The dawn of organic chemistry in space

Séminaire IPAG de Cecilia Ceccarelli (IPAG), jeudi 15 mars 2018 à 11h00, salle Manuel Forestini IPAG

Since a long time, it has been known that molecular complexity in space can reach amazingly high levels. Alcohols, sugars and amino acids are detected in meteoritic and cometary material ; some of them are even detected in regions where solar-like stars and planetary systems are forming today. These evidences led the Nobel prize laureate C.De Duve to affirm that the “seeds of life are universal” and that “life is an obligatory manifestation of matter, written into the fabric of the Universe”.

So far, the smallest seeds, which I will call here iCOMs (for interstellar Complex Organic Molecules), are detected in a bit more than a dozen solar-like star forming regions. New facilities, like IRAM/NOEMA and ALMA, are increasing this small number and providing images of these regions with unprecedented precision and sensibility. At the same time, new laboratory experiments and quantum chemistry theoretical studies suggest previously unpredicted routes of iCOMs synthesis. The combination of all these new works is challenging old theories and provoking the emergence of new ones.

In this talk, I will present these recent advances and debates, and the new worldwide large projects whose goal is to unravel the dawn of organic chemistry in space.