Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
May 2007
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2007sptz.prop40674l&link_type=abstract
Spitzer Proposal ID #40674
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
Scientific paper
The 3.3, 6.2, 7.7, 8.6 and 11.3 micron emission features ubiquitously seen in a wide variety of Galactic and extragalactic objects, are generally attributed to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) molecules. Although the PAH hypothesis is quite successful in explaining the general pattern of the observed emission spectra, so far there is no actual precise identification of a single specific PAH molecule in interstellar space. Therefore, when modeling the observed PAH emission spectra, astronomers usually take an empirical approach by constructing 'astro-PAHs' which do not represent any specific material, but approximate the actual absorption properties of the PAH mixture in astrophysical regions. We propose a Spitzer Theory Program to study the photoexcitation of specific PAH molecules and their ions in interstellar space, taking a statistical-mechanical (instead of thermal) approach. For most of the specific PAH molecules selected for this research (with a small number of vibrational degrees of freedom), thermal approximation is not valid. Using available laboratory and quantum-chemical data (e.g. vibrational frequencies, UV/visible/IR absorption cross sections), we will calculate the emission spectra of 21 representative specific PAH molecules and their ions, ranging from naphthalene to circumcoronene, illuminated by interstellar radiation fields of a wide range of intensities. This program will create a web-based 'library' of the emission spectra of 21 specific PAH molecules and their ions as a function of starlight intensities. This 'library' will be made publicly available by October 2008 on the internet at http://www.missouri.edu/~lia/. By comparing observed PAH spectra with model spectra produced by co-adding the emission spectra of different PAH molecules available in this 'library' (with different weights for different species), one will be able to estimate the total PAH mass and relative abundances of each PAH species, using real PAH properties.
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