From the left: Gianfranco Vidali, Emanuele Congiu and Joe Roser

News from the Laboratory of Surface Physics and Astrophysics:

Research Opportunities, Publications, and Presentations - July 2005

RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES

If you are a brilliant undergraduate or graduate physics student looking for challenges, consider doing research in our laboratory! Financial help is available for qualified individuals. If you are interested, contact Prof. Gianfranco Vidali (astro@mailaps.org).
To know more about our Physics Department, go to the Department's Web-page!.

THE LAB IN THE NEWS

	Click here to read a news item that appeared on News@NATURE.COM about our research on making molecular hydrogen on analogues of interstellar dust - June 2005
	Click on the image to read a write-up about our research in the Syracuse University Magazine (Winter 2002 issue)
	Chemical and Engineering News, the newsmagazine of the American Chemical Society, has an article in the July 15, 2002 issue on INTERSTELLAR CHEMISTRY in which the work from our lab is featured. Read it at: here) (Click on the picture for a larger image).
	"The Syracuse Record", the news weekly of Syracuse University, published an article in the July 22, 2002 issue on undergraduate physics students working in our lab. Click on the image for details.

RECENT PUBLICATIONS

The following is a list of the most recent major publications from our laboratory. They are about measurements of molecular hydrogen and carbon dioxide formation on surfaces of dust grain analogues under conditions of astrophysical importance.
The list below includes also papers that investigate the problem of molecular hydrogen formation from a theoretical point of view and establish a connection between experimental results and processes occurring in the interstellar medium.
You can access some of these papers through NASA's Astrophysics Data System

Collaborators:

Experiment: Prof. Valerio Pirronello, University of Catania, Sicily, Italy.
Theory: Prof. Ofer Biham, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel.

H.B.Perets, O.Biham, G.Manico', V.Pirronello, J.Roser, S. Swords, and G.Vidali: "Molecular Hydrogen Formation on Ice Under Interstellar Conditions", Astrophys.J. 627, 850 (2005).
G.Vidali, J.E.Roser, G.Manico', V.Pirronello, H.B.Perets, and O.Biham: "Formation of molecular hydrogen on analogues of interstellar dust grains: experiments and modelling" Journal of Physics: Conference Series 6, 36 (2005).
G.Vidali, J.E.Roser, G.Manico', and V.Pirronello: "Laboratory Studies of Formation of Molecules on Dust Grain Analogues under ISM Conditions", J. Geophysics Res. 109, E07S14 (2004).
G.Pirronello, G.Manico', J.E.Roser, G.Vidali: "Dust Chemistry in the Laboratory" in The Dense Interstellar Medium in Galaxies, Ed. by S. Pfalzner et al. (Springer-Verlag, Berlin) (2004) p. 525
G.Vidali, J.Roser, V.Pirronello, G.Manico': "Experimental Studies of the Formation of Molecular Hydrogen and Carbon Dioxide on Dust Grain Analogues", solicited paper for Advances in Space Reviews, 33, 6 (2004).
"Measurement of the kinetic energy of hydrogen molecules desorbing from amorphous water ice" (J.E.Roser, S.Swords, G.Vidali, G.Manico', and V.Pirronello), Astrophysical Journal 596, L55 (2003).
V.Pirronello, G.Manico', J.E.Roser and G.Vidali: H_2 Formation on Dust Grains'', invited review in Astrophysics of Dust, ed. by A.Witt et al. (2003)p.529
"Chemical Reactions on Solid Surfaces of Astrophysical Interest" (O.Biham, V.Pirronello, and G.Vidali) , invited review paper, Proceeding of the Ettore Majorana Summer School on Solid State Astrochemistry (Kluwer Academic Publishers), p.211 (2003).
"The role of laboratory experiments in the characterization of silicon-based material" (L.Colangeli, G.Vidali, and others), invited review, Astron. & Astrophys. Reviews 11, 97 (2003).
"Formation of Molecular Hydrogen on Amorphous Water Ice: Influence of Morphology and UV Exposure" (J.E.Roser, G.Manico', V.Pirronello, and G.Vidali) Astrophysical Journal 581, 276 (2002).
"Laboratory Measurements of Molecular Hydrogen Formation on Amorphous Water Ice" (G.Manico', G.Raguni', V.Pirronello, J.E.Roser, and G.Vidali) Astrophysical Journal 548, L253 (2001).
"Master Equation for Hydrogen Recombination on Grain Surfaces" (O.Biham, I.Furman, V.Pirronello and G.Vidali) (2001) Astrophysical Journal 553, 595 (2001).
"Formation of Carbon Dioxide by Surface Reactions on Ices in the Interstellar Medium" (J.E.Roser, G.Vidali, G.Manico', V.Pirronello) Astrophysical Journal 555, L61 (2001)
"Molecular Hydrogen Formation on Astrophysically relevant Surfaces", (N.Katz, I.Furman, O.Biham, V.Pirronello, G.Vidali) Astrophysical Journal 522, 305 (1999).
"Measurements of Molecular Hydrogen Formation on Carbonaceous Grains" (V.Pirronello, C.Liu, J.E.Roser, G.Vidali) Astron. & Astrophys., 344, 681 (1999).

RECENT SELECTED PRESENTATIONS

"A Summary of Experimental Results on H₂ Formation on Dust Grain Analogues", an invited presentation at the International Astronomical Union Symposium #231 on Astrochemsitry (pdf format).
Formation of Molecules on Interstellar Dust: Experiments and Modeling A seminar I gave at the University of Rochester, Department of Physics and Astronomy in March 2005 (pdf format).
Formation of Molecules on Interstellar Dust: a View from the Laboratory A Colloquium I gave at Cornell University in October 2003 (pdf format).
A Colloquium I gave at Syracuse University in November 2002 (file download).
A tutorial introduction to astrochemistry. It is a talk I gave at the New York State Section of the American Physical Society Fall 2002 Symposium. More information about the Symposium and slides from other talks can be found here.
Lay-language paper about hydrogen recombination on interstellar dust grains. It was prepared for a press conference held on March 24, 1999 at the American Physical Society Centennial Meeting in Atlanta.

In this invited presentation (in PowerPoint format) at the American Chemical Society National Meeting in Boston, Mass. (August 2002) I describe our research on hydrogen recombination reactions on several interstellar dust grain analogues and on the oxidation of carbon monoxide ice by oxygen atoms.
For more papers and talks, go here!

Gianfranco Vidali

(315) 443-9115

(315) 443-9103

astro@mailaps.org