1111.1890 (D. A. Garcia-Hernandez)
D. A. Garcia-Hernandez
Many complex organic molecules and inorganic solid-state compounds have been
observed in the circumstellar shell of stars (both C-rich and O-rich) in the
transition phase between Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) stars and Planetary
Nebulae (PNe). This short (~100-10.000 years) phase of stellar evolution
represents a wonderful laboratory for astrochemistry and provides severe
constraints on any model of gas-phase and solid-state chemistry. One of the
major challenges of present day astrophysics and astrochemistry is to
understand the formation pathways of these complex organic molecules and
inorganic solid-state compounds (e.g., polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons,
fullerenes, and graphene in the case of a C-rich chemistry and oxides and
crystalline silicates in O-rich environments) in space. In this review, I
present an observational review of the molecular processes in the late stages
of stellar evolution with a special emphasis on the first detections of
fullerenes and graphene in PNe.
View original:
http://arxiv.org/abs/1111.1890
No comments:
Post a Comment