CE AGE: Ice Mapping in the JWST Era

Maisie Rashman (Open University)

Molecular clouds are stellar nurseries, vast clouds of dense dust and gas in which stars and their associated planetary systems form. Instabilities within the cloud manifest in the creation of localised cores of higher density, the interiors of which are under conditions favourable to the ubiquitous formation of icy mantles on dust grain surfaces. The reactions and processes that lead to the formation of different ice species dominate at different epochs of star formation due to the evolution of local environments within the region. As star formation advances, the chemistries of these species are intrinsically interlinked; ice molecules become mixed, trapped, crystallise, react, and eventually desorb, recycling the ices and their complex molecular reaction products. These molecules dominate the materials incorporated into protoplanetary discs, establishing the enticing link between interstellar ice and the nascent chemistry of planets. Our understanding of the ice lifecycle is fundamentally constrained by a lack of knowledge of initial chemical conditions. Ice mapping provides us with the ability to analyse the abundance and composition of ice across star forming regions of varying evolutionary state in molecular clouds. In the era of JWST, we now benefit from access to an unrivalled sensitivity and multiplexing capabilities, meaning we have the ability to construct ice maps that probe the chemical environment across star-forming regions with a spatial and spectral resolution like never before.