Welcome to the Department of Chemistry!

The Chemistry Department at Marquette University combines research and teaching in a variety of chemical disciplines, organized into 10 research groups. The department offers B.S. degrees in Chemistry, in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (jointly with Biological Sciences), and in Chemistry for Education (secondary major). 

The department offers M.S. and Ph.D. degrees, where students conduct in-depth scientific research using our advanced research facilities, and emerge as independent researchers.

 


Mixed quantum/classical calculations

Carbon monoxide molecule CO is important as a precursor for oxygen-bearing complex organic molecules in the universe. The comets of the Oort Cloud (those that come from the furthest parts of the solar system, with colder temperature, and have a period of orbit on the order of 10 000 years) exhibit elevated abundances of CO. Moreover, a new class of objects, called the interstellar comets such as 2I/Borisov (see the picture) exhibit an anomalously large abundance of CO suggesting that they originated in the coldest environment. The eccentricity of their orbits indicates that they came from outside the solar system, bringing information about the diversity of proto-planetary discs in the galaxy. As comets approach the sun, their material sublimes and forms a cometary coma – a transient atmosphere that can be observed from Earth or from satellites and analyzed using the tools of spectroscopy. The focus of this paper is on CO + CO collisional energy transfer, important for the modeling of cometary coma where the populations of molecular states deviate from local thermodynamic equilibrium. 

To read the complete article, please click here.