Evaluation of chemical erosion data for carbon materials at high ion fluxes using Bayesian probability theory

Parameters for a function modeling chemical erosion of carbon as a function of particle energy and flux as well as target temperature are determined from the available data. The analysis is based on Bayesian inference and provides posterior estimates of parameters, erosion yields and associated error margins. The model function incorporates the flux dependence via a time constant for hydration. The present analysis yields a hydration time of 0.22 m s independent of surface temperature and isotope mass. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.