Related papers: Astrochemistry: Synthesis and Modelling
Stars form within molecular clouds but our understanding of this fundamental process remains hampered by the complexity of the physics that drives their evolution. We review our observational and theoretical knowledge of molecular clouds…
The high metallicity of the intra-cluster medium (ICM) is generally interpreted on the base of the galactic wind scenario for elliptical galaxies. In this framework, we develop a toy-model to follow the chemical evolution of the ICM,…
Chemical abundances provide important clues to the evolution of galaxies. Ionized nebulae are one of the main sources of chemical abundance measurements, especially in external galaxies. Studies of H II regions have shown that the overall…
The study of protostellar collapse or infall has proven unusually difficult and controversial. Some historical context will be provided, against which recent advances can be measured. We now have a substantial number of objects with…
Planets are formed inside disks around young stars. The gas, dust, and ice in these natal disks are the building materials of planets, and therefore their compositions fundamentally shape the final chemical compositions of planets. In this…
The wavelength dependences of interstellar extinction and polarization, supplemented by observed elemental abundances and the spectrum of infrared emission from dust heated by starlight, strongly constrain dust models. One dust model that…
The role and importance of nano-particles for interstellar chemistry and beyond is explored within the framework of The Heterogeneous dust Evolution Model at the IaS (THEMIS), focussing on their active surface chemistry (nascence), the…
Protoplanetary disks (PPDs) surrounding young stars are short-lived (~0.3-10 Myr), compact (~10-1000 AU) rotating reservoirs of gas and dust. PPDs are believed to be birthplaces of planetary systems, where tiny grains are assembled into…
Cool, evolved stars are the main source of chemical enrichment of the interstellar medium (ISM), and understanding their mass loss and structure offers a unique opportunity to study the cycle of matter in the Universe. Pulsation,…
The past century of interstellar dust has brought us from first ignoring it to finding that it plays an important role in the evolution of galaxies. Current observational results in our galaxy provide a complex physical and chemical…
During the past five years, the Spitzer Space Telescope and improved ground-based facilities have enabled a huge increase in the number of circumstellar disks, around young stars of Solar mass or smaller, in which the composition of the…
The evolution of star-forming regions and their thermal balance are strongly influenced by their chemical composition, that, in turn, is determined by the physico-chemical processes that govern the transition between the gas phase and the…
Bipolar outflows constitute some of the best laboratories to study shock chemistry in the interstellar medium. A number of molecular species have their abundance enhanced by several orders of magnitude in the outflow gas, likely as a…
Within the framework of The Heterogeneous dust Evolution Model at the IaS (THEMIS) this work investigates in detail the surface processes and chemistry relating to core/mantle interstellar and cometary grain structures and its influence on…
The determination of chemical abundances in star-forming galaxies and the study of their evolution on cosmological timescales are powerful tools for understanding galaxy formation and evolution. This contribution presents the latest results…
Recent strides have been made developing dust evolution models for galaxy formation simulations but these approaches vary in their assumptions and degree of complexity. Here we introduce and compare two separate dust evolution models…
The past twenty years have revealed the diversity of planets that exist in the Universe. It turned out that most of exoplanets are different from the planets of our Solar System and thus, everything about them needs to be explored. Thanks…
Upcoming facilities such as the Herschel Space Observatory or ALMA will deliver a wealth of molecular line observations of young stellar objects (YSOs). Based on line fluxes, chemical abundances can then be estimated by radiative transfer…
Stars are fossils that retain the history of their host galaxies. Elements heavier than helium are created inside stars and are ejected when they die. From the spatial distribution of elements in galaxies, it is therefore possible to…
In the interstellar medium of the Milky Way, certain elements -- e.g., Mg, Si, Al, Ca, Ti, Fe -- reside predominantly in interstellar dust grains. These grains absorb, scatter, and emit electromagnetic radiation, heat the interstellar…