Computer simulation of astrophysical ices

Abstract

Understanding the physical chemical processes which affect the structure and composition of astrophysical ices is of central importance to our understanding of the early solar system and early earth. Laboratory experiments on amorphous ice analogues of cometary ices have shown that amorphous ices exhibit a rich and complex morphology. Computer simulation results for ice deposition with the solutes Ne, CH4, and CO are presented. The relative fraction of adsorbed solutes which are subsequently ejected from the growing ice has implications on the composition of comets relative to the composition of the primitive environment in which they formed.