Astrobiology: An Astronomer's Perspective

In this review we explore aspects of the field of astrobiology from an astronomical viewpoint. We therefore focus on the origin of life in the context of planetary formation, with additional emphasis on tracing the most abundant volatile elements, C, H, O, and N that are used by life on Earth. We first explore the history of life on our planet and outline the current state of our knowledge regarding the delivery of the C, H, O, N elements to the Earth. We then discuss how astronomers track the gaseous and solid molecular carriers of these volatiles throughout the process of star and planet formation. It is now clear that the early stages of star formation fosters the creation of water and simple organic molecules with enrichments of heavy isotopes. These molecules are found as ice coatings on the solid materials that represent microscopic beginnings of terrestrial worlds. Based on the meteoritic and cometary record, the process of planet formation, and the local environment, lead to additional increases in organic complexity. The astronomical connections towards this stage are only now being directly made. Although the exact details are uncertain, it is likely that the birth process of star and planets likely leads to terrestrial worlds being born with abundant water and organics on the surface.Comment: 40 pages, 11 figures to be published in: XVII Special Courses at the National Observatory of Rio de Janeiro. AIP Conference Proceedings, Volume TB

Chemical tracers of episodic accretion in low-mass protostars

Aims: Accretion rates in low-mass protostars can be highly variable in time. Each accretion burst is accompanied by a temporary increase in luminosity, heating up the circumstellar envelope and altering the chemical composition of the gas and dust. This paper aims to study such chemical effects and discusses the feasibility of using molecular spectroscopy as a tracer of episodic accretion rates and timescales. Methods: We simulate a strong accretion burst in a diverse sample of 25 spherical envelope models by increasing the luminosity to 100 times the observed value. Using a comprehensive gas-grain network, we follow the chemical evolution during the burst and for up to 10^5 yr after the system returns to quiescence. The resulting abundance profiles are fed into a line radiative transfer code to simulate rotational spectra of C18O, HCO+, H13CO+, and N2H+ at a series of time steps. We compare these spectra to observations taken from the literature and to previously unpublished data of HCO+ and N2H+ 6-5 from the Herschel Space Observatory. Results: The bursts are strong enough to evaporate CO throughout the envelope, which in turn enhances the abundance of HCO+ and reduces that of N2H+. After the burst, it takes 10^3-10^4 yr for CO to refreeze and for HCO+ and N2H+ to return to normal. The chemical effects of the burst remain visible in the rotational spectra for as long as 10^5 yr after the burst has ended, highlighting the importance of considering luminosity variations when analyzing molecular line observations in protostars. The spherical models are currently not accurate enough to derive robust timescales from single-dish observations. As follow-up work, we suggest that the models be calibrated against spatially resolved observations in order to identify the best tracers to be used for statistically significant source samples.Comment: Accepted by A&A; 12 pages, 7 figure