On a radiolytic origin of red organics at the surface of the Arrokoth Trans-Neptunian Object
Résumé
The classical Kuiper Belt Object (KBO) Arrokoth was surveyed by the New Horizons spacecraft on 1st January 2019, revealing a small bilobed object with a red surface, whose spectral slope lies in the average of the whole KBOs population. This red color has been assigned to reddish organic materials, either inherited from the protosolar disk during accretion, or formed through radiolytic processes in the surface due to exposure to solar or interstellar photons, Solar Wind, Solar Energetic Particles or Galactic Cosmic Rays. We report here a study investigating the radiolytic scenario, based on numerical calculations and experimental simulations run with swift heavy ions (74.8 MeV136Xe19+
and 33.06 MeV58Ni9+), and low-energy 105 keV18O6+ions on CH3OH ice, the only molecule identified at Arrokoth’s surface.
Domaines
Planète et Univers [physics]| Origine | Fichiers produits par l'(les) auteur(s) |
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