Coffee Chat

Interview with Prof. Cecilia Ceccarelli

The Grab & GO

1. The First Spatially-resolved Detection of 13CN in a Protoplanetary Disk and Evidence for Complex Carbon Isotope Fractionation

Yoshida et al. arXiv (ApJ)
https://arxiv.org/abs/2403.00626

2. Towards Prebiotic Chemistry on Titan: Impact experiments on organic haze particles

Pearce et al. arxiv (PSJ)
https://arxiv.org/abs/2403.00029

3. ALMA Spectral Survey of An eruptive Young star, V883 Ori (ASSAY): I. What triggered the current episode of eruption?

Lee et al. arXiv (ApJ)
https://arxiv.org/abs/2403.03436

4. Molecular Gas Tracers in Young and Old Protoplanetary Disks

Anderson et al. arXiv (ApJ)
https://arxiv.org/abs/2403.04715

5. Astrochemical effect of the fundamental grain surface processes I. The diffusion of grain surface species and the pre-exponential factor

Chen et al. arXiv (A&A)
https://arxiv.org/abs/2403.04138

6. H2CO and CS in diffuse clouds: Excitation and abundance

Gerin et al. arXiv
https://arxiv.org/abs/2403.07075

7. FAUST XI: Enhancement of the complex organic material in the shocked matter surrounding the [BHB2007] 11 protobinary system

Vastel et al. arXiv (A&A)
https://arxiv.org/abs/2403.07757

8. Photocleavage of aliphatic C--C bonds in the interstellar medium

Tajuelo-Castilla et al. arXiv
https://arxiv.org/abs/2403.08452

9. The Carbon Isotopic Ratio and Planet Formation

Bergin et al. arXiv (ApJ)
https://arxiv.org/abs/2403.09739

10. MINDS: The JWST MIRI Mid-INfrared Disk Survey

Henning et al. arXiv (PASP)
https://arxiv.org/abs/2403.09210

Single-Origin Brew

Interview with MIT Grad Student Zach Fried

• Zach's paper on the discovery of interstellar methoxyethanol

  • https://arxiv.org/abs/2403.17341

Percolator

First Detection of C60+ in Space

• Campbell et al. 2015: https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2015Natur.523..322C/abstract

Chalkboard

• PhD, Postdoc, and Job Opportunities

  • Lecturer in Physical Chemistry, Chemical Physics, University of Edinburgh
    Deadline: April 8th

  • 3 PhD Positions at the Open University, UK under the big theme of “Combining our leading space research with Industrial Experience”
    Deadline: April 18th

  • Two Postdoc Postions in Laboratory Astrochemistry and Microwave Spectroscopy with Mike McCarthy at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian
    Deadline: April 30th
    Link to Position 1
    Link to Position 2

  • PhD Position Joint between Rennes (France) and Leuven (Belgium) on Reactive Collisions of Interest for Astrophysics with Lique and Loreau.
    One of the keys to determine the physical conditions prevailing in astrophysical environments as well as their chemical evolution is the knowledge of the excitation conditions and chemistry of astrophysical molecules. Despite significant progresses made over the last decades, there is still a huge lack of collisional and reactive data for these species, which prevents to make the most of nowadays highly resolved observations performed with ground-based telescopes such as ALMA or space-based telescope such as JWST. In addition, recent astrochemical models have highlighted the need of using state-to-state rate coefficients for molecular collisions and reactions in order to fully exploit recent observations of highly excited molecules. The calculations of such data using exact quantum methods are not possible mainly because of their computational cost. Hence, important methodological developments remain to be done in order to provide astronomers with reliable data. This thesis subject fits into this context and is dedicated to the study of the collisional excitation and reactivity of astrophysical ions (e.g. CH+, CH2+, H2O+, HeH+, …) detected in astrophysical and atmospherical environments. In particular, the development and the use of statistical methods should enable the possibility to obtain precise state-to-state data for the study of media of astrophysical and atmospherical interest. Participation in the interpretation of observations will be a natural extension of this project and will allow the candidate to investigate the impact of these new data on the astrophysical / atmospherical modeling.
    
    The joint PhD project will be co-supervised by François Lique (Rennes, France) and Jérôme Loreau (Leuven, Belgium). The PhD candidate is expected to spend ~75% of his research time at the University of Rennes and 25% of his research time in KU Leuven. Possibility of participating to teaching activities will be offered to the PhD candidate. 
    
    Application requires a CV, Motivation Letter, Names of Two References, and an Interview to Follow Review of Application.  Application should be sent to both François LIQUE (francois.lique@univ-rennes.fr) and Jerome Loreau (jerome.loreau@kuleuven.be).

  • PhD Position available  in Edinburgh, UK on Electron Driven Chemistry in the Interstellar Medium joint between the groups of Cate Anstoter and Ewen Campbell .  The project will combine computational chemistry and gas-phase spectroscopy to probe electron driven chemistry of astrochemically relevant species in the interstellar medium (ISM). Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are purported to be the largest charge carrier in the ISM, here we propose to use computational chemistry to model the intrinsic electronic structure and dynamics alongside spectroscopy. Historically research has hinged around an understanding of neutrals and cations in the ISM, despite the prevalence of free electrons and the redox chemistry that is proposed to drive the formation of molecules. Here we propose to probe electron attachment and detachment to hetero-PAHs, developing new computational protocols and benchmarking against electronic and vibrational spectra. The synergy between theory and experiment allows an unambiguous understanding of the fundamental chemistry, critical to answering several questions of societal interest.
    
    In the first instance, the initial application (including cover letter and CV) should be directed to:
    Cate Anstöter, School of Chemistry, University of Edinburgh, David Brewster Road, Edinburgh EH9 3FJ, UK. Email: Cate.anstoter@ed.ac.uk
    
    The position will remain open until 30 August 2024.

• Upcoming Meetings

  • QuantumGrain Workshop: Emerging Horizons in the Chemistry of the Universe
    June 9-12, 2024
    Barcelona, Spain

  • International Symposium on Molecular Spectroscopy
    June 17-21, 2024
    Urbana, Illinois

  • The Promises and Challenges of the ALMA Wideband Sensitivity Upgrade
    June 24-28, 2024
    ESO Garching, Germany 

  • Once Upon a Time, Our Astrochemical History
    July 3-4
    ESA Meeting, Padova

  • The 27th International Conference on High Resolution Molecular Spectroscopy
    September 2-6
    Bologna, Italy

  • Born in Fire: Eruptive Stars and Planet Formation
    September 24-27
    Santiago, Chile

  • Cosmic Rays: The Salt of the Star Formation Recipe Vol 3
    October 22-24
    Florence, Italy