Chemical Origins

CHEMICAL ORIGINS is a PRIN project funded by the European Union – NextGenerationEU under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), Mission 4, Component 2, Investment 1.1, Call for tender No. 104 published on 2.2.2022 by the Italian Ministry of University and Research (MUR).

The goal of the project is to unveil our CHEMICAL ORIGINS through a multidisciplinary approach, which requires the collaborations between INAF-based astrophysicists working on Star Formation and Solar System (UdR1-INAF), and chemists of the University of Perugia who perform quantum chemical computations to investigate the chemical reactions occurring in star forming regions (UdR2-UPG).

The project consists of three work-packages (WPs): the WP1: DISKS will study the chemistry of analogues of the protosolar nebula, i.e. disks around young Sun-like stars of 10000 to a few million years, and will compare it with the fossil composition of the SS imprinted in the Outer Solar System Objects (WP2: OSSOs). To perform this comparison, the WP3: CHEMISTRY will investigate the formation routes of complex organics, deuterated molecules, and salts. These species are key to test whether (and how much) the chemistry of the SS is inherited from the early phases of its formation, or it is subject to a chemical reset occurring in the disk and/or during the formation of planets.

We acknowledge financial support under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), Mission 4, Component 2, Investment 1.1, Call for tender No. 104 published on 2.2.2022 by the Italian Ministry of University and Research (MUR), funded by the European Union – NextGenerationEU– Project Title 2022JC2Y93 ChemicalOrigins: linking the fossil composition of the Solar System with the chemistry of protoplanetary disks – CUP C53D23001600006 - Grant Assignment Decree No. 962 adopted on 30.06.2023 by the Italian Ministry of Ministry of University and Research (MUR).