Thursday, April 7, 2022, 16:00
online only
(for the zoom link contact michael.spira@psi.ch, johannes.schlenk@psi.ch or
antonio.coutinho@psi.ch)
Susanne Wampfler, University of Bern
Abstract:
Understanding the formation and evolution of our solar system is a core
goal of galactic astrophysics. However, linking the properties and
composition of the solar system bodies, including planets, asteroids,
and comets, to the processes occuring during the formation of solar-like
stars and their planetary systems is not straightforward. Stable isotope
ratios of volatile elements such as D/H, 14N/15N, or 16O/18O are
promising tools for constraining the origin and subsequent processing of
planetary building blocks, because they can be measured in all relevant
phases - the gas, the ices, and rocky materials.
To fully exploit the potential of stable isotope ratios as tracers for
the history of the solar system, we need to understand when, where, and
how isotopic fractionation of volatile elements occurs during star
formation. After a brief introduction to astrochemistry, I will explain
how we measure isotopic ratios in prestellar cores, around protostars,
and in protoplanetary disks and obtain constraints on isotopic
fractionation processes from molecular lines. I will outline the
puzzling nitrogen isotopic properties of the solar system, and present
our efforts to construct a coherent picture from (sub-)millimeter
observations of newly forming stars, in-situ measurements of the
composition of comet 67P by the Rosetta space mission, and laboratory
analyses of meteorites.