Laboratory Study on How Ionizing Radiation Creates Complex Organic Molecules in Interstellar Space
Science / Physics
What complex organic molecules are found in the interstellar medium, how are they synthesized and why does it matter? The interstellar medium is the space between the stars of a galaxy, which is not empty, as it contains low-density gases, frozen dust grains – which collect solid water, methanol, carbon monoxide, ammonia and other rarer species – in addition to raditaion in the form of photons and other radiation in the form of photons and particles emitted by stellar particles, supermassive black holes, etc. My research thus aims to recreate frozen dust grains and observe how they react to ionizing radiation and related phenomena. We know that such reactions, predating the formation of the Solar System, when it was merely a molecular cloud lost in the vastness of space, led to life on Earth.
