Dissociative electron attachment to the HNC$_3$ molecule

Abstract

Dissociative electron attachment (DEA) to the HNC$_3$ is modeled theoretically using a first-principles approach. In HNC$_3$+$e^-$ collisions, there is a low-energy resonance, which has a repulsive character along the H+NC$_3$ coordinate and becomes a bound electronic state of the HNC$_3^-$ anion near the equilibrium of HNC$_3$. The anion state dissociates without a potential barrier towards C$_3$N$^-$+H. The cross section and the rate coefficient of the process were computed. The obtained rate coefficient at low temperatures is $5\times 10^{-9}$cm$^3$/s at 300~K. Such a value of the DEA rate coefficient makes the DEA process by three orders of magnitude more efficient in producing negative molecular ions in the interstellar space than the radiative electron attachment (REA). It is suggested that negative molecular carbon-chain ions, observed in the interstellar medium, are produced by DEA rather than REA.