Phosphorus Chemistry in the Interstellar Medium and Planetary Atmospheres

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About this Research Topic

Submission deadlines

  1. Manuscript Submission Deadline 31 December 2024

  2. This Research Topic is still accepting articles.

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Background

It is well known that phosphorus is essential to life’s existence. For this reason, there has been a continued interest in the existence of phosphorus-bearing molecules in the interstellar medium (ISM), comets, planetary atmospheres, and other systems. Phosphorus is known to be present in Jupiter’s and Saturn’s atmosphere, while the presence of such an element in the deck clouds of Venus is still under debate. Indeed, Venus’s atmosphere sparked a discussion about life’s existence/non-existence outside the Earth due to the concentration of phosphorus compounds observed and the possible source of these compounds. Regardless of the outcome of the Venus debate, the search for phosphorus outside Earth is still a current hot topic due to its importance for life and the insufficient knowledge about its chemistry in extra-terrestrial environments. Further interest has been raised very recently by the detection of sodium phosphate ions in icy grains ejected from a cryovolcanic plume of Enceladus.

Indeed, despite the relative simplicity of phosphorus-containing compounds, their chemistry continues to be poorly understood by those interested in astrochemistry and astrobiology. Until now, few theoretical studies described the PO, PN, and PH3 reactions in ISM or atmospheric conditions. The quantitative determination of the relative abundance of phosphorus-containing molecules remains to be determined, and the sinks and sources of these species are still the subject of debate. Phosphorus chemistry involves mainly inorganic species but can also be associated with microorganism activity, thus affording a univocal observation and act as possible biosignature.

The current Research Topic is expected to improve our knowledge on phosphorus and P-bearing molecules chemistry in the ISM and planetary atmospheres. Potentially it will foster the proposal of a reaction network containing the sources and sinks of P-bearing molecules, necessary to model and simulate astrophysical environments. Moreover, we hope it will also provide spectroscopic measurements necessary to determine and quantify P-bearing molecules.

We welcome submissions based on, but not limited to, the following topics:

• Reaction mechanism involving P-bearing molecules
• Spectroscopy of phosphine compounds and their derivatives
• Modelling and simulation of astrophysical environments involving phosphorus chemistry
• Observation of P-bearing molecules
• P-bearing molecules as biosignatures.

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This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

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  • Editorial
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  • Hypothesis and Theory
  • Mini Review
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  • Perspective

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Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

  • Brief Research Report
  • Data Report
  • Editorial
  • General Commentary
  • Hypothesis and Theory
  • Mini Review
  • Opinion
  • Original Research
  • Perspective
  • Review
  • Study Protocol
  • Technology and Code

Keywords: Phosphine, Phosphorus-bearing Molecules, Biosignature, Planetary Atmospheres, Reaction Network, Bioavailability, Spectral Data

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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