Periodic Reporting for period 2 - ACO (AstroChemical Origins)
Berichtszeitraum: 2021-05-01 bis 2023-10-31
Thousands of exoplanets have been found in the Milky Way since the first discovered by the Nobel laureates Mayor and Queloz in 1995. Yet, none of the so far known planetary systems resembles to our own Solar System.
Nature has, clearly, thousands of ways to form a star and a surrounding planetary system and the question is: Which path did the Solar System follow?
Tightly associated to that, another basic question arises: Did the history of the Solar System formation facilitate or even trigger the emergence of life on Earth?
Since human memory, humankind has been asking similar questions that can be summarized in one single big one: What are our origins?
The ACO (Astro-Chemical Origins) project had the ambitious ultimate goal to discover the link between the interstellar chemistry and the one responsible of the chemical composition of the Solar System bodies: in other words, ACO goal is to understand our astro-chemical origins (see attached figure).
The project is split in five major objectives. Together, they better characterize the chemical composition of the planetary systems forming nowadays in the Milky Way, to understand their variety and its origin and, ultimately, to identify the path followed by the Solar System by comparing its chemical properties with the systems that now in their early evolution.
The project is organized in four Work Packages (WPs), whose specific objectives are:
1) Improve the detection capabilities;
2) Set up a large database of observations
3) Understand the astrochemical processes
4) Develop astrochemical models and tools, and a new Proto Solar nebula model.
Seventeen Early Stage Researchers (ESRs) have been recruited on the project to carry out the work to reach the objectives of each WP and, along with that, the overall ACO goal.
All the objectives have been reached. Specifically, we designed and manufactured a new cryogenic receiver at 22 GHz with a gain between 10 and 20 dB and tuneable by applying an external magnetic field.
We built a huge data base of homogeneous data from four Large Programs led by ACO members on different millimetre to Far-Infrared telescopes: Herschel/CHESS, IRAM-30m/ASAI and NOEMA/SOLIS. The inclusion of a fourth dataset based on ALMA/FAUST is in progress. The exploitation of those databases has allowed us to discover many new aspects of the solar-like star formation and their dependence on the environment.
We carried out several experimental and theoretical studies that have allowed to drastically improve the reliability and content of the gas-phase and surface reaction networks and processes, with several “first ever” achievements: experimental and theoretical studies of the most exotic and poorly understood though crucial gas-phase reactions between neutral atoms and ions with large molecules, and novel and multifaceted theoretical and experimental studies of how molecules stick on the interstellar iced grains, diffuse and react, all poorly known but crucial processes in the growth of the interstellar molecular complexity.
We included new processes in existing astrochemical models, sensibly improving their capacity to describe the astrophysical and astrochemical processes occurring during the solar-like star formation. We developed new tools to extract the information from observations compared to model predictions. We produced a new gas-phase network and a new model of how water is distributed in an analogue of the Proto-Solar Nebula.
Harmed with all these new knowledge and tools, we are closer to understand the astrochemical origin of the Solar System and the path through which the initial clump of diffuse material became a system of planets, and life emerged on Earth.
Nature has, clearly, thousands of ways to form a star and a surrounding planetary system and the question is: Which path did the Solar System follow?
Tightly associated to that, another basic question arises: Did the history of the Solar System formation facilitate or even trigger the emergence of life on Earth?
Since human memory, humankind has been asking similar questions that can be summarized in one single big one: What are our origins?
The ACO (Astro-Chemical Origins) project had the ambitious ultimate goal to discover the link between the interstellar chemistry and the one responsible of the chemical composition of the Solar System bodies: in other words, ACO goal is to understand our astro-chemical origins (see attached figure).
The project is split in five major objectives. Together, they better characterize the chemical composition of the planetary systems forming nowadays in the Milky Way, to understand their variety and its origin and, ultimately, to identify the path followed by the Solar System by comparing its chemical properties with the systems that now in their early evolution.
The project is organized in four Work Packages (WPs), whose specific objectives are:
1) Improve the detection capabilities;
2) Set up a large database of observations
3) Understand the astrochemical processes
4) Develop astrochemical models and tools, and a new Proto Solar nebula model.
Seventeen Early Stage Researchers (ESRs) have been recruited on the project to carry out the work to reach the objectives of each WP and, along with that, the overall ACO goal.
All the objectives have been reached. Specifically, we designed and manufactured a new cryogenic receiver at 22 GHz with a gain between 10 and 20 dB and tuneable by applying an external magnetic field.
We built a huge data base of homogeneous data from four Large Programs led by ACO members on different millimetre to Far-Infrared telescopes: Herschel/CHESS, IRAM-30m/ASAI and NOEMA/SOLIS. The inclusion of a fourth dataset based on ALMA/FAUST is in progress. The exploitation of those databases has allowed us to discover many new aspects of the solar-like star formation and their dependence on the environment.
We carried out several experimental and theoretical studies that have allowed to drastically improve the reliability and content of the gas-phase and surface reaction networks and processes, with several “first ever” achievements: experimental and theoretical studies of the most exotic and poorly understood though crucial gas-phase reactions between neutral atoms and ions with large molecules, and novel and multifaceted theoretical and experimental studies of how molecules stick on the interstellar iced grains, diffuse and react, all poorly known but crucial processes in the growth of the interstellar molecular complexity.
We included new processes in existing astrochemical models, sensibly improving their capacity to describe the astrophysical and astrochemical processes occurring during the solar-like star formation. We developed new tools to extract the information from observations compared to model predictions. We produced a new gas-phase network and a new model of how water is distributed in an analogue of the Proto-Solar Nebula.
