Related papers: Formation of the Methyl Cation by Photochemistry i…
The formation of methanol (CH3OH) on icy grain mantles during the star formation cycle is mainly associated with the CO freeze-out stage. Yet there are reasons to believe that CH3OH also can form at an earlier period of interstellar ice…
A prevailing theory for the interstellar production of complex organic molecules (COMs) involves formation on warm dust-grain surfaces, via the diffusion and reaction of radicals produced through grain-surface photodissociation of stable…
Formation of organic aerosols driven by photochemical reactions has been observed and suggested in CH4-containing atmospheres, including Titan and early Earth. However the detailed production and growth mechanisms of organic aerosols driven…
The complex organic molecules (COMs) detected in star-forming regions are the precursors of the prebiotic molecules that can lead to the emergence of life. By studying COMs in more evolved protoplanetary disks we can gain a better…
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 likely JWST detection of vibrationally excited H3+ emission in Orion's irradiated disk system d203-506 raises the important question of whether cosmic-ray ionization is enhanced in disks within clustered star-forming regions, or whether…
Aims: The production of saturated organic molecules in hot cores and corinos is not well understood. The standard approach is to assume that, as temperatures heat up during star formation, methanol and other species evaporate from grain…
(Abridged) Gas-phase complex organic molecules are commonly detected in the warm inner regions of protostellar envelopes. Recent models show that photochemistry in ices followed by desorption may explain the observed abundances. This study…
Observations have revealed evidence of photochemical processing in protoplanetary disks. This processing occurs in the photon dominated layer, the optically thin regions of the disk high above the disk midplane. It remains unclear, however,…
Most protoplanetary disks experience a phase in which they are subjected to strong ultraviolet radiation from nearby massive stars. This UV radiation can substantially alter their chemistry by producing numerous radicals and molecular ions.…
Context: Dimethyl sulfide (DMS; CH$_3$SCH$_3$) is an organosulfur compound that has been suggested as a potential biosignature in exoplanetary atmospheres. In addition to its tentative detections toward the sub-Neptune planet K2-18b, DMS…
CO is thought to be the main reservoir of volatile carbon in protoplanetary disks, and thus the primary initial source of carbon in the atmospheres of forming giant planets. However, recent observations of protoplanetary disks point towards…
The gas-phase chemistry of water in protoplanetary disks is analyzed with a model based on X-ray heating and ionization of the disk atmosphere. Several uncertain processes appear to play critical roles in generating the column densities of…
Context: Solar-like protostars are known to be chemically rich, but it is not yet clear how much their chemical composition can vary and why. So far, two chemically distinct types of Solar-like protostars have been identified: hot corinos,…
In an ongoing effort to understand planet formation the link between the chemistry of the protoplanetary disk and the properties of resulting planets have long been a subject of interest. These connections have generally been made between…
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…
Earth is expected to have acquired a reduced proto-atmosphere enriched in H2 and CH4 through the accretion of building blocks that contain metallic Fe and/or the gravitational trapping of surrounding nebula gas. Such an early, wet, reduced…
We use resistive magnetohydrodynamical simulations with the nested grid technique to study the formation of protoplanetary disks around protostars from molecular cloud cores that provide the realistic environments for planet formation. We…
My thesis work aims to study the inter-relation between various physical and chemical conditions in a wide range of astrophysical environments. Our studied regions range from the super-hot regions (i.e., nebular, photon-dominated, or…
A rich inventory of complex organic molecules (COMs) has been observed in high abundances in the gas phase toward Class 0 protostars. These molecules are suggested to be formed in ices and sublimate in the warm inner envelope close to the…