Handbook of Astrochemistry

Wendy Brown is a surface scientist who has studied surface processes of relevance to astrochemistry for almost 20 years. Her main areas of expertise related to astrochemistry include experimental studies of adsorption, reaction, dynamics and surface processing of species adsorbed on model grain surfaces at ~25 K and under ultra-high vacuum using a wide range of surface analytical techniques. She is currently Professor of Physical Chemistry and Head of the Department of Chemistry at the University of Sussex, where she has been since 2013. Martin McCoustra is ScotChem Professor of Chemical Physics at Heriot-Watt University and a surface scientist with over 30 years experience. His expertise lies in the surface physics and chemistry of thermal and energetic processes on complex surfaces (dust grains, ices and polymers) in ultra-high vacuum over a wide range of temperatures. He is especially interested in the dynamics and kinetics of such processes and employs a range of tools in his work including molecular beam and laser methods in addition to classical surface analytical methods. Serena Viti is an astronomer who has worked in the field of Astrochemistry for over 20 years. Her research interests span a wide range of topics but they are all centred on the role of molecules in space, especially in the dense gas of the interstellar medium, of star forming regions and of nearby galaxies. She is currently a Professor of Astronomy at Leiden University where she has been since 2020, after moving from University College London where she was the Head of the Astrophysics Group.

Part 1: Introduction
1. General Introduction: historical perspective and current state-of-the-art
2. Observations and history: From clouds to proto-stars
3. Observations and history: From disks to planets

Part 2: Observations
4. Observations of gas phase: simple molecules inc. mapping
5. Observations of gas phase: COMs inc. mapping
6. Observations of ices

Part 3: Astrochemical modelling
7. The use of databases in astrochemistry
8. Astrochemical modelling

Part 4: Gas phase astrochemistry
9. Experimental gas phase atomic and molecular spectroscopy
10. Theoretical gas phase spectroscopy
11. Experimental gas phase processes: scattering, photodissociation, dynamics and kinetics of molecule formation
12. Theoretical gas phase processes: scattering, photodissociation, dynamics and kinetics of molecule formation

Part 5: Grain and aerosol chemistry
13. Grains: origins, observations and astrophysical roles; composition, size and shape origins, space-weathering, surface composition
14. Bare grain chemistry: small molecule formation; theory and experimental
15. Aerosol Processes – Experiment and Theory

Part 6: Chemistry in ices
16. Ice formation: experimental and theoretical
17. Thermal and non-thermal desorption of ices
18. Energetic processing of ices
19. Ice spectroscopy/solid state spectroscopy/optical constants and theory

Part 7: Moving from molecules to planets and life
20. From dust to planetesimals
21. Experimental, Computational and Modelling studies of Exoplanetary Atmospheres
22. From astrochemistry towards astrobiology
23. The origins of chirality

Part 8: Conclusions
24. Conclusions and Forward Look