The spectrum of any star viewed through a sufficient quantity of diffuse interstellar material reveals a number of absorption features collectively called diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs). The first DIBs were reported 90 years ago, and currently well over 500 are known. None of them has been convincingly identified with any specific element or molecule, although recent studies suggest that the DIB carriers are polyatomic molecules containing carbon. Most of the DIBs currently known are at visible and very near-infrared wavelengths, with only two previously known at wavelengths beyond one micron (10,000 Angstroms), the longer of which is at 1.318 microns. Here we report the discovery of thirteen diffuse interstellar bands in the 1.5-1.8 micron interval on high extinction sightlines toward stars in the Galactic centre. We argue that they originate almost entirely in the Galactic Centre region, a considerably warmer and harsher environment than where DIBs have been observed previously. The relative strengths of these DIBs toward the Galactic Centre and the Cygnus OB2 diffuse cloud are consistent with their strengths scaling mainly with extinction by diffuse material.
In a quest to further our understanding of the diffuse interstellar medium (ISM) as well as the unidentified carriers of the diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs), we are mapping DIBs across the sky using hundreds of hot stars as background torches - globular clusters (in particular omega Centauri), nearby stars in and around the Local Bubble, and stars within the Magellanic Clouds. I describe the results so far obtained and our current experiments.
In this paper, we present new data with interstellar C2 (Phillips bands A-X), from observations made with the Ultraviolet-Visual Echelle Spectrograph of the European Southern Observatory. We have determined the interstellar column densities and excitation temperatures of C2 for nine Galactic lines. For seven of these, C2 has never been observed before, so in this case the still small sample of interstellar clouds (26 lines of sight), where a detailed analysis of C2 excitation has been made, has increased significantly. This paper is a continuation of previous works where interstellar molecules…
An analysis of absorption profiles of the $λ$6614 diffuse interstellar band recorded along the lines-of-sight towards HD 179406 (20 Aql) and HD 147889 is described. The difference in band shape is attributed to the degree of internal excitation of the carrier, which is principally due to vibrational hot bands although an electronic component may also be present. The results are discussed with respect to other models of diffuse band spectral line shape.
This paper considers a very special set of a few interstellar features --- broad diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs) at 4430, 4882, 5450, 5779 and 6175 ÅÅ. The set is small, and measurements of equivalent widths of these DIBs are challenging because of severe stellar, interstellar, and sometimes, also telluric contaminations inside their broad profiles. Nevertheless, we demonstrate that they do correlate pretty tightly (DIBs 4882 and 5450 to a lesser extent though) with other narrower diffuse bands, as well as with the color excess E(B$-$V). The studied broad DIBs correlate well with both inters…
Emission of fullerenes in their infrared vibrational bands has been detected in space near hot stars. The proposed attribution of the diffuse interstellar bands at 9577 and 9632 Å to electronic transitions of the buckminsterfullerene cation (i.e. C$_{60}^+$ ) was recently supported by new laboratory data, confirming the presence of this species in the diffuse interstellar medium (ISM). In this letter, we present the detection, also in the diffuse ISM, of the 17.4 and 18.9 $μ$m emission bands commonly attributed to vibrational bands of neutral C$_{60}$. According to classical models that comput…
Diffuse interstellar bands are usually observed in spectra of hot stars, where interstellar lines are rarely blended with stellar ones. The need for hot stars is a strong limitation in the number of sightlines we can observe and the distribution of sightlines in the Galaxy, as hot stars are rare and concentrated in the Galactic plane. We are introducing a new method, where interstellar lines can be observed in spectra of cool stars in large spectroscopic surveys. The method is completely automated and does not require prior knowledge of the stellar parameters. If known, the stellar parameters …
A previous article argued that the antagonism between sight-lines with and without a bump at 2200 Å disappears, and that the observed properties of interstellar extinction can be globally understood, if it is accepted that scattered starlight contaminates the observed spectrum of reddened stars. The present paper develops this new paradigm by providing a better understanding of the characteristics of this scattered light. It further examines the consequences of this revision of interstellar extinction theory for interpreting the 2200 Å bump and the diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs). Two implic…
We present the first mid-IR detection of the linear polarization toward the star CygOB2-12, a luminous blue hypergiant that, with Av of ~10 mag of foreground extinction, is a benchmark in the study of the properties of dust in the diffuse interstellar medium. The 8-13 micrometer spectropolarimetry, obtained with the CanariCam multi-mode camera at the Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC), shows clear trends with wavelength characteristic of silicate grains aligned in the interstellar magnetic field. The maximum polarization, detected with 7.8 statistical significance near 10.2 micrometers, is (1.24 +…
