Registration form
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Last name: Kaiser
First name: Ralf
Middle name/initial: I
Affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Hawaii at Manoa
Street Address: 2545 The Mall
City: Honolulu
State: HI
Postal Code: 96822
Country:USA
Tel: 808-9565731
Fax: 808-9565908
E mail: kaiser@gold.chem.hawaii.edu
Citizenship*: German
Abstract title: Laboratory Studies on the Formation of Carbon-Bearing Molecules in Extraterrestrial Environments – From the Gas Phase to the Solid State
Special requirements: Oral Presentation
*Non-US citizens should contact Cara Loomis if travel reimbursement for the Workshop is required.
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NASA Laboratory Astrophysics Workshop 2006 Abstract
Title: Laboratory Studies on the Formation of Carbon-Bearing Molecules in Extraterrestrial Environments – From the Gas Phase to the Solid State
Author(s): Ralf I. Kaiser, Department of Chemistry, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI 96822; email: kaiser@gold.chem.hawaii.edu
Abstract:
A
detailed
knowledge of the formation of carbon-bearing molecules in interstellar
ices and
in the gas phase of the interstellar medium is of paramount interest
to
understand the astrochemical evolution of cold molecular clouds,
circumstellar
envelopes, and of star-forming regions. Since the present composition
of each
interstellar environment reflects the matter from which it was formed
and the
processes which have changed the chemical nature since the origin
(cosmic
ray exposure, photolysis, chemical reactions), a detailed investigation
of the
physico chemical mechanisms altering the pristine environment is of
paramount
importance to understand the contemporary composition. Once these
underlying
processes have been unraveled, we can identify those molecules,
which
belonged to the nascent setting, distinguish molecular
species
synthesized in a later stage, and predict the imminent chemical
evolution
of, for instance, molecular clouds. This talk overviews the
experimental setups
utilized in the current experiments (surface scattering machine,
crossed beams
machine) and portrays then typical results of each setup (formation of
aminoacids,
aldehydes, alcohols, epoxides; synthesis of hydrogen terminated carbon
chains
as precursors to complex PAHs and to carbonaceous dust grains in
general).
These laboratory results can predict then where in the interstellar
medium
complex, carbon bearing molecules can be formed on interstellar grains
and in
the gas phase.