Date:   November 3, 2008 (Monday)
Time:   3:30 pm EST (refreshments at 3:20 pm)
Place:  Green Bank Auditorium
         (Video: CV-AUD/AOC-AUD/TUC-N525)

Speaker:  Tony Remijan, NRAO

Title:  "NSF Center for Chemistry of the Universe and the future of Astrochemistry at UVa and NRAO"

Abstract:

The recently funded NSF Center for Chemistry of the Universe will
assemble a group of researchers from across the United States to
investigate and understand the chemical processes that control the
synthesis of molecules in the interstellar medium. The chemistry
occurring under the unique conditions of the interstellar medium
produces the initial molecular starting materials for solar system
formation. This chemistry, which produces a surprisingly rich set of
common organic molecules along with more exotic reactive species, also
supplies the molecules in meteorites and comets that may deliver the
building blocks of life to young planets. The Center will place
chemistry at the center of research efforts to describe the molecular
composition of the universe. In this model, the powerful new tools
being developed for observational astronomy will be used to test
chemical hypotheses about novel reaction mechanisms that include
photochemistry by extreme ultraviolet radiation on the surfaces of
nanoscale solids and gas-phase chemistry of ions and radicals under
low collision rates and at ultracold temperatures. These unique
reaction conditions will allow the Center to explore new types of
chemistry that go beyond the usual boundaries imposed by terrestrial
conditions. The Center will establish connections between fields such
as combustion chemistry, atmospheric chemistry, and materials
processing that share the theme of "chemistry under extreme
conditions".  At the center of these new experiments, laboratory
measurements and theoretical models will be NRAO instrumentation
including the GBT, eVLA and ALMA. In this presentation I will discuss
the make-up of the center and its participants and what the
expectations of each NRAO instrument will be in the next decade of
astrochemistry research.


Future Colloquia:

http://www.gb.nrao.edu/colloquia/colloquia.html