Title: Radioastronomy and the search for complex and prebiotic molecules in the Interstellar Medium Speaker: Cécile Favre, IFA Time: Thursday, May 12, 15.15 to 16.00 Place: Fysisk Auditorium Abstract: Over 150 different molecular species have been detected in the interstellar and circumstellar media, almost all by radioastronomy. Among these, 60 are complex molecules. The interstellar processes that form more or less complex molecules, either within the ices on grains surfaces or in the gas phase, are not those commonly encountered on Earth. The only way to constrain chemical models of molecules formation is through the observation and the analysis of the emission coming from molecular species. I will discuss molecular mm-wave observations that allow the deduction of physical properties of a region (temperature, abundance and dynamics) and how spectral confusion makes difficult the identification of low abundance molecules. Using high angular and spectral resolutions reached with radio interferometers as the Plateau de Bure Interferometer (PdBI) and the Expanded Very Large Array (EVLA), I will discuss some very new results on methyl formate toward Orion-KL, a highly active massive star forming region. Jacob Sherson and Aurélien Dantan Coffee, tea and cake will be served at 15.05 ----------------------------------- Aurelien Dantan Ion Trap Group Department of Physics and Astronomy University of Aarhus Ny Munkegade, bygn. 1520 8000 Aarhus Denmark +4589423602