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548 project proposals were submitted for the competitive Synergy Grants of the European Research Council (ERC) this year; only 10 percent were successful. One of them is IRASTRO, a joint research project of Alec Wodtke, Director at the Max Planck Institute (MPI) for Multidisciplinary Sciences in Göttingen (Germany), Liv Hornekær from Aarhus University (Denmark), Peter Saalfrank from the University of Potsdam (Germany), and Varun Verma from the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST, USA). They will receive a total of 12 million euros in funding for their project over a period of six years.
The four scientists have joined forces for the ERC Synergy project IRASTRO to investigate how molecules observed by space telescopes are produced by chemical reactions in and on interstellar icy dust grains. Specifically, they will measure infrared spectra of molecules in these ices and study chemical reactivity under interstellar conditions.
The James Webb Space Telescope has ushered in a new era of astrochemistry. “Orbiting 1.5 million kilometers above Earth, it uses infrared light to observe the universe. Recently, it has even made it possible to obtain infrared spectra of ice layers in interstellar clouds,” explains ERC project leader Alec Wodtke, who, as Director at the MPI for Multidisciplinary Sciences and Professor of Chemistry at the University of Göttingen, researches surface chemistry and infrared spectroscopy. Ice layers in interstellar clouds are also a source of organic molecules, so being able to decipher their infrared spectrum can help interpret research data from space.
The researchers want to develop methods that can detect the infrared signatures of individual molecules. An infrared signature is a kind of fingerprint that differs from molecule to molecule. However, they also carry information about the local environment of the molecules. Hence, by measuring the infrared signatures we can unravel the conditions under which these molecules are formed. To achieve their goal, the collaboration is working closely with Varun Verma of NIST, who is a leader in the development of superconducting nanowire photon detectors (SNSPDs). As part of IRASTRO, Verma’s team will develop SNSPD arrays for new methods in infrared spectroscopy. Peter Saalfrank, professor for theoretical chemistry at the University of Potsdam, will contribute his expertise in theoretical quantum chemistry and dynamics to the interpretation of the data from the SNSPD-based spectrometers.
In addition, the team will study chemical reactions under interstellar conditions. “Developing a realistic picture of how chemistry works in interstellar ice layers is an enormous challenge. For example, under the conditions typical of cold, dark interstellar clouds, our classical models of chemistry tend to break down because they were developed to describe high-temperature chemistry,” says astrochemist Liv Hornekær, professor at the University of Aarhus. “With our project, we want to expand our understanding of how chemical reactions take place at low temperatures.” To do this, the team first wants to study low-temperature reactions in simpler systems that can be set up in the laboratory and analyzed experimentally. “Our goal is to develop new models of so-called low-temperature quantum reactivity – for example models that accurately describe the quantum tunnel effect in condensed phase reactions – that can one day be used to decipher reactions in space,” Saalfrank says.
“IRASTRO’s focus on infrared spectroscopy means that the project’s results will be directly relevant to the interpretation of observational data from space telescopes such as the James Webb Space Telescope,” added project leader Wodtke. “There is still a great deal of fundamental chemical physics, especially low-temperature chemical physics in solids, that needs to be better understood to support large space missions like this.”
About the ERC and the ERC Synergy Grants
Established in 2007, the ERC is the European Union's main funding organization for frontier research. It funds creative researchers of all nationalities and ages to carry out projects throughout Europe. The ERC's total budget for the period 2021 to 2027 under the Horizon Europe research and innovation program is more than 16 billion euros. ERC Synergy Grants allow collaborations of two to four top researchers to pool their expertise and resources to tackle complex research questions. This year, the ERC is funding a total of 57 research projects through the Synergy program, with a total budget of around 571 million euros.
Prof. Dr. Alec M. Wodtke
Department of Dynamics at Surfaces
Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences, Göttingen, and Institute for Physical Chemistry, University of Göttingen (Germany)
Phone: +49 551 201-1263
Email: alec.wodtke@mpinat.mpg.de
https://www.mpinat.mpg.de/4831566/pr_2421 – Original press release
https://www.mpinat.mpg.de/wodtke – Website of the Department of Dynamics at Surfaces, Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences
Involved in the IRASTROS project: Prof. Dr. Peter Saalfrank, Prof. Dr. Liv Hornekær, Prof. Dr. Alec ...
Kevin Ryl / ZIM Potsdam; Lars Kruse / AU Foto; Irene Böttcher-Gajewski / MPI-NAT; Rebecca Jacobson / NIST
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Involved in the IRASTROS project: Prof. Dr. Peter Saalfrank, Prof. Dr. Liv Hornekær, Prof. Dr. Alec ...
Kevin Ryl / ZIM Potsdam; Lars Kruse / AU Foto; Irene Böttcher-Gajewski / MPI-NAT; Rebecca Jacobson / NIST
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