Rotational-state-selected Carbon Astrochemistry

Abstract

The addition of individual quanta of rotational excitation to a molecule has been shown to markedly change its reactivity by significantly modifying the intermolecular interactions. So far, it has only been possible to observe these rotational effects in a very limited number of systems due to lack of rotational selectivity in chemical reaction experiments. The recent development of rotationally controlled molecular beams now makes such investigations possible for a wide range of systems. This is particularly crucial in order to understand the chemistry occurring in the interstellar medium, such as exploring the formation of carbon-based astrochemical molecules and the emergence of molecular complexity in interstellar space from the reaction of small atomic and molecular fragments.

References in corpus (8)

• The UMIST database for astrochemistry 2012
• A KInetic Database for Astrochemistry (KIDA)
• Laser-induced alignment and orientation of quantum-state-selected large molecules
• Direct probe of anisotropy in atom-molecule collisions via quantum scattering resonances
• Observation of different reactivities of para- and ortho-water towards cold diazenylium ions
• Spatially-controlled complex molecules and their applications
• Controlling a quantum gas of polar molecules in an optical lattice
• The ortho-to-para ratio of water in interstellar clouds