titan at altitudes of 50–250 km. The dominance of reactions with metastable molecular nitrogen N
2
(
) in the formation of C
2
H and C
2
H
3
radicals at these heights is shown for the first time.