We present observations which probe the small-scale structure of the interstellar medium using diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs). Towards HD 168075/6 in the Eagle Nebula, significant differences in DIB absorption are found between the two lines of sight, which are separated by 0.25 pc, and λ5797 exhibits a velocity shift. Similar data are presented for four stars in the μ Sgr system. We also present a search for variations in DIB absorption towards κ Vel, where the atomic lines are known to vary on scales of ~10 AU. Observations separated by ~9 yr yielded no evidence for changes in DIB absorpt…
The interpretation of the more than 300 diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs) is one of the most long-standing problems in interstellar spectra since the two first bands were reported in 1921. We now predict the frequencies of 260 diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs) using the Rydberg Matter model we have developed previously. These transitions involve mainly He atoms, but other two-electron atoms like Ca and other metals can take part in the absorption processes. Approximately 70% of the total intensity of the DIBs is due to absorption in doubly excited states and 30% in singly excited He atoms. The…
Observations show that magnetic fields in the interstellar medium (ISM) often do not respond to increases in gas density as would be naively expected for a frozen-in field. This may suggest that the magnetic field in the diffuse gas becomes detached from dense clouds as they form. We have investigated this possibility using theoretical estimates, a simple magneto-hydrodynamic model of a flow without mass conservation and numerical simulations of a thermally unstable flow. Our results show that significant magnetic flux can be shed from dense clouds as they form in the diffuse ISM, leaving behi…
This paper presents a finding of the correlation between the width of a strong diffuse interstellar band at 6196A and the excitation temperature of C2 based on high resolution and high signal-to-noise ratio spectra. The excitation temperature was determined from absorption lines of the Phillips A-X and Mulliken D-X systems. The width and shape of the narrow 6196A DIB profile apparently depend on the C2 temperature, being broader for higher values.
Molecular clouds, the birthplaces of stars in galaxies, form dynamically from the diffuse atomic gas of the interstellar medium (ISM). The ISM is also threaded by magnetic fields which have a large impact on its dynamics. In particular, star forming regions must be magnetically supercrit- ical in order to accomodate gas clumps which can collapse under their own weight. Based on a parameter study of three dimensional magneto-hydrodyamical (MHD) simulations, we show that the long-standing problem of how such supercritical regions are generated is still an open issue.
We present a new high signal-to-noise (S/N) observations of the Diffuse Interstellar Bands (DIBs) in the Local Bubble and its surroundings. We observed 432 sightlines and obtain the equivalent widths of $λ$5780 and $λ$5797 Å DIBs up to distance of $\sim$ 200 pc. All observations have been carried out by using Intermediate Dispersion Spectrograph (IDS) on 2.5 m Isaac Newton Telescope, during three years, to reach a minimum S/N ratio of $\sim$ 2000. All $λ$5780 and $λ$5797 absorptions are presented in this paper and the observed values of interstellar parameter; $λ$5780, $λ$5797, Na I D lines in…
The analysis of radial velocities of interstellar spectral features: CH, CH$^{+}$ as well as 4964 and 6196 diffuse interstellar bands, seen in spectra of HD 151932 and 152233, suggests that carrier of the former is spatially correlated with CH while that of the latter -- with CH$^{+}$. A further analysis, done in this paper and based on the sample of 106 reddened OB stars, partly confirms this suggestion, showing that the CH column density correlates indeed much better with the equivalent width of the 4964 DIB than with that of the 6196 DIB. However, the strengths of the 6196 DIB correlate onl…
Hydrocarbons are ubiquitous in the interstellar medium, observed in diverse environments ranging from diffuse to molecular dark clouds and strong photon-dominated regions near HII regions. Recently, two broad diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs) at 4881Å and 5450Å were attributed to the linear version of propynylidene l-C3H2, a species whose more stable cyclic conformer c-C3H2 has been widely observed in the diffuse interstellar medium at radio wavelengths. This attribution has already been criticized on the basis of indirect plausibility arguments because the required column densities are quite …
The wavelength displacement of the Diffuse Interstellar Bands at 4502, 5705, 5780, 6284, and 7224 Å with respect to the well known, narrow atomic/molecular interstellar lines (of Ca{\sc ii} and Na{\sc i}) have been measured in the spectra of the 2 Orion Trapezium stars HD 37022 and HD 37020, using the HARPS\textendash N spectrograph, fed with the 3.5 m Telescopio Nazionale Galileo, and the BOES spectrograph, fed with the 1.8m Korean telescope. The red shift is $\sim$25 km/s for all these DIBs. We discuss the various possible origins of this very peculiar wavelength shift in the light of the pa…
Recently, the presence of fullerenes in the interstellar medium (ISM) has been confirmed especially with the first confirmed identification of two strong diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs) with C60+. This justifies reassesing the importance of interstellar fullerenes of various sizes with endohedral or exohedral inclusions and heterofullerenes (EEHFs). The phenomenology of fullerenes is complex. In addition to fullerene formation in shock shattering, fully dehydrogenated PAHs in diffuse interstellar (IS) clouds could perhaps efficiently transform into fullerenes including EEHFs. But it is extre…
