Related papers: Interstellar water chemistry: from laboratory to o…
Context. Water together with O2 are important gas phase ingredients to cool dense gas in order to form stars. On dust grains, H2 O is an important constituent of the icy mantle in which a complex chemistry is taking place, as revealed by…
Sun like stars are born from the collapse of fragment of molecular clouds. During the first embedded phase (the so called class 0/1), the protostar is surrounded by a collapsing envelope, whose physical and chemical structure would set up…
(Abridged) Water is a key tracer of dynamics and chemistry in low-mass protostars, but spectrally resolved observations have so far been limited in sensitivity and angular resolution. In this first systematic survey of spectrally resolved…
Observations of quasar absorption systems relevant for studies of star formation at redshift 2 </= z </= 4 are briefly reviewed. Emphasis is given on the role played by dust in our understanding of the star formation history of galaxies…
We have used a coupled dynamical and chemical model to examine the chemical changes induced by the passage of an interstellar shock in well shielded regions. Using this model we demonstrate that the formation of water in a shock will be…
Molecular hydrogen has an important role in the early stages of star formation as well as in the production of many other molecules that have been detected in the interstellar medium. In this review we show that it is now possible to study…
Context. Millimetric observations have measured high degrees of molecular deuteration in several species seen around low-mass protostars. The Herschel Space Telescope, launched in 2009, is now providing new measures of the deuterium…
The chemistry of the early Universe is a fascinating field of study. Even in the absence of any elements heavier than lithium, a surprising degree of chemical complexity proves to be possible, giving the topic considerable interest in its…
The study of the chemical evolution of gas and dust from pre-stellar dense cores to circumstellar disks around young stars forms an essential part of understanding star- and planet formation. Throughout the collapse- and protostellar…
Water is present during all stages of star formation: as ice in the cold outer parts of protostellar envelopes and dense inner regions of circumstellar disks, and as gas in the envelopes close to the protostars, in the upper layers of…
The interstellar medium is characterized by a rich and diverse chemistry. Many of its complex organic molecules are proposed to form through radical chemistry in icy grain mantles. Radicals form readily when interstellar ices (composed of…
Molecules in space are synthesized via a large variety of gas-phase reactions, and reactions on dust-grain surfaces, where the surface acts as a catalyst. Especially, saturated, hydrogen-rich molecules are formed through surface chemistry.…
Water is fundamental to our understanding of the evolution of planetary systems and the delivery of volatiles to the surfaces of potentially habitable planets. Yet, we currently have essentially no facilities capable of observing this key…
Recent observations of the HDO/H$_2$O ratio toward protostars in isolated and clustered environments show an apparent dichotomy, where isolated sources show higher D/H ratios than clustered counterparts. Establishing which physical and…
We discuss models that astrochemists have developed to study the chemical composition of the interstellar medium. These models aim at computing the evolution of the chemical composition of a mixture of gas and dust under as- trophysical…
The astrochemistry of the HnO+ (n=1..3) ions is important as the main gas-phase formation route for water, and as tracer of the interstellar ionization rate by cosmic rays and other processes. While interstellar H3O+ has been known since…
Context. The presence of dust in the interstellar medium has profound consequences on the chemical composition of regions where stars are forming. Recent observations show that many species formed onto dust are populating the gas phase,…
Whether ice in cold cosmic environments is physically separated from the silicate dust or mixed with individual silicate moieties is not known. However, different grain models give very different compositions and temperatures of grains. The…
The interstellar medium of galaxies is composed of multiple phases, including molecular, atomic, and ionized gas, as well as dust. Stars are formed within this medium from cold molecular gas clouds, which collapse due to their gravitational…
Abridged abstract: For stars to form, material must fall inwards from core scales through the envelope towards the central protostar. The velocity profile around protostars is poorly constrained. 6 Class 0 protostars and one Class I…