Formation of CO and CO2 molecules by ion irradiation of water ice-covered hydrogenated carbon grains

We present the results of experiments aimed at studying the influence of the type of grain on the chemical composition of the ice mantles during energetic processing under simulated dense medium conditions. Formation of CO and CO2 molecules occurs when hydrogenated carbon grains with a water ice cap are irradiated with 30 keV He+ ions at low temperature. The fraction of carbon in the grains converted to CO and CO2 by ions is at least 0.03 and 0.02, respectively. An estimation of the formation cross section of these molecules by 30 keV He+ ions has been derived from the intensity increase of their infrared stretching bands as a function of the ion fluence. On the basis of the laboratory results, it has been possible to evaluate the contribution of CO and CO2 produced on carbon grain by cosmic rays to the observed column densities of these molecules for dense clouds whose visual extinction is known. The mechanism we have studied does not dominate other CO2 formation processes; however, its contribution is in addition to other processes occurring on ice mantles. The spectral profile and the contribution to the observed column densities make solid CO formed by cosmic-ray irradiation of ice-layered carbon grains a good candidate for the red component of the interstellar CO stretching feature, which is generally attributed to CO mixed in with water ice. As a consequence of the formation of CO and CO2 molecules on carbon grains, a slow chemical erosion of the particles takes place.