The carriers of the diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs) still remain an unknown commodity. Both dust and molecules have been suggested as carriers but none proposed have yet been able to explain the nature and the diversity of the DIBs. Hence, it is perhaps time to review the problem in terms of the intermediate-sized nano-particles. It is here proposed that the DIB carriers are the nm-sized and sub- nm-sized products of the UV photo-fragmentation of hydrogenated amorphous carbon grains, a-C(:H), and their heteroatom-doped variants, a-C:H:X (where X may be O, N, Mg, Si, Fe, S, Ni, P, ...). An in…
Context. Insight into the conditions that drive the physics and chemistry in interstellar clouds is gained from determining the abundance and charge state of their components. Aims. We propose an evaluation of the C60:C60+ ratio in diffuse and translucent interstellar clouds that exploits electronic absorption bands so as not to rely on ambiguous IR emission measurements. Methods. The ratio is determined by analyzing archival spectra and literature data. Information on the cation population is obtained from published characteristics of the main diffuse interstellar bands attributed to C60+ and…
We study, for the first time, the relations of two strong diffuse bands (DIBs) at 9633 and 9577~Å, commonly attributed to C$_{60}^+$, to other interstellar features seen in optical and UV spectra including H{\sc i}, Ca{\sc i}, Fe{\sc ii}, Na{\sc i}, Ti{\sc ii}, CN, CH, CH$^+$, and C$_2$ and DIBs 5780, 5797, 6196, 6269, 6284, and 6614. We analyzed 62 lines of sight where the stellar contamination by Mg{\sc ii} was corrected or found negligible for DIB 9633. Equivalent widths of DIB 9577 were measured in 62 lines of sight. Poor mutual correlation between the strengths of the above features and t…
Inverse Raman scattering and the diffuse interstellar bands: an exploration of the systemic interconnections between spontaneous and inverse Raman scattering and extended red emission, Red Rectangle bands, and diffuse interstellar bands
Context. Hydrogenated amorphous carbons, a-C:H, can incorporate a variety of heteroatoms, which can lead to interesting effects. Aims. To investigate the doping of interstellar a-C:H grains with, principally, Si, O, N and S atoms within the astrophysical context. Methods. A search of the literature on doped a-C:H reveals a number of interesting phenomena of relevance to astrophysics. Results. X dopants in a-C:H:X materials can affect the sp3/sp2 ratio (X = Si, O and N), lead to blue photoluminescence (undoped or X = N), induce ferromagnetic-like behaviour (X = N and S) or simply be incorporate…
We present a general parameter study, in which the abundance of interstellar argonium (ArH$^+$) is predicted using a model for the physics and chemistry of diffuse interstellar gas clouds. Results have been obtained as a function of UV radiation field, cosmic-ray ionization rate, and cloud extinction. No single set of cloud parameters provides an acceptable fit to the typical ArH$^+$, OH$^+$ and $\rm H_2O^+$ abundances observed in diffuse clouds within the Galactic disk. Instead, the observed abundances suggest that ArH$^+$ resides primarily in a separate population of small clouds of total vi…
Using three dimensional Monte Carlo radiation transfer models of photoionisation and dust scattering, we explore different components of the widespread diffuse H$α$ emission observed in the interstellar medium of the Milky Way and other galaxies. We investigate the relative contributions of H$α$ from recombination emission in ionised gas and H$α$ that originates in H{\sc ii} regions near the Galactic midplane and scatters off high altitude dust in the diffuse interstellar medium. For the radiation transfer simulations we consider two geometries for the interstellar medium: a three dimensional …
We use a simple one-zone model of the thermal and chemical evolution of interstellar gas to study whether molecular hydrogen (H2) is ever an important coolant of the warm, diffuse interstellar medium (ISM). We demonstrate that at solar metallicity, H2 cooling is unimportant and the thermal evolution of the ISM is dominated by metal line cooling. At metallicities below 0.1 Z_solar, however, metal line cooling of low density gas quickly becomes unimportant and H2 can become the dominant coolant, even though its abundance in the gas remains small. We investigate the conditions required in order f…
The paper describes profile broadening and peak wavelength variation of diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs) measured for 46 lines of sight, probably caused by physical properties of intervening clouds. Full width at half maximum of four studied diffuse bands (5780, 5797, 6196 and 6614 Å) demonstrate strong variability sometimes doubling the features' width. Despite the high magnitude of the effect, our current analysis is restricted to the strongest diffuse bands because the weaker ones require a much higher S/N ratio. The profile broadening in the studied DIBs moves the profile's centers toward…
With the help of 3D AMR hydrodynamical simulations we aim at understanding G2's nature, recent evolution and fate in the coming years. By exploring the possible parameter space of the diffuse cloud scenario, we find that a starting point within the disc of young stars is favoured by the observations, which may hint at G2 being the result of stellar wind interactions.
