Complex chemistry during the early stages of star formation
The emergence of complex organic molecules in the interstellar medium is a fundamental puzzle of astrochemistry. Targeted observations with ALMA have opened the door to high-sensitivity spectral surveys over wide bandwidths to elucidate the chemical complexity of young stars in a systematic manner. Concerted efforts along these lines are needed to reveal the complex organic inventories and isotopic ratios depending on the physical environment and evolutionary past. Ultimately they will can address how much diversity in organic inventories we can expect for emerging planetary systems. In this talk I will present the first results of our ALMA Large Program ``Complex Organic Molecules in Protostars with ALMA Spectral Surveys (COMPASS)''. The aim of the program is to perform unbiased line surveys of 11 nearby Solar-type protostars. The targeted protostars are known hosts of complex organic molecules and sample different natal environments and evolutionary stages thereby starting to address the relative importance of ``nature'' versus ``nurture'' for the resulting protostellar chemistry. I will discuss the potential for extending such studies to explore much wider parts of parameter space after the Wideband Sensitivity Upgrade as well as some of the challenges that must be tackled with such rich datasets.
Authors
- Jes Kristian Jørgensen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9133-8047)
Institutions
- Planetary Science Institute (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
- Published
- 2024-09-04
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13681516
- Primary Topic
- Molecular Spectroscopy and Structure
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00