Origin of volatiles and organics on Earth, IDPs, meteorites, and comets

• Applicant: Dr. Dmitry Semenov
• Subject Area: Astrophysics and Astronomy
• Term: from 2018 to 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 404684586

One of the most intriguing scientific questions is to understand conditions at which our planetary system was born and the conditions necessary for building a habitable Earth. To answer these questions, one has to first understand the evolution, radial distribution, and abundances of the key ingredients for life - water, carbon-, and nitrogen-bearing compounds in the early solar nebula, in what form they existed, and how they have been delivered to Earth. The important clues to the physical conditions and chemical complexity in this ancient epoch are hidden in the chemical and isotopic composition of Earth surface volatiles and primitive bodies of the solar system such as meteorites, comets, and interplanetary dust particles. It is challenging to relate the mineralogical, chemical, and isotopic composition and water content revealed by laboratory investigations with the conditions in the young solar system at about 4.57 Ga ago, unless a feasible evolutionary model of the solar nebula is used. Therefore, in the next three year we will create an improved model of the solar nebula that includes gas and dust temperature and density evolution, transport, and gas-grain time-dependent chemistry with isotopic fractionation. The main directions of our research will be: 1) distribution and evolution of water and major C-, O-, and N-bearing molecules throughout the early solar nebula; 2) origin of water and C-, O-, and N-isotopic composition of volatile and refractory material throughout the early solar nebula (in particular, planet-forming zone).

• DFG Programme: Priority Programmes
• Subproject of: SPP 1833: Building a Habitable Earth
• Co-Investigators: Professor Dr. Cornelis Petrus Dullemond; Professor Dr. Mario Trieloff