Harmed with all these new knowledge and tools, we are closer to understand the astrochemical origin of the Solar System and the path through which the initial clump of diffuse material became a system of planets, and life emerged on Earth.
The backbone of the project is realized by seventeen ESRs, who carried out PhD thesis on the multidisciplinary aspects of the project, summarized in four general fields: instrumentation, astronomy, chemistry and data science.
Most ESRs were recruited in November 2019, just before the COVID-19 outbreak.
Despite the enormous difficulties encountered, the forced periods of pause of laboratory work and suspension of activities of the major telescopes in the world, we have reached all the objectives planned in the original project.
More than 120 peer-reviewed articles in top specialised journals have been published within the ACO project, of which about 30% led by the ACO ESRs. The ACO publications can be found, golden open access, in the ACO website: https://aco-itn.oapd.inaf.it/.
The ACO articles have received an exponentially increasing number of citations: from about 20 in 2020 to more than 350 citations per year in 2023, the last year of the project, a number that will continue to increase in the coming years. In total, so far ACO articles were cited almost 1000 times, which shows its great impact on the community.
In addition, we have produced a mine of data and tools, all open gold access, available in the ACO website and in the ACO community ZENODO repository: https://zenodo.org/communities/aco-astro-chemical-origins?q=ACO&l=list&p=1&s=10&sort=bestmatch.
They contain new astronomical and chemical data, models and analysis tools. Last but not least, ACO has produced a very low-noise amplifier for astronomical observations in the 20 GHz range.
Most ESRs were recruited in November 2019, just before the COVID-19 outbreak.
Despite the enormous difficulties encountered, the forced periods of pause of laboratory work and suspension of activities of the major telescopes in the world, we have reached all the objectives planned in the original project.
More than 120 peer-reviewed articles in top specialised journals have been published within the ACO project, of which about 30% led by the ACO ESRs. The ACO publications can be found, golden open access, in the ACO website: https://aco-itn.oapd.inaf.it/.
The ACO articles have received an exponentially increasing number of citations: from about 20 in 2020 to more than 350 citations per year in 2023, the last year of the project, a number that will continue to increase in the coming years. In total, so far ACO articles were cited almost 1000 times, which shows its great impact on the community.
In addition, we have produced a mine of data and tools, all open gold access, available in the ACO website and in the ACO community ZENODO repository: https://zenodo.org/communities/aco-astro-chemical-origins?q=ACO&l=list&p=1&s=10&sort=bestmatch.
They contain new astronomical and chemical data, models and analysis tools. Last but not least, ACO has produced a very low-noise amplifier for astronomical observations in the 20 GHz range.
ACO is a large-scale multidisciplinary project, where all the aspects necessary to achieve the goal of understanding our Astro-Chemical Origins are addressed. This coordinated wide-ranging scientific effort has provided unprecedented insights on astrochemistry, from basic data to sophisticated interpretations. Each of the four Work Packages that constitute the ACO project have in themselves provided beyond the state methodologies and discoveries, whose application goes beyond the project goal and context. They fed the whole astrochemical community with new and important receivers, astronomical observations, chemical data and processes and, finally, state of the art tools to merge all this information and extract the most from it.
In addition to the standard dissemination politics of publication in top specialised journals (more than 120 peer-reviewed articles), we organised two International Conferences on the “Chemical Processes in Solar-Type Star Forming Regions”, in Turin (Italy; September 2021) and Toulouse (France; June 2023) (https://sites.google.com/inaf.it/aco-conference/home-page and https://aco-conference2023.sciencesconf.org] respectively). Also, we organised three Network Schools to which students other than the ACO ESRs could participate: in Perugia (Italy; December 2019), Padua (Italy; July 2021) and Sitges (Spain; May 2022).
Finally, the ACO Early Stage Researchers (ESRs) have designed and realised a Virtual Reality Project for Outreach purposes. The VR Project is entitled “Water Journey’s to Earth” and describes in a playful but rigorous scientific way how Earth acquired the Oceans water, a topics where there is still a very vivid debate in the scientific community. The “Water Journey’s to Earth”, which consists also of some applications mounted on portable oculi, was exhibited in several occasions, including Open Science Days around Europe and in the Final ACO Conference. A large public (at least a thousand persons) visited the exhibition and played with with the oculi, mostly aged from 7 to 30 years, allowing ACO to significantly enlarge the impact of its activity to the general public.
In addition to the standard dissemination politics of publication in top specialised journals (more than 120 peer-reviewed articles), we organised two International Conferences on the “Chemical Processes in Solar-Type Star Forming Regions”, in Turin (Italy; September 2021) and Toulouse (France; June 2023) (https://sites.google.com/inaf.it/aco-conference/home-page and https://aco-conference2023.sciencesconf.org] respectively). Also, we organised three Network Schools to which students other than the ACO ESRs could participate: in Perugia (Italy; December 2019), Padua (Italy; July 2021) and Sitges (Spain; May 2022).
Finally, the ACO Early Stage Researchers (ESRs) have designed and realised a Virtual Reality Project for Outreach purposes. The VR Project is entitled “Water Journey’s to Earth” and describes in a playful but rigorous scientific way how Earth acquired the Oceans water, a topics where there is still a very vivid debate in the scientific community. The “Water Journey’s to Earth”, which consists also of some applications mounted on portable oculi, was exhibited in several occasions, including Open Science Days around Europe and in the Final ACO Conference. A large public (at least a thousand persons) visited the exhibition and played with with the oculi, mostly aged from 7 to 30 years, allowing ACO to significantly enlarge the impact of its activity to the general public.