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Toward a reduction of the bimolecular reaction model for titan's ionosphere
Author(s) -
Carrasco Nathalie,
Plessis Sylvain,
Dobrijevic Michel,
Pernot Pascal
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
international journal of chemical kinetics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.341
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1097-4601
pISSN - 0538-8066
DOI - 10.1002/kin.20374
Subject(s) - chemistry , ionic bonding , ionosphere , residual , titan (rocket family) , ion , mass spectrum , astrobiology , mass spectrometry , computational chemistry , organic chemistry , geophysics , physics , algorithm , computer science , chromatography
The aim of this paper is to highlight the skeletal chemistry responsible for the rich ionospheric chemistry observed in Titan's atmosphere. The present database is represented by about 700 ion–molecule reactions, which are not all important to describe the system. Our criterion to reduce the list of reactions is to reproduce a reference mass spectrum within its uncertainties. This reference mass spectrum is obtained with the complete reaction database and with neutral densities optimized for the INMS mass spectrum measured at 1200 km during the T5 flyby. We compared two mechanism reduction methods, brute force screening and global sensitivity analysis. The analysis of the residual scheme with only 35 bimolecular reactions highlights several patterns, concerning in particular ionic growth processes and introduction of nitrogen to the ionic species. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Chem Kinet 40: 699–709, 2008