Education

M.Sci., University College London, UK, 2001
Ph.D., University College London, UK, 2005
Postdoctoral Fellow, The Ohio State University, 2004-2006

Biography

Astrochemistry concerns the behavior of atoms and molecules in astrophysical environments, which can include star-forming clouds and cores, and circumstellar and interstellar regions, and the solar system. The varied gas-phase chemical compositions of interstellar environments are revealed by radio-telescope observations of molecular spectral-line emission and absorption in the cm, mm and sub-mm bands. Infrared observations also indicate significant solid-phase abundances of simple hydrides, in the form of ices, which coat the sub-micron sized dust grains that permeate interstellar space. The process of star formation – which involves the heating and UV radiative processing of gas and solid-phase material alike – further encourages the production of complex organic molecules that may contribute to the store of pre-biotic material ultimately available on the surfaces of new planetary bodies.

The Garrod group develops and applies new computational techniques to the study of chemical kinetics in interstellar, star-forming, solar-system environments. A particular focus of the group is the formation and processing of simple and complex organic molecules on dust-grain surfaces and within astrophysical molecular ices. Recent new modeling efforts also include the first chemical kinetics models of solid-phase chemistry in comets.

Recent Publications

Formation of Complex Organic Molecules in Cold Interstellar Environments through Nondiffusive Grain-surface and Ice-mantle Chemistry
Jin, Mihwa & Garrod, Robin T.
Astrophysical Journal Supplements, 2020, 249, 26

Astrochemistry During the Formation of Stars
Jorgensen, Jes K., Belloche, Arnaud  & Garrod, Robin T.
Annual Reviews in Astronomy & Astrophysics (in press), 2020

Exploring molecular complexity with ALMA (EMoCA): complex isocyanides in Sgr B2(N)
Willis, E. R., Garrod, R. T., Belloche, A. et al.
Astrophysical Journal, 2020, 636, 29

Constraining Cosmic-Ray Ionization Rates and Chemical Timescales in Massive Hot Cores
Barger, Christopher J. & Garrod, Robin T.
Astrophysical Journal, 2020, 888, 38

Simulations of Ice Chemistry in Cometary Nuclei
Garrod, Robin T.
Astrophysical Journal, 2019, 884, 69

Re-exploring Molecular Complexity with ALMA (ReMoCA): interstellar detection of urea
Belloche, A., Garrod, R. T., Müller, H. S. P. et al.
Astronomy & Astrophysics, 2019, 628, 10