Molecular Astrophysics Group at IFF (ASTROMOL)

Astronomical observations and computational modeling of the physics and chemistry of the interstellar and circumstellar media. Development of molecular line spectroscopic catalogues for the detection of new chemical species in Space. Development of non-LTE molecular excitation and radiative transfer codes. Numerical simulation of gas-phase and dust grain molecular processes of astrochemical interest (collisions, reactivity, photo-dissociation, photo-desorption, etc.) using quantum and semi-classical methods developed by the group. This is a multidisciplinary group providing strong connections between astrophysics, theoretical and experimental chemical physics, laboratory experiments in vacuum conditions, materials science, Nanotechnology and astronomical instrumentation for ground and space observatories. We lead an ERC-Synergy project ("NANOCOSMOS") and a few national funding grants. In the past we led a CONSOLIDER-INGENIO project "ASTROMOL" and many other national projects.