Related papers: Heteronuclear diatomics in diffuse and translucent…
Astronomical microwave spectroscopy has greatly broadened the inventory of identifiable chemical species in diffuse molecular gas and is an increasingly effective way to measure the abundances of polar molecules that may be candidate…
The cycle of metals between the gas and the dust phases in the neutral interstellar medium (ISM) is an integral part of the baryon cycle in galaxies. The resulting variations in the abundance and properties of interstellar dust have…
We demonstrate relations between column densities of simple molecules: CH, CH$^{+}$, H$_{2}$ and OH. The H$_{2}$, CH and OH molecules seem to occupy the same environments because of tight relations between their column densities. In…
We have obtained deep HI observations in the direction of 22 continuum sources without previously detected cold neutral medium (CNM). 18 CNM clouds were detected with the typical HI column density of $3\times10^{18}$ cm$^{-2}$. Our…
HD molecule is one the most abundant molecule in the Universe and due to its sensibility to the conditions in the medium, it can be used to constrain physical parameters in the medium where HD resides. Lately we have shown that HD abundance…
Supersonic turbulence results in strong density fluctuations in the interstellar medium (ISM), which have a profound effect on the chemical structure. Particularly useful probes of the diffuse ISM are the ArH$^+$, OH$^+$, H$_2$O$^+$…
Context. The detection of NH2CH2CH2OH (ethanolamine) in molecular cloud G+0.693-0.027 adds an additional player to the prebiotic molecules discovered so far in the interstellar medium (ISM). As this molecule might be formed through…
We investigate the chemical evolution of a forming molecular cloud behind an interstellar shock wave. We conduct three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamics simulations of the converging flow of atomic gas, including a simple chemical network…
The presence of carbon-chain molecules in the interstellar medium (ISM) has been known since the early 1970s and $>130$ such species have been identified to date, making up $\sim 43$% of the total of detected ISM molecules. They are…
Molecular clouds are essentially made up of atomic and molecular hydrogen, which in spite of being the simplest molecule in the ISM plays a key role in the chemical evolution of molecular clouds. Since its formation time is very long, the…
Galactic interstellar dust has a profound impact not only on our observations of objects throughout the Universe, but also on the morphology, star formation, and chemical evolution of the Galaxy. The advent of massive imaging and…
An overview is presented of the main properties of the interstellar medium. Evidence is summarized that the interstellar medium is highly turbulent, driven on different length scales by various energetic processes. Large-scale turbulence…
We present a semi-analytical description of the relative HD/H2 abundance in the diffuse interstellar medium. We found three asymptotics of the relative HD/H$_2$ abundance for different parts of the medium and their dependence on the…
The transition between atomic and molecular hydrogen is associated with important changes in the structure of interstellar clouds, and marks the beginning of interstellar chemistry. Because of the relatively simple networks controlling…
We study the behavior of eight diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs) in different interstellar environments, as characterized by the fraction of hydrogen in molecular form [$f$(H$_2$)], with comparisons to the corresponding behavior of various…
The 21 cm hyperfine transition of the atomic hydrogen (HI) in ground state is a powerful probe of the neutral gas content of the universe. This radio frequency transition has been used routinely for decades to observe, both in emission and…
While the best tracer of the molecular component and its dynamics in galaxies is the CO molecule, which excitation is revealed by its isotopic and (2-1)/(1-0) ratios, the denser gas is revealed by molecules such as HCN, HNC, HCO+ or CN,…
Up to now, mostly relatively simple molecules have been detected in interstellar diffuse molecular clouds in our galaxy, but more complex species have been reported in the diffuse/translucent medium of a z = 0.89 spiral galaxy. We aim at…
Aims. Supernovae offer the unique possibility to probe diffuse extra-galactic sightlines via observation of the optical transitions of atoms, molecules and the diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs). Through optical spectroscopy the presence of…
ABRIDGED: Context: HI and CO large scale surveys of the Milky Way trace the diffuse atomic clouds and the dense shielded regions of molecular hydrogen clouds. However, until recently, we have not had spectrally resolved C+ surveys to…