SubLIME: Sublimation Laboratory Ice Millimeter/submillimeter Experiment

To test possible chemical mechanisms in interstellar ices, we have built a novel laboratory experiment that couples the traditional tools of ice studies – FTIR spectroscopy and mass spectrometry – with the structure specificity of rotational spectroscopy. Such measurements can provide the “ground truth” to guide observations of star- and planet-forming zones. This novel experimental approach has been benchmarked with pure ice studies of water and methanol, and initial photoprocessing results for a pure methanol ice have been obtained. A complex network of organic chemistry was observed and offers fascinating hints at the processes driving interstellar prebiotic chemistry. Our current studies investigate mixed ices of varying ratios of water and methanol to better simulate interstellar chemistry. In this talk I will present the experimental design and the results of our laboratory studies, and compare these results to observations. I will then discuss these results and our future work in the context of prebiotic astrochemistry.