Contribution of the Gdańsk Tech Physicist to Space Research
Research conducted even on a small scale can contribute to a better understanding of the cosmos. The doctoral dissertation of Dr. Eng. Natalia Tańska-Witczak, a graduate of the Doctoral School at Gdańsk Tech, dedicated to the interactions of electrons with molecules important for understanding chemical phenomena occurring in outer space, provides data that can be applied in modeling processes occurring in planetary atmospheres and interstellar space.
Research conducted even on a small scale can contribute to a better understanding of the cosmos. The doctoral dissertation of Dr. Eng. Natalia Tańska-Witczak, a graduate of the Doctoral School at Gdańsk Tech, dedicated to the interactions of electrons with molecules important for understanding chemical phenomena occurring in outer space, provides data that can be applied in modeling processes occurring in planetary atmospheres and interstellar space.
In the area extending between the stars forming galaxies, that is, in interstellar space, more than three hundred chemical compounds have been identified to date. Scientists from around the world are trying to study how they form and how they are able to survive despite extreme conditions such as very low temperatures, vacuum, or ionizing radiation.
The aim of the research conducted by Dr. Eng. Natalia Tańska-Witczak, currently an assistant professor at the Institute of Physics and Applied Computer Science at the Faculty of Mechanical, Civil and Environmental Engineering of Gdańsk Tech, was to analyze the efficiency of electron scattering in selected compounds of astrochemical and astrobiological significance.
– Free electrons are present in space originating from various sources. They cause molecule fragmentation, whereby smaller parts join other molecules forming complex compounds, including precursors of molecules important for prebiotic chemistry – explains the researcher.
Measurements of Oxygen-Containing Chemical Compounds
In her research, Dr. Eng. Tańska-Witczak focused on measurements for three derivatives of oxygen-containing hydrocarbons: methyl formate, acetic acid, and propionaldehyde.
– Using experimental and computational techniques, I determined and analyzed the cross sections for electron scattering at low energies for these molecules and characterized a series of resonance states that appear during collisions and can cause molecule fragmentation, which in turn can affect the efficiency of reactions occurring in outer space – she says.
The First Such Data in the Literature
The results of the absolute cross section measurements for scattering for the molecules studied by Dr. Eng. Tańska-Witczak are the first such results available in the literature for these molecules.
– They provide information with potential applications in modelling chemical and physical processes in planetary atmospheres and interstellar space, where low-energy electrons can play a key role in the chemical synthesis of molecules – says the author of the doctoral dissertation.
Some of the research results have already been published in international scientific journals (acetic acid, methyl formate).
The graduate of the Doctoral School at Gdańsk Tech plans to continue her research.
– I would like to focus even more on the actual fragmentation of molecules – she announces.
Her supervisor was Dr. Hab. Paweł Możejko, Prof. of Gdańsk Tech, Dean of the Faculty of Mechanical, Civil and Environmental Engineering (research data provided by Prof. Możejko were used, among others, in determining the glycine content in the coma of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko).
Spectrometer for a Mars Rover
Dr. Eng. Natalia Tańska-Witczak graduated with an engineering degree in Fundamentals of Technical Sciences and a master’s degree in Technical Physics at the Faculty of Mechanical, Civil and Environmental Engineering of Gdańsk Tech, as well as from the Doctoral School at Gdańsk Tech. During her engineering studies, together with M.Sc. Eng. Grzegorz Jarantowski, she worked on a project of an ED-XRF-type spectrometer intended for a Mars rover. Currently, at Gdańsk Tech, she conducts research on electron interactions with organic molecules.
– The first years of a PhD can be quite frustrating because you realize how much you still don’t know and how much you need to catch up on. It teaches humility. However, over time you come to accept that regardless of effort, our knowledge will always be in a certain sense incomplete and limited. The satisfaction is enormous, especially when working in a good, cohesive team – she emphasizes.