Seminars

Astronomy Seminar: The complex chemistry of young stars

The environments in which young stars form show a rich and varied chemistry. In fact, most of the molecules detected in the interstellar medium to date have first been found in these regions. These molecules range all the way from simple di- and tri-atomic species to complex organic molecules, some of them with ten atoms or more, that can be considered the starting points for eventual prebiotic chemistry. Recently the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have opened new possibilities for studying this complex chemistry and, in particular, the link between the birth environments of individual stars and the conditions in their protoplanetary disks. Through such studies we hope to shed light on the origin of the physical and chemical diversity of emerging exoplanetary systems as well as the origin of our own Solar System.