Due to the recent discovery of ArH+ in the Crab Nebula, questions of the existence of other noble gas hydride cations, like ArH2+, NeH2+, ArH3+, and NeH3+, have arisen. As part of our exploration of this area, we show that ArH2+ is an intermediate in the proposed reaction that leads to the molecule detected in the Crab Nebula ArH+: Ar+ + H2 -&gt; ArH+ + H. Additionally, Ar + H2+ -&gt; ArH+ + H is also shown to be another potential reaction leading to ArH+. Ne are H2+ are found as the products of the equivalent reaction rather than NeH+ + H. This gives a possible explanation as to the absence of NeH+ in the Interstellar Medium (ISM). Following from this, high-level quantum chemical computations also provide the necessary rovibrational spectroscopic data for NeH2+, ArH2+, ArH3+, and NeH3+ through the use of quartic and cubic force fields. The most common isotopologues have also been included in this study: 20Ne, 22Ne, 36Ar, 38Ar, 40Ar, 1H, and D. The dipole moments for the dihydride cations are relatively large at 5.61 D for NeH2+ and 4.37 D for ArH2+. The spectroscopic constants, structural data, and energetics provided will assist in the potential detection of these open-shell noble gas hydride cations in the laboratory as well as, potentially, in the ISM.

Energetic, structural, and spectral data for noble gas hydride cations in the interstellar medium

249th National Meeting (2015)

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