High Resolution Millimeter Wave Absorption Spectroscopy: from the laboratory data to the astronomical surveys

Conventional absorption spectroscopy is still the workhorse in high-resolution rotational laboratory spectroscopy.1 The data obtained from these kind of instruments are relevant for astronomical searches of complex molecules that represent excellent probes of the physical and chemical environments and history of the sources where they are detected.2 Nowadays, observations performed by the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) open up new opportunities to reveal the chemical complexity of solar systems analogues. At the same time the huge amount of data collected and the extremely rich surveys represent a challenge for the astrochemistry community. To reach this goal, the spectroscopic know-how is fundamental in recognizing typical pattern lines due to multiple internal interactions and motions that cause complicated energy level schemes, since the resulting spectra will be rather difficult to predict theoretically, mainly in the sub-mm wave region. For this reason a strong interplay between laboratory spectroscopists and observational astronomers is increasingly required to be able to unravel the experimental data. In this talk the features and the potential of the high resolution rotational spectroscopy technique will be pointed out, providing some results on different kind of molecules characterized by complex conformational landscapes. In particular, molecular spectra of potential astronomical interest will be presented, obtained using the free jet absorption millimeter wave and the free space cell absorption sub-mm wave spectrometers working at University of Bologna.3 References [1] S. Brünken, S. Schlemmer, arXiv:1605.07456, 2016 [2] E. Herbst, E. F. van Dishoeck, Annu. Rev. Astron. Astrophys. 47, 427, 2009 [3] C. Calabrese, A. Maris, L. Evangelisti, L. B. Favero, S. Melandri, W. Caminati, J. Phys. Chem. A. 117, 13712, 2013