Large molecule production by mass-losing carbon stars - The primary source of interstellar polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons?

Details Large molecule production by mass-losing carbon stars - The primary source of interstellar polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons? Large molecule production by mass-losing carbon stars - The primary source of interstellar polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons?

Aug 1991

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1991apj...377..187l&link_type=abstract

Astrophysical Journal, Part 1 (ISSN 0004-637X), vol. 377, Aug. 10, 1991, p. 187-191. Research supported by NSERC.

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

32

Aromatic Compounds, Asymptotic Giant Branch Stars, Carbon Stars, Cyclic Hydrocarbons, Interstellar Matter, Stellar Mass Ejection, Stellar Winds, Emission Spectra, Infrared Spectra

Scientific paper

The question of whether the dominant source of interstellar polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) might be the mass-loss winds of asymptotic giant branch (AGB) carbon stars is addressed. It is argued that there is now sufficient evidence in observational data and theoretical modeling to show that AGB carbon stars are indeed a primary source of interstellar PAHs. The mixing of PAHs from mass-loss winds into the interstellar medium is discussed. A number of important questions and uncertainties remain. Most significant is the lifetime of an interstellar PAH. If PAHs have a long lifetime in the interstellar medium, then the known numbers of the most extreme mass-losing carbon stars are able to produce PAHs in sufficient quantities to maintain the inferred interstellar abundance. This can only be true, however, if the PAHs are not well mixed into the general interstellar medium.

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