3-09
Helmut Wiesemeyer
Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie
The chemistry of astrophysical environments - synergies between far-infrared spectroscopy and laboratory experiments
Since half a century space and airborne missions reveal a plethora of chemical reaction pathways in the universe. While technical advancement has improved the sensitivity and resolution of the underlying spectroscopy, chemical reaction rates can be measured in the laboratory under conditions that are relevant for various astrophysical environments, such as the primordial universe, the interstellar medium, or star-forming environments. This contribution will focus on the harvest of far-infrared spectroscopy with SOFIA, and provide examples demonstrating this synergy, reaching from the formation of molecular hydrogen in the early universe to the chemistry of oxygen-bearing species in the interstellar medium and in circumstellar disks.