Carbon chain abundance in the diffuse interstellar medium

Details Carbon chain abundance in the diffuse interstellar medium Carbon chain abundance in the diffuse interstellar medium

Dec 1999

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1999a%26a...352..659a&link_type=abstract

Astronomy and Astrophysics, v.352, p.659-664 (1999)

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

20

Molecular Data, Molecular Processes, Ism: Abundances, Ism: General, Ism: Molecules, Infrared: Ism: Lines And Bands

Scientific paper

Thanks to the mid-IR sensitivities of the ISO and IRTS orbiting spectrometers it is now possible to search the diffuse interstellar medium for heretofore inaccessible molecular emission. In view of the recent strong case for the presence of C_7- (Kirkwood et al. 1998, Tulej et al. 1998), and the fact that carbon chains possess prominent infrared active modes in a very clean portion of the interstellar spectrum, we have analyzed the IRTS spectrum of the diffuse interstellar medium for the infrared signatures of these species. Theoretical and experimental infrared band frequencies and absolute intensities of many different carbon chain species are presented. These include cyanopolyynes, neutral and anionic linear carbon molecules, and neutral and ionized, even-numbered, hydrogenated carbon chains. We show that - as a family - these species have abundances in the diffuse ISM on the order of 10-10 with respect to hydrogen, values consistent with their abundances in dense molecular clouds. Assuming an average length of 10 C atoms per C-chain implies that roughly a millionth of the cosmically available carbon is in the form of carbon chains and that carbon chains can account for a few percent of the visible to near-IR diffuse interstellar band (DIB) total equivalent width (not DIB number).

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