Astrobiology
Interstellar surface reactions - a route to complex molecule formation?
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Europe/Stockholm
Nordita Seminar Room
Nordita Seminar Room
Description
Close to 130 molecular species have been detected in the ISM so
far. These range from the simplest and most abundant molecule, H2,
to complex biologically relevant molecules, like the simple sugar
Glycolaldehyde. In the regions where new stars are born the molecular
complexity is generally high. This indicates that if we want to understand
the processes underlying star formation as well as gain an insight into
what chemical species are available during planet formation, then we
need to understand interstellar chemistry. Previous work in this area
has focused on chemical reactions in the gas phase. However, a number
of molecules, such as molecular hydrogen and methanol have no efficient
gas phase formation routes. These molecules are therefore believed to
be formed on the surface of interstellar dust grains. Recent laboratory
experiments have shown that such reactions are indeed possible under
interstellar conditions. This has opened up for the speculation that
more complex molecules could also be formed on dust grain surfaces,
where the local density of reaction partners is much higher than in the
gas phase. In the talk I will present the present knowledge on surface
reactions under interstellar conditions and discuss its implications
for complex molecule formation on interstellar dust grain surfaces.