Systems Astrochemistry: A New Doctrine for Experimental Studies
  Laboratory experiments play a key role in deciphering the chemistry of the
interstellar medium (ISM) and the role that product complex organic molecules
(COMs) may play in the origins of life. However, to date, most studies in
experimental astrochemistry have made use of reductionist approaches to
experimental design in which chemical responses to variations in a single
parameter are investigated while all other parameters are held constant.
Although such work does afford insight into the chemistry of the ISM, it is
likely that several important points, such as the relative importance of an
experimental parameter in determining the chemical outcome of a reaction and
the interaction between parameters, remain ambiguous. In light of this, we
propose adopting a new systems astrochemistry framework for experimental
studies which draws on current work performed in the field of prebiotic
chemistry, and present the basic tenants of such an approach in this article.
This systems approach would focus on the emergent properties of the chemical
system by performing the simultaneous variation of multiple experimental
parameters and would allow for the effect of each parameter, as well as their
interactions, to be quantified. We anticipate that the application of systems
science to laboratory astrochemistry, coupled with developments in hyphenated
analytical techniques and data analytics, will uncover significant new data
hitherto unknown, and will aid in better linking laboratory experiments to
observations and modelling work.
