Thermal desorption of C6H6 from surfaces of astrophysical relevance.

The thermal desorption of C(6)H(6) from two astrophysically relevant surfaces has been studied using temperature programmed desorption. Desorption from an amorphous SiO(2) substrate was used as a mimic for bare interstellar grains, while multilayer films of amorphous solid water (ASW) were used to study the adsorption of C(6)H(6) on grains surrounded by H(2)O dominated icy mantles. Kinetic parameters were obtained through a combination of kinetic modeling, leading edge analysis, and by considering a distribution of binding sites on the substrate. The latter is shown to have a significant impact on the desorption of small exposures of C(6)H(6) from the amorphous SiO(2) substrate. In the case of adsorption on ASW, dewetting behavior and fractional order desorption at low coverage strongly suggest the formation of islands of C(6)H(6) on the H(2)O surface. The astrophysical implications of these observations are briefly outlined.