Can diffuse X-rays be important in driving photoionisation in molecular clouds?

The ionisation balance in molecular clouds is regulated by several ionising sources, including cosmic rays, X-rays, and ultraviolet radiation.

The ionisation balance in molecular clouds is regulated by several ionising sources, including cosmic rays, X-rays, and ultraviolet radiation. Their relative importance depends on the local physical conditions and on the shielding column density. We compute the contribution of…