Electron attachment rates for PAH anions in the ISM and dark molecular
  clouds: dependence on their chemical properties
  CONTEXT: The attachment of free electrons to polycondensed aromatic ring
molecules (PAHs) is studied for the variety of these molecules with different
numbers of condensed rings and over a broad range of electron temperatures,
using a multichannel quantum scattering approach. The calculations of the
relevant cross sections are used in turn to model the corresponding attachment
rates for each of the systems under study, and these rates are parametrized as
a function of temperature using a commonly employed expression for two-body
processes in the interstellar medium (ISM). AIM: The scope of this work is to
use first principles to establish the influence of chemical properties on the
efficiency of the electron-attachment process for PAHs. METHODS: Quantum
multichannel scattering methods are employed to generate the relevant cross
sections, hence the attachment rates, using integral elastic cross sections
computed over a broad range of relevant energies, from threshold up to 1000 K
and linking the attachment to low-energy resonant collisions. RESULTS: The
rates obtained for the present molecules are found to markedly vary within the
test ensemble of the present work and to be lower than the earlier values used
for the entire class of PAHs anions, when modelling their evolutions in ISM
environments. The effects of such differences on the evolutions of chemical
networks that include both PAH and PAH- species are analysed in some detail and
related to previous calculations.
