Mantle desorption from amorphous grains

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Abstract
Amorphous carbons have been shown to consist of graphitic islands which are thought to be poorly connected to each other thermally. The heat produced by absorption of a single photon in an amorphous grain should therefore be localized in the absorbing and neighbouring islands, resulting in a temperature excursion for that region of the grain which is larger than that expected for a homogeneous particle. The temperature excursions resulting from the absorption of ultraviolet and infrared photons by amorphous carbon grains are estimated, and the effectiveness of this process in limiting the growth of molecular mantles on the grains is discussed. Observational evidence relating to the desorption of CO from grains in the dark-cloud environment is interpreted on the basis of this model.

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