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Complex Organic Molecules in the Star-Forming Regions of the Magellanic CloudsThe Large and Small Magellanic Clouds (LMC and SMC), gas-rich dwarf companions of the Milky Way, are the nearest laboratories for detailed studies on the formation and survival of complex organic molecules (COMs) under metal-poor conditions. To date, only methanol, methyl formate, and dimethyl ether have been detected in these galaxiesall three toward two hot cores in the N113 star-forming region in the LMC, the only extragalactic sources exhibiting complex hot-core chemistry. We describe a small and diverse sample of the LMC and SMC sources associated with COMs or hot-core chemistry, and compare the observations to theoretical model predictions. Theoretical models accounting for the physical conditions and metallicity of hot molecular cores in the Magellanic Clouds have been able to broadly account for the existing observations, but they fail to reproduce the dimethyl ether abundance by more than an order of magnitude. We discuss future prospects for research in the eld of complex chemistry in the low- metallicity environment. The detection of COMs in the Magellanic Clouds has important implications for astrobiology. The metallicity of the Magellanic Clouds is similar to that of galaxies in the earlier epochs of the universe; thus, the presence of COMs in the LMC and SMC indicates that a similar prebiotic chemistry leading to the emergence of life, as it happened on Earth, is possible in low-metallicity systems in the earlier universe.
Document ID
20190032470
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
Authors
Sewilo, Marta M.
(Maryland Univ. College Park, MD, United States)
Charnley, Steven B.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Schilke, Peter
(Universität zu Köln Cologne, Germany)
Taquet, Vianney
(Observatorie Astofisico di Arcetri Florence, Italy)
Oliveira, Joana
(Keele University Keele, England, United Kingdom)
Shimonishi, Takashi
(Tohoku University Sendai, Japan)
Wirstrom, Eva
(Chalmers University of Technology Goeteborg, Sweden)
Indebetouw, Remy
(Virginia Univ. Charlottesville, VA, United States)
Ward, Jacob L.
(Universität Heidelberg Heidelberg, Germany)
van Loon, Jacco Th.
(Keele University Keele, England, United Kingdom)
Wiseman, Jennifer
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Zahorecz, Sarolta
(Osaka Prefecture University Sakai, Japan)
Onishi, Toshikazu
(Osaka Prefecture University Sakai, Japan)
Kawamura, Akiko
(Tokyo Astronomical Observatory Mitaka, Japan)
Chen, C.-H. Rosie
(Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie Bonn, Germany)
Fukui, Yasuo
(Nagoya University Nagoya, Japan)
Golshan, Roya Hamedani
(Universität zu Köln Cologne, Germany)
Date Acquired
November 4, 2019
Publication Date
September 13, 2019
Publication Information
Publication: ACS Earth and Space Chemistry
Publisher: American Chemical Society
Volume: 3
Issue: 10
e-ISSN: 2472-3452
Subject Category
Space Sciences (General)
Report/Patent Number
GSFC-E-DAA-TN73604
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: 80GSFC17M0002
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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