The SKA as a prebiotic molecule detector

• Main Authors: Jimenez-Serra, Izaskun, Martin-Pintado, Jesus, Insausti, Aran, Alonso, Elena R, Cocinero, Emilio J, Bourke, Tyler L
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 01-03-2022
• Subjects: Physics - Astrophysics of Galaxies; Physics - Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
• DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2203.00534

One of the theories for the origin of life proposes that a significant
fraction of prebiotic material could have arrived to Earth from outer space
between 4.1 and 3.8 billion years ago. This suggests that those prebiotic
compounds could have originated in interstellar space, to be later on
incorporated to small Solar-system bodies and planetesimals. The recent
discovery of prebiotic molecules such as hydroxylamine and ethanolamine in the
interstellar medium, strongly supports this hypothesis. However, some species
such as sugars, key for the synthesis of ribonucleotides and for metabolic
processes, remain to be discovered in space. The unmatched sensitivity of the
Square Kilometer Array (SKA) at centimeter wavelengths will be able to detect
even more complex and heavier prebiotic molecules than existing
instrumentation. In this contribution, we illustrate the potential of the SKA
to detect simple sugars with three and four carbon atoms, using a moderate
investment of observing time.