The first workshop of the nascent Aurora Astrochem network will take place in the Maison des Sciences de l’Environnement (MSE) on the campus of Université Paris Est Creteil on September 24-25.

The objective of the workshop is bringing together astrochemistry (and astrochem adjacent) research groups to discuss and find common ground and potential collaborative opportunities. The organization of the workshop has been made possible thanks to gracious support of the Aurora university alliance. The workshop will be held in hybrid mode, making remote participation possible.

The list of participants in alphabetical order is as follows:

Wendy Brown, Alexandro Collado, Hervé Cottin, Florian Foitzik, Brandt Gaches, Michael Gatt, Haraldur Gunnar Guðmundsson, Helgi Rafn Hrodmarsson, Isabelle Kleiner, Gianluca Levi, Paola Manini, Lam Nguyen, Milan Ončák, Zoé Perrin, Simona Potenti.

A preliminary program is shown below but the detailed program for the workshop along with dinner and lunch plans will be circulated among the participants shortly.

Thursday morning session 1 – Astrochem introduction 9:00 – 10:45

9:00 – Round table & introductions

9:15 – Helgi Rafn Hrodmarsson (UPEC) – VUV cross sections & photoprocesses, diatomics to fullerenes, molecular clouds to exoplanets

9:45 – Brandt Gaches (Duisburg) – Cosmic rays and astrochemistry, high-energy impacts (from VUV to MeV)

10:15 – Hervé Cottin (UPEC) – Low Earth Orbit Experiments for Astrochemistry and Astrobiology

Thursday morning session 2 – Organic synthesis in astrochemistry 11:00 – 12:30

11:00 – Florian Foitzik (UIBK) – Helium-tagging spectroscopy of molecular ions and ionic clusters in the visible and infrared

11:30 – Paola Manini (Naples) – The aromatic world: deciphering the key role of PAHs from the interstellar medium to the emergence of life

12:00 – Haraldur G. Guðmundsson (UI) – From gaseous molecules to multi-isotope labelling: Small-scale reactors for ex situ gas delivery

LUNCH at L’Intemporel

Thursday afternoon session 1 – Theoretical chemistry in astrochemistry 14:30 – 15:45

14:30 – Michael Gatt (UIBK) – TD-DFT and coupled cluster methods on the excited states of diatomics to fullerenes

15:00 – Gianluca Levi (Trieste / UI) – New Methods for Excited Electronic States Based on Orbital Optimization: Applications to Molecular Rydberg Excitations

Thursday afternoon session 2 – Spectroscopic techniques at UPEC 16:00 – 17:50

16:00 – Isabelle Kleiner (UPEC) – High resolution spectroscopy for astrophysical molecules with large amplitude motions

16:30 – Lam Nguyen (UPEC) – Methylated aromatic compounds and PAHs: The long road toward interstellar detection

17:00 – Alexandro Collado (UPEC) – High temperature UV cross sections of HCN and application to warm exoplanets

DINNER and cruise on the Seine 20:15 (Either go by yourself or follow the group leaving from MSE at 18:50 sharp!

Friday morning session 1 – Interstellar ices and planetary aerosols 10:00 – 10:50

10:00 – Wendy Brown (Sussex) – UV photoprocesses in interstellar ice analogs

10:30 – Zoé Perrin (UPEC) – Refractive indices of Titan aerosol

Friday morning session 2 – Round table discussions and lab visits 11:00 – 12:50

LUNCH at CROUS (UPEC)