Related papers: The SKA as a prebiotic molecule detector

Current imaging observations of protoplanetary disks using ALMA primarily focus on the sub-millimeter wavelength, leaving a gap in effective observational approaches for centimeter-sized dust, which is crucial to the issue of planet…

In the most distant reaches of the Universe, the 21-cm hyperfine transition in neutral hydrogen provides one of the only available tracers of large-scale structure. A number of instruments have been working and planned to measure the 21-cm…

The SKA and its pathfinders will enable studies of HI emission at higher redshifts than ever before. In moving beyond the local Universe, this will require the use of cosmologically appropriate formulae that have traditionally been…

The future of cm and m-wave astronomy lies with the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), a telescope under development by a consortium of 17 countries that will be 50 times more sensitive than any existing radio facility. Most of the key science…

Origin of magnetic fields, its structure and effects on dynamical processes in stars to galaxies are not well understood. Lack of a direct probe has hampered its study. The first phase of Square Kilometre Array (SKA-I), will have more than…

Continuum and HI surveys with the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) will allow us to probe some of the most fundamental assumptions of modern cosmology, including the Cosmological Principle. SKA all-sky surveys will map an enormous slice of…

Tests of general relativity (GR) are still in their infancy on cosmological scales, but forthcoming experiments promise to greatly improve their precision over a wide range of distance scales and redshifts. One such experiment, the Square…

About 4 billion years ago, the Earth probably fulfilled the environmental conditions necessary to favour the transition from primitive chemistry to life. Based on a theoretical hairpin duplication origin of tRNAs and their putative…

This chapter provides an overview of the possibilities for transient and variable-source astrophysics with the Square Kilometre Array. While subsequent chapters focus on the astrophysics of individual events, we focus on the broader…

A brief review of the history of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) from its pre 1990 roots and the global vision which emerged, at the VLA 10th anniversary meeting in 1990, to the major international project we have today. I comment on the…

The SKA will be a unique instrument with which to study the evolution of the gas content of galaxies. A proposed deep (~8 Msec) 'pencil-beam' survey is simulated using recently updated specifications for SKA sensitivity and survey speed.…

Since its inception six decades ago, astrobiology has diversified immensely to encompass several scientific questions including the origin and evolution of Terran life, the organic chemical composition of extraterrestrial objects, and the…

This present article is dedicated to thoroughly exploring the competency of the synergy of the upcoming Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) missions and Square Kilometre Array (SKA) surveys in detecting features in the primordial power…

Over the next few years the new radio telescopes, such as the Low Frequency Array (LOFAR) will greatly enhance our knowledge of the active history of the Universe. Large-area surveys with these new telescopes will no longer be dominated by…

We argue that the Square Kilometre Array has the potential to make both redshift (HI) surveys and radio continuum surveys that will revolutionize cosmological studies, provided that it has sufficient instantaneous field-of-view that these…

A puzzling class of exotic objects, which have been known about for more than 30 years, is reaching a new era of understanding. We have discovered hundreds of Ultra Luminous X-ray sources (ULXs) - non-nuclear sources with X-ray luminosity…

[ABRIDGED VERSION] The future of cm and m-wave astronomy lies with the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), a telescope under development by a consortium of 17 countries. The SKA will be 50 times more sensitive than any existing radio facility. A…

Given that the macromolecular building blocks of life were likely produced photochemically in the presence of ultraviolet (UV) light, we identify some general constraints on which stars produce sufficient UV for this photochemistry. We…

Our Sun and planetary system were born about 4.5 billion years ago. How did this happen and what is our heritage from these early times? This review tries to address these questions from an astrochemical point of view. On the one hand, we…

The Square Kilometre Array (SKA), with the aim of achieving a collecting area of one square kilometre, will be the world's largest radio telescope. A scientific collaboration between 12 countries (with more to join), it will consist of one…