Related papers: Could Nucleobases form in the ISM? A Theoretical S…
Using the upGREAT instrument on SOFIA, we have imaged [C II] 157.74 and [O I] 63.18 micron line emission from a bright photodissociation region (PDR) associated with an ionized ``bubble'' located in the Nessie Nebula, a filamentary infrared…
We present IFU observations of six emission-line nebulae that surround the central galaxy of cool core clusters. Qualitatively similar nebulae are observed in cool core clusters even when the dynamics and possibly formation and excitation…
The Carina Nebula is an extremely bright southern HII region embedded in a giant molecular cloud and contains some of the most massive stars known in our Galaxy. We are undertaking a multi-wavelength study of the Carina Nebula in order to…
Cold molecular clouds are the birthplaces of stars and planets, where dense cores of gas collapse to form protostars. The dust mixed in these clouds is thought to be made of grains of an average size of 0.1 micrometer. We report the…
The properties of the ices that form in dense molecular clouds represent an important set of initial conditions in the evolution of interstellar and preplanetary matter in regions of active star formation. Of the various spectral features…
MHD turbulence plays a central role in the physics of star-forming molecular clouds and the interstellar medium. I here show that MHD turbulence in molecular clouds must be driven to account for the observed supersonic motions in the…
The effect of a newly born star cluster inside a giant molecular cloud (GMC) is to produce a hot bubble and a thin, dense shell of interstellar gas and dust swept up by the H II expansion, strong stellar winds, and repeated supernova…
Contrary to popular belief, the interstellar medium (ISM) is not empty; it is filled with atoms, dust particles, and molecules. Some of these molecules may have been the very building blocks of life that, delivered to Earth via comets and…
Notwithstanding manufacture of complex organic molecules from impacting cometary and icy planet surface analogues is well-established, dust grain-grain collisions driven by turbulence in interstellar or circumstellar regions may represent a…
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 astronomical detection of formamide (NH$_2$CHO) toward various star-forming regions and in cometary material implies that the simplest amide might have an early origin in dark molecular clouds at low temperatures. Laboratory studies…
Context. Among the most significant chemical functional groups of interstellar molecules are the class of nitriles, which are proposed as key prebiotic molecules due to their chemical connection to the peptide bond after hydrolysis. CN…
Most stellar evolution models predict that black holes (BHs) should not exist above approximately $50-70$ M$_\odot$, the lower limit of the pair-instability mass gap. However, recent LIGO/Virgo detections indicate the existence of BHs with…
(Abridged). In this paper, we present results from a large set of numerical simulations that demonstrate that H2 formation occurs rapidly in turbulent gas. Starting with purely atomic hydrogen, large quantities of molecular hydrogen can be…
Transient microstructure in the diffuse interstellar medium has been observed towards galactic and extragalactic sources for decades, usually in lines of atoms and ions, and, more recently, in molecular lines. Evidently, there is a…
A gas-phase formation route is proposed for the recently detected propargylimine molecule. In analogy to other imines, such as cyanomethanimine, the addition of a reactive radical (C$_2$H in the present case) to methanimine (CH$_2$NH})…
The formation of molecular clouds out of HI gas is the first step toward star formation. Its metallicity dependence plays a key role to determine star formation through the cosmic history. Previous theoretical studies with detailed chemical…
We review recent studies of organic molecule formation in dense molecular clouds and in comets. We summarise the known organic inventories of molecular clouds and recent comets, particularly Hale-Bopp. The principal chemical formation…
Laboratory astrochemistry aims at simulating in the laboratory some of the chemical and physical processes that operate in different regions of the Universe. Amongst the diverse astrochemical problems that can be addressed in the…
We use magnetohydrodynamical simulations of converging flows to investigate the process of molecular cloud formation and evolution out of the magnetised ISM. Here, we investigate whether the observed subcritical HI clouds can become…