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SUMMARY:Astrochemistry and star formation: a fertile link - Paola Caselli 
 (University of Leeds)
DTSTART:20080226T163000Z
DTEND:20080226T173000Z
UID:TALK9905@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Jane Buckle
DESCRIPTION:On the one hand\, astrochemistry is sorely needed for our unde
 rstanding of\nthe physical and chemical processes\, as well as the kinemat
 ics\, of star\nforming regions\, from the earliest stages (pre-stellar cor
 es)\, to the\nswitch-on of the protostar\, to the formation and evolution 
 of protoplanetary\ndisks. On the other hand\, observations of gas-phase an
 d solid-state species\nin star forming regions allow us to make progresses
  in our understanding of\nastrochemistry and the production of organic mol
 ecules in space\, possible\nseeds of life in the Universe. I shall review 
 basic chemical processes\,\nrecent observational results and show our majo
 r achievements in understanding\nthe physical and chemical characteristics
  of star forming regions and the\nearliest phases in the process of star f
 ormation. In particular\, I shall\ndescribe the deuterium fractionation\, 
 very active in pre-stellar clouds\, and\nrecent results of a simple chemic
 al model coupled with a radiative transfer\ncode and constrained by observ
 ations. These results suggest that: (i) the dust\nin pre-stellar core nucl
 ei (the future stellar cradles) appears to be\n"fluffy"\, with an opacity 
 about four times larger than that in the more\ndiffuse interstellar medium
 \; (ii) the cosmic ray-ionization rate cannot be\nsignificantly larger tha
 n 1x10^{-17} s-1. Main astrochemical unknowns will be\noutlined. 
LOCATION:Ryle Seminar Room\, Cavendish Laboratory
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