Home > Seminars > Année 2022 > Séminaire de Helgi Rafn Hróðmarsson (22 nov)
Séminaire de Helgi Rafn Hróðmarsson (22 nov)
Laboratory for Astrophysics, Leiden Observatory
by - 12 October 2022 (modifié le 13 November 2022)
Le séminaire aura lieu dans l’amphi du bât 520 et sera également diffusé en visioconférence. Les personnes extérieures au laboratoire qui souhaitent disposer du lien sont invitées à envoyer un mail à l’adresse
seminaires.ismo@universite-paris-saclay.fr
Elles recevront le lien pour se connecter en retour.
Universal PAH fragmentation: The search for common carbon ancestors
The chemical link between the diffuse interstellar medium and molecular clouds is not well characterized. This is in part because the century old mystery of the Diffuse Interstellar Bands (DIBs) is still unsolved, as it could hold the keys to unlocking which are the most important molecules capable of surviving in the diffuse interstellar medium for aeons. By studying the radiation-induced fragmentation of several PAH species of different symmetry and different sizes, this work shows that PAHs appear to follow very similar fragmentation pathways, giving rise to ionized magic number carbon clusters. These could be ideal candidates as products of PAH destruction in PDRs and other astrophysical regions that ungergo significant energetic processing. If this scenario is taken to the extreme, these clusters might survive in the diffuse interstellar medium for a long enough period to form the first chemical seeds of molecular clouds – becoming the common carbon ancestors of stars, planets, and life.
