SAIP2016

Open Quantum System approach to spontaneous formation of prebiotic molecules in interstellar space.

6 Jul 2016, 16:10

1h 50m

Kramer Law building

Board: G.360

Poster Presentation Track G - Theoretical and Computational Physics Poster Session (2)

Speaker

Mr Paul Els (NWU, Potchefstroom)

Apply to be<br> considered for a student <br> &nbsp; award (Yes / No)?

Yes

Level for award<br>&nbsp;(Hons, MSc, <br> &nbsp; PhD, N/A)?

MSc

Abstract content <br> &nbsp; (Max 300 words)<br><a href="http://events.saip.org.za/getFile.py/access?resId=0&materialId=0&confId=34" target="_blank">Formatting &<br>Special chars</a>

The past half-century has seen much advancement in the fields of astronomy and astrochemistry, but an emerging field, known as astrobiology, now seeks to answer one of the oldest and most fundamental questions in science: What is life? Prebiotic molecules – those that are proposed to be part of the processes leading to the origin of life – and the formation of nucleobases, in different astrophysical environments, have thus far been the primary area of focus. Recently we have seen the detection of an HCN dimer (H₂C₂N₂) along with possible formation routes leading to Adenine (H₅C₅N₅), one of the nucleobases. In our work we apply an open quantum systems approach to the problem of HCN dimer formation. The temperature of the relevant environment is ~10K meaning it is quite possible that non-trivial quantum effects may be vital to the process of dimerisation. Following observational data from the Green Bank Telescope we specifically focus on the possibility of spontaneous dimerisation on the surfaces of interstellar ice grains.

Main supervisor (name and email)<br>and his / her institution

Prof. Johan Van der Walt
Johan.VanDerWalt@nwu.ac.za

Please indicate whether<br>this abstract may be<br>published online<br>(Yes / No)

Yes

Would you like to <br> submit a short paper <br> for the Conference <br> Proceedings (Yes / No)?

Yes