Periodic Reporting for period 2 - MissIons (Molecular Spectra of Missing Ions in the Laboratory and in Space)
Reporting period: 2023-04-01 to 2024-09-30
Molecular ions are an important class of constituents of the gas and dust in interstellar space. In order to find them in astrophysical observations and to discover their role, their laboratory spectra are needed. It is the aim of this project to measure spectra of several fundamental ions in the laboratory, to find a theoretical description of their spectra and eventually to identify these species in space. This poses a considerable experimental challenge because ions are highly reactive and thus it is not trivial to provide enough sample to record their spectra. In this project we hunt for the spectra of such Missing Ions (hence the name: MissIons).
In the first 30 months we developed new methods of ever more sensitivity and specificity. We recorded spectra of the molecular vibration (in medium and high resolution) and rotation of quite a number of molecular ions of relevance in space. Many of these works already resulted in peer-reviewed publications. Moreover, we succeeded to record spectra of the central ions of this project, i.e. protonated methane, protonated methanol and the elusive protonated water dimer such that MissIons is on a very good track towards reaching its ambitious aims.
As a result of the first 30 months of work, e.g. new species like a small carbon chain molecular ion have been identified in space based on these studies. Not only are these new species in space but the more general question "MissIons" is concerned with is; why these molecules and not others. Thus, our studies are highly interdisciplinary and feed into molecular physics, chemistry and astrophysics alike. The "MissIons" project is related to the general layman’s question: How came our current world into being. First important puzzle pieces have already been found.https://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/grants-app/reporting/VAADIN/themes/sygma/icons/ico6-save.png