Nonlinear wave mechanisms of very fast chemical and phase transformations in solids. applications to cosmic chemistry processes near to 0 k, to explosive-like decays of metastable solid phases and to catastrophic geotectonic phenomena

Abstract

In the Universe, chemical reactions occur at very low temperature, very close to 0K. According to the standard Arrhenius mechanism, these reactions should occur with vanishingly small efficiency. However, cold planets of the solar system, such as Pluto, are covered by a crust composed of ammonia and methane, produced on earth only at very high temperature and pressure, in the presence of catalysts. This observation is incompatible with the predictions of Arrhenius kinetics. Here, we propose a general mechanism to explain the abundance of chemical reactions at very low temperature in the Universe. We postulate that the feedback between mechanical stress and chemical reaction provides, through fracture propagation, the energy necessary to overcome the activation barrier in the absence of thermal fluctuations. The notion described in this work can also be applied to other fields such as explosive-like solid phase transformations and catastrophical geotectonics phenomena (earthquakes).