Related papers: Alternative Methylated Biosignatures I: Methyl Bro…
The search for spectroscopic biosignatures with the next-generation of space telescopes could provide observational constraints on the abundance of exoplanets with signs of life. An extension of this spectroscopic characterization of…
Transit observations of HD209458b in the UV revealed signatures of neutral magnesium escaping the planet's upper atmosphere. The absorption detected in the MgI line provides unprecedented information on the physical conditions at the…
We report the first detection of triply-deuterated methanol, with 12 observed transitions, towards the low-mass protostar IRAS 16293-2422, as well as multifrequency observations of 13CH3OH, used to derive the column density of the main…
Thousands of planets beyond our solar system have been discovered to date, dozens of which are rocky in composition and are orbiting within the circumstellar habitable zone of their host star. The next frontier in life detection beyond our…
Formaldehyde (H$_2$CO) and methanol (CH$_3$OH) have served as traditional tracers of the star formation process for decades. Studies of the environments which produce these species, though, have pointed to significant differences in the…
Methyl cyanide is an important trace molecule in space, especially in star-forming regions where it is one of the more common molecules used to derive kinetic temperatures. We want to obtain accurate spectroscopic parameters of minor…
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has begun to spectrally characterize small exoplanets orbiting M-dwarf stars, but interpretation of these spectra is ambiguous, with stellar, instrumental, or atmospheric origins possible for apparent…
Context. Solid methane (CH$_4$) is an important molecule in interstellar and planetary environments, serving as a precursor to complex organic compounds, and it is a potential biosignature in exoplanetary studies. Despite its significance,…
We investigate the detectability of atmospheric spectral features of Earth-like planets in the habitable zone (HZ) around M dwarfs with the future James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). We use a coupled 1D climate-chemistry-model to simulate…
Proxima Centauri b provides an unprecedented opportunity to understand the evolution and nature of terrestrial planets orbiting M dwarfs. Although Proxima Cen b orbits within its star's habitable zone, multiple plausible evolutionary paths…
Methyl cyanide is one of the simplest interstellar complex organic molecules, widely detected in young solar analogues, shocked regions, protoplanetary disks and comets. CH3CN can be considered a key species to explore the chemical…
The formation of complex organic molecules (COMs) in protostellar environments is a hotly debated topic. In particular, the relative importance of the gas phase processes as compared to a direct formation of COMs on the dust grain surfaces…
Measuring the metallicity and carbon-to-oxygen (C/O) ratio in exoplanet atmospheres is a fundamental step towards constraining the dominant chemical processes at work and, if in equilibrium, revealing planet formation histories.…
We report the first interstellar identification of protonated acetylene, C2H3+, a fundamental hydrocarbon, in the z=0.89 molecular absorber toward the gravitationally lensed quasar PKS1830-211. The molecular species is identified from clear…
The recent discovery of seven potentially habitable Earth-size planets around the ultra-cool star TRAPPIST-1 has further fueled the hunt for extraterrestrial life. Current methods focus on closely monitoring the host star to look for…
The search for a second instance of life is one of the greatest problems of modern science. Outside of creating an artificial origin of life on Earth, the primary targets for the search for life are planets inside or outside the solar…
Chemical disequilibrium in planetary atmospheres has been proposed as a generalized method for detecting life on exoplanets through remote spectroscopy. Among solar system planets with substantial atmospheres, the modern Earth has the…
In this work, we find by means of first principle calculations a new physical mechanism to generate a two dimensional electron gas, namely, the breaking of charge ordering at the surface of a charge ordered semiconductor due to the…
The recent launch of JWST has enabled the exciting prospect of detecting the first generation of metal-free, Population III (Pop. III) stars. Determining the emission line signatures that robustly signify the presence of Pop. III stars…
We present results from the first molecular line survey to search for the fundamental complex organic molecule, methanol (CH$_{3}$OH), in 14 Class 0/I proto-brown dwarfs (proto-BDs). IRAM 30-m observations over the frequency range of 92-116…