Colloque PCMI 2020

The French National Program of « Physique et Chimie du Milieu Interstellaire » (PCMI) promotes research by astrophysicists, physicists, and chemists to make progress in the understanding of the circumstellar and interstellar medium in our Galaxy and in external galaxies. The next biennial conference of PCMI will take place in Le Havre on July 6th – 10th, 2020 (https://pcmi2020lehavre.sciencescon…).

This conference will be the occasion to discuss recent advances on the main PCMI science topics and discuss their evolution. We list here some of the relevant hot issues.

  • 3D maps of the interstellar-medium.
  • Routine measurement of the magnetic field, from galactic scales to star formation.
  • The emergence of artificial intelligence methods to compare data and numerical simulations.
  • Very high angular resolution highlighting of stellar and planetary formation details : internal structure and physical properties of cores, protoplanetary disks and jets.
  • Attempts to unify star formation studies from the Milky Way to the youngest galaxies, including feedback mechanisms.
  • Access to extreme interstellar environments through studies of external galaxies (low metallicity, high radiation).
  • Determination of physical conditions in distant environments using molecules and dusts detected at high redshift.
  • The importance of primordial chemistry for the formation of the first molecular structures of the universe.
  • Astrochemistry as a first step in exobiology.
  • The achievement of precision astrochemistry through the combination of theoretical models and advanced laboratory experiments.
  • The experimental confirmation that irradiation (X, UV, CR) of ice, dust and molecules is a powerful lever for the evolution of the interstellar medium.
  • Experimental simulation of the formation of nanograins in star envelopes.

In addition to the common sessions, there will be 4 discussion workshops on the following subjects :

  • PCMI and exo-biology.
  • The ionization fraction of the interstellar medium.
  • Understanding kinematic signatures from cloud collapse to planet formation : what are the current chemo-dynamical modeling challenges ?
  • High-redshift galaxies chemistry.

More information may be found on the following document :
(http://www.pcmi.cnrs.fr/IMG/pdf/pcm…)

We expect a large audience to discuss these questions and others.

PCMI is an « action sur projet » from CNRS-INSU (Sciences de l’Univers), also supported by the CNRS-INP (Institute of Physics), the CNRS-INC (Institute of Chemistry), CNES (Centre National d’Études Spatiales), and CEA (Commissariat à l’énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives).