Statistics – Applications
Scientific paper
May 2009
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009aas...21422101a&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #214, #221.01; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 41, p.727
Statistics
Applications
Scientific paper
The infrared signature of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) is common throughout the cosmos. Astronomical PAHs, excited by the ambient radiation field in different objects, relax by emitting infrared radiation at their characteristic vibrational frequencies. PAH emission spectra show variations that depend on position in extended objects and type of source, revealing PAH size, structure, and ionization state. Since these spectral variations reflect local conditions such as electron density, radiation field, chemical history, and so on, they are becoming new probes of astronomical environments.
After briefly demonstrating how dedicated laboratory experiments were essential to the development and acceptance of the PAH model, some recent applications of the NASA Ames experimental and theoretical PAH IR spectral Database to interpret astronomical observations will be presented. This database now includes PAHs with more than 100 carbon atoms, species comparable in size to those expected of the interstellar species, in a variety of charge states structures and composition etc. Lastly, since PAHs are so widespread throughout the cosmos, this talk will conclude with a short summary of PAH transitions that fall in other wavelength regions, transitions that impact astronomical observations from the UV through the radio. However, precious little is known about these PAH transitions with sufficient precision to interpret astronomical observations. The situation is even worse with our understanding of the chemical and physical properties of large and very large PAHs, the species thought to dominate the interstellar emitting population. To fully exploit the PAH model as a probe of objects spanning the universe requires a broad and coordinated experimental and theoretical campaign.
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