Related papers: Astrochemistry on Galactic scales
An outstanding question of astrobiology is the link between the chemical composition of planets, comets, and other solar system bodies and the molecules formed in the interstellar medium. Understanding the chemical and physical evolution of…
As building blocks of dust, rocky planets, and even complex life, the chemical elements heavier than hydrogen (H) and helium (He) - called "metals" in astronomy - play an essential role in our Universe and its evolution. Up to Fe and Ni,…
Stellar and nebular abundance indicators reveal that there exists significant abundance fluctuations in the interstellar medium (ISM) of gas-rich galaxies. It is shown that at the present observed solar level of O/H $\sim 6 \times 10^{-4}$,…
The evolution of the content of heavy elements in galaxies, the relative chemical abundances, their spatial distribution, and how these scale with various galactic properties, provide unique information on the galactic evolutionary…
Emission and absorption line observations of molecules in late-type stars are a vital component in our understanding of stellar evolution, dust formation and mass loss in these objects. The molecular composition of the gas in the…
Thanks to the advent of sensitive and broad bandwidth instrumentation, complex organic molecules (COMs) have been found in a wide variety of interstellar environments, not only in our Galaxy but also in external galaxies up to a redshift of…
(Abridged) The Central Molecular Zone (CMZ) of the Milky Way exhibits extreme conditions, including high gas densities, elevated temperatures, enhanced cosmic-ray ionization rates, and large-scale dynamics. Large-scale molecular surveys…
The determination of chemical abundances in star-forming galaxies and the study of their evolution on cosmological timescales are powerful tools for understanding galaxy formation and evolution. This contribution presents the latest results…
Using hydrodynamical simulations of entire galactic discs similar to the Milky Way, reaching 4.6pc resolution, we study the origins of observed physical properties of giant molecular clouds (GMCs). We find that efficient stellar feedback is…
We numerically investigate dynamical and chemical properties of star clusters (open and globular clusters, and ``super star clusters'', SSC) formed in interacting/merging galaxies. The investigation is two-fold: (1) large-scale…
Astrochemistry lies at the nexus of astronomy, chemistry, and molecular physics. On the basis of precise laboratory data, a rich collection of more than 200 familiar and exotic molecules have been identified in the interstellar medium, the…
For several decades now, open clusters have been used to study the structure and chemical evolution of the disk of our Galaxy. Due to the fact that their ages and metallicities can be determined with relatively good precision, and since…
In this review I focus on a few selected topics, where recent theoretical and/or observational progress has been made and important developments are expected in the future. They include: 1) Evolution of isotopic ratios, 2) Mixing processes…
Young massive star-forming regions are known to produce hot molecular gas cores (HMCs) with a rich chemistry. While this chemistry is interesting in itself, it also allows to investigate important physical parameters. I will present recent…
Interstellar complex organic molecules (iCOMs) can be loosely defined as chemical compounds with at least six atoms in which at least one is carbon. The observations of iCOMs in star-forming regions have shown that they contain an important…
Giant molecular clouds (GMCs) are the primary reservoirs of cold, star-forming molecular gas in the Milky Way and similar galaxies, and thus any understanding of star formation must encompass a model for GMC formation, evolution, and…
To investigate the interstellar medium (ISM) and Galactic cosmic rays (CRs) in the solar neighborhood, we analyzed ${\gamma}$-ray data by Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) for five nearby molecular cloud regions. Our data includes the…
The cloud-scale density, velocity dispersion, and gravitational boundedness of the interstellar medium (ISM) vary within and among galaxies. In turbulent models, these properties play key roles in the ability of gas to form stars. New high…
We present our recently developed 3-dimensional chemodynamical code for galaxy evolution. This code follows the evolution of different galactic components like stars, dark matter and different components of the interstellar medium (ISM),…
Cosmic rays are crucial for the chemistry of molecular clouds and their evolution. They provide essential ionizations, dissociations, heating and energy to the cold, dense cores. As cosmic rays pierce through the clouds they are attenuated…