Physics
Scientific paper
Jul 2000
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2000hst..prop.8670c&link_type=abstract
HST Proposal ID #8670
Physics
Hst Proposal Id #8670 Ism And Circumstellar Matter
Scientific paper
We propose to use the STIS on HST to search for structure in the ultraviolet interstellar extinction curve, with particular emphasis on a search for absorption features produced by polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons {PAHs}. The existence of these molecules in the interstellar medium has been postulated to explain the infrared emission features seen in the 3-13 micron spectra of numerous sources. However, these features have stubbornly resisted satisfactory identification. We propose to obtain high S/N UV spectra of stars which are significantly more reddened than those observed in previous studies. These data, which can now be obtained through the high sensitivity of STIS and HST, will allow us to estimate the abundances of PAHs in the ISM, to make identifications of individual PAH molecules and to put strong limits on the role of PAHs in UV extinction. The observational program will be guided by our ongoing laboratory studies of neutral and ionized PAHs at the low temperatures characteristic of the interstellar environment. PAHs are of importance because of their ubiquity and high abundance inferred from the infrared data and also because they may link the molecular and dust phases of the interstellar medium. A search for ultraviolet absorptions due to PAHs could be a definitive test of this hypothesis and, if successful, can identify the particular PAH species present; this is not possible from infrared data alone.
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