Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Nov 2010
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010mwac.meet..p14s&link_type=abstract
"Midwest Astrochemistry Meeting 2010, held 5-6 November at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. http://midwest.astroc
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Scientific paper
The identity of the carrier molecules of the Diffuse Interstellar Bands (DIBs) is the most durable mystery of spectroscopic astronomy. The DIBs are persistent absorption features, >300 total, observed along many lines of sight through the Interstellar Medium (ISM). The DIBs are scattered throughout the visible and near infrared, with widths in the 2-100 cm-1 range. For nearly a century, laboratory spectroscopists have struggled to match astrophysical wavelengths to laboratory wavelengths of known molecules including a variety of stable molecules, radicals, cations, and anions. Many researchers have hypothesized that hydrocarbon molecules are responsible for the DIBs, due to the rich chemistry and high cosmic abundance of carbon and hydrogen. Though large Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) are now suspected to be the source of the DIBs, no definitive matches have yet been made to laboratory PAH spectra. Aromatic clusters are also thought to be an important constituent of the interstellar dust distribution and may contribute to the 2175 Å "bump" in the interstellar extinction curve. The Diffuse Interstellar Band Synchrotron Radiation Carrier Hunt (DIBSyRCH) experiment has been built at the Synchrotron Radiation Center (SRC) to test these hypotheses by conducting a spectroscopic survey of a broad range of cold, gas phase and clustered PAH molecules and ions.
Using a custom echelle spectrograph and the innovative Cryogenic Circulating Advective Multi-Pass (CCAMP) absorption cell, we routinely achieve a detection sensitivity to molecular densities on the order of 107 cm-3 with a signal-to-noise ratio of 10,000 in 60 seconds of data collection in the visible. This instrument, coupled with the high spectral radiance of the synchrotron radiation continuum from the SRC's White Light Beamline, permits rapid acquisition of spectra covering broad wavelength regions with resolution appropriate for the DIBs.
In order to obtain astrophysically relevant spectra of low-temperature PAHs, the molecules are entrained in a flow of cold neon buffer gas inside the CCAMP cell. A multi-pass optical cavity using special high-reflectivity broadband mirrors extends the absorption path length to hundreds of meters. The CCAMP cell combined with the broad spectral coverage and high spectral radiance of synchrotron radiation make this experiment uniquely suited to the DIB carrier search.
Several generations of resistively heated and plasma heated crucibles have been used in the CCAMP to introduce PAHs. All have produced PAH clusters large enough to scatter light the synchrotron beam and reduce signal to noise. A new gas injection system is under development. An intense radio frequency dielectric barrier discharge and higher flow rates should reduce cluster formation.
Lawler James E.
Stockett Mark H.
Wood Philip Matchett
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