MOLECULAR UNIVERSE

Expertise in Research and Complementarity
The Groningen team at the Kapteyn Astronomical Institute is lead by prof. dr. A.G.G.M. Tielens, who is also the coordinator of the network. The Groningen team is very experienced in developing numerical radiative transfer codes, solving simultaneously the statistical equilibrium equations and the line transfer problem. They have applied their methods to a variety of interstellar regions. They were the first to model the physics and chemistry of photodissociation regions. This team is also highly experienced in the physics and chemistry of large molecules in space. They were among the first to recognize the importance of such large species in space, to model their excitation and their spectroscopic signatures, and to determine their characteristics.
Expertise in Training and Knowledge Transfer
Graduate students at the Kapteyn are expected to attend and contribute to research seminars and colloquia organized by the institute. In addition, the University of Groningen, The Netherlands, provides seminars in a variety of fields of including physics and chemistry every week. Graduate students are also obliged to attend one summer school organized by the Netherlands Research School in Astronomy (NOVA) on astronomy. Postdocs and graduate students are encouraged to attend international meetings to represent the results of their studies. Postdocs and graduate students are also required to make a small contribution to the teaching at the undergraduate level. Members of the Groningen group are regularly invited to present their work at national and international science meetings.
Over the past 4 years, prof. Tielens has supervised the PhD research of 13 graduate students of which 11 (6F, 5M) have already graduated. He has also supervised several masters theses and 2 postdocs. In addition, prof. Tielens is involved in the PhD studies of several students in Toulouse and Bordeaux. The Kapteyn institute is part of the Netherlands Research School in Astronomy (NOVA) which was recognized by the EU as a Marie Curie training site.

Involvement of Key Scientific Staff.

Significant References
1. The rich 6 to 9 m spectrum of interstellar PAHs, Peeters, E., Hony, S., Van Kerckhoven, C., Tielens, A.G.G.M., Allamandola, L.J., Hudgins, D.M., Bauschlicher, C.W., 2002, A & A, 390, 1089
2. The Abundance and Emission of H₂O and O₂O in Clumpy Molecular Clouds, Spaans, M., van Dishoeck, E.F., 2001, ApJ, 548, 217