Could Nucleobases Form In The ISM? A Theoretical Study In The Horsehead Nebula

This work presents the results of a theoretical study that analyzed the possibility of nucleobases to form in the interstellar medium, in the Horsehead nebula, which is a region considered an archetype of molecular cloud.

Performing the Meudon PDR code, the reactions of the nitrogen bases formation from formamide, which is a precursor compound identified in several interstellar environment, where simulated. The model showed that at least cytosine and uracil presented significant abundances.

Finally, from thermochemical and quantum calculations, a investigation was carried out on the formation reactions considered for the nucleobases and no insurmountable energy barrier which would prevent the reactions was found.

Luciene da Silva Coelho, Edgar Mendoza, Amancio Cesar dos Santos Friaça

Comments: 9 pages, 5 figures
Subjects: Astrophysics of Galaxies (astro-ph.GA); Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP)
MSC classes: 85-02
Report number: Vol. 18, N 206, fev. 2023
Cite as: arXiv:2303.03963 [astro-ph.GA] (or arXiv:2303.03963v1 [astro-ph.GA] for this version)
Journal reference: Revista Sodebras, 2023
Related DOI:
https://doi.org/10.29367/issn.1809-3957.18.2023.206.67
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Submission history
From: Luciene Coelho
[v1] Tue, 7 Mar 2023 15:07:03 UTC (1,029 KB)
https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.03963
Astrobiology, Astrochemistry