Related papers: Science with an ngVLA: Prebiotic Molecules
The origin of complex organic molecules such as amino acids and their precursors found in meteorites and comets is unknown. Previous studies have accounted for the complex organic inventory of the Solar System by aqueous chemistry on warm…
Radio continuum observations have proven to be a workhorse in our understanding of the star formation process (i.e., stellar birth and death) from galaxies both in the nearby universe and out to the highest redshifts. In this article we…
The Next-Generation Very Large Array (ngVLA) will be critical for understanding how galaxies are built and evolve at the earliest epochs. The sensitivity and frequency coverage will allow for the detection of cold gas and dust in `normal'…
Organic compounds are ubiquitous in space: they are found in diffuse clouds, in the envelopes of evolved stars, in dense star-forming regions, in protoplanetary disks, in comets, on the surfaces of minor planets, and in meteorites and…
The cosmic microwave background and the cosmic expansion can be interpreted as evidence that the Universe underwent an extremely hot and dense phase about 14 Gyr ago. The nucleosynthesis computations tell us that the Universe emerged from…
This chapter reviews some of the expected contributions of the ngVLA to the understanding of the late evolutionary stages of low-to-intermediate mass stars, including asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars, post-AGB stars, and pre-planetary…
Living organisms have some common structures, chemical reactions and molecular structures. The organisms consist of cells with cell division, they have homochirality of protein and carbohydrate units, and metabolism, and genetics, and they…
Complex organic molecules (COMs) are widely detected in protostellar and protoplanetary systems, where they are thought to have been inherited in large part from earlier evolutionary phases. The chemistry of COMs in these earlier phases,…
The study research presented hereafter shows a new methodology to reveal traces of Viral particles thanks to their own chemical structure such as P31, an element making up part of the structure of RNA, a type of nucleic acid, such as in a…
Organic molecules are widely present in the dense interstellar medium, and many have been synthesized in the laboratory on Earth under the conditions typical for an interstellar environment. Until now, however, only relatively small…
The physical and chemical conditions within a protoplanetary disk play a crucial role in determining its chemical composition, which is subsequently inherited by any forming planets. To probe these conditions, high-resolution molecular line…
Unbiased understandings of molecular distributions in a disk/envelope system of a low-mass protostellar source are crucial for investigating physical and chemical evolution processes. We have observed 23 molecular lines toward the Class 0…
The origins of the elements and isotopes of cosmic material is a critical aspect of understanding the evolution of the universe. Nucleosynthesis typically requires physical conditions of high temperatures and densities. These are found in…
Since molecules are ubiquitous in space, the study of the 'Molecular Universe' could unfold the mystery of the existing Interstellar medium. Star formation is linked to the chemical evolution processes. Thus, an analysis of the formation of…
A series of astronomical observations obtained over the period 1986 to 2018 supports the idea that life is a cosmic rather than a purely terrestrial or planetary phenomenon. These include (1) the detection of biologically relevant molecules…
In this paper we review recent progress in our understanding of the chemical evolution of protoplanetary disks. Current observational constraints and theoretical modeling on the chemical composition of gas and dust in these systems are…
Metals -- heavy elements synthesized during various phases of stellar evolution or during supernova explosions -- play a fundamental role in shaping galaxy evolution. In fact, their relative abundances, spatial distribution, and scaling…
Our knowledge of galactic chemical evolution is currently limited to observations of Milky Way stars and H II regions of nearby galaxies. Damped Lyman~$\alpha$ systems offer a new approach for tracking the evolution of normal galaxies from…
This article presents the results of a study concerning interstellar molecules which are useful for the bookkeeping of the organic content of the universe and for providing a glimpse into prebiotic conditions on Earth and in other…
We will discuss some highlights concerning the chemical evolution of our Galaxy, the Milky Way. First we will describe the main ingredients necessary to build a model for the chemical evolution of the Milky Way. Then we will illustrate some…