We study the effects of local environmental conditions affecting the diffuse interstellar band (DIB) carriers within the Upper Scorpius subgroup of the Sco OB2 association. We obtained optical spectra with FEROS, and measured the equivalent widths of five DIBs (at 5780, 5797, 6196, 6379, and 6613 Angstrom) as well as those of absorption lines of di-atomic molecules (CH, CH+, CN) and atoms (KI, CaI) towards 89 targets in the direction of Upper Scorpius. We construct a simple radiative transfer and chemical network model of the diffuse interstellar medium (ISM) sheet in front of Upp Sco to infer…
We have obtained high resolution optical spectroscopy of 10 reddened O-type stars with UVES at VLT to search for interstellar bands of the naphthalene cation (C$_{10}$H$_{8}$$^+$) in the intervening clouds. No absorption features were detected near the laboratory strongest band of this cation at 6707 Åexcept for star HD 125241 (O9 I). Additional bands in the optical spectrum of this star appear to be consistent with other transitions of this cation. Under the assumption that the bands are caused by naphthalene cations we derive a column density N$_{Np^+}$ = (1.2$\pm$ 0.3) x 10 $^{13}$ cm$^{-2}…
We present an investigation of small-scale-structure in the distribution of large molecules/dust in the interstellar medium through observations of diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs). High signal-to-noise optical spectra were recorded towards the stars rho Oph A, B, C and DE using the University College London Echelle Spectrograph (UCLES) on the Anglo-Australian Telescope. The strengths of some of the DIBs are found to differ by about 5-9 % between the close binary stars rho Oph A and B, which are separated by a projected distance on the sky of only ~344 AU. This is the first star-system in whi…
Stellar spectroscopic surveys may bring useful statistical information on the links between Diffuse Interstellar Bands (DIBs) and interstellar environment. DIB databases can also be used as a complementary tool for locating interstellar (IS) clouds. Our goal is to develop fully automated methods of DIB measurements to be applied to extensive data from stellar surveys. We present a method appropriate for early-type nearby stars, its application to high-resolution spectra of 130 targets recorded with ESO FEROS spectrograph, and comparisons with other determinations. Using a DIB average profile d…
In the second paper of the series, we have modeled low frequency carbon radio recombination lines (CRRL) from the interstellar medium. Anticipating the LOw Frequency ARray (LOFAR) survey of Galactic CRRLs, we focus our study on the physical conditions of the diffuse cold neutral medium (CNM). We have used the improved departure coefficients computed in the first paper of the series to calculate line-to-continuum ratios. The results show that the line width and integrated optical depths of CRRL are sensitive probes of the electron density, gas temperature, and the emission measure of the cloud.…
The content of interstellar clouds, in particular the inventory of diffuse molecular gas, remains uncertain. We identified a sample of isolated clouds, approximately 100 solar masses in size, and used the dust content to estimate the total amount of gas. In Paper 1, the total inferred gas content was found significantly larger than that seen in 21-cm emission measurements of atomic hydrogen. In this paper we test the hypothesis that the apparent excess 'dark' gas is cold atomic hydrogen, which would be evident in absorption but not in emission due to line saturation. The results show there is …
The chemistry of the diffuse interstellar medium is driven by the combined influences of cosmic rays, ultraviolet (UV) radiation, and turbulence. Previously detected at the outer edges of photodissociation regions (PDRs) and formed from the reaction of C+ and OH, CO+ is the main chemical precursor of HCO+ and CO in a thermal, cosmic-ray, and UV-driven chemistry. Our aim was to test whether the thermal cosmic-ray and UV-driven chemistry is producing CO in diffuse interstellar molecular gas through the intermediate formation of CO+ We searched for CO+ absorption with the Atacama Large Millimeter…
With modern large scale spectroscopic surveys, such as the SDSS and LSS-GAC, Galactic astronomy has entered the era of millions of stellar spectra. Taking advantage of the huge spectroscopic database, we propose to use a "standard pair" technique to a) Estimate multi-band extinction towards sightlines of millions of stars; b) Detect and measure the diffuse interstellar bands in hundreds of thousands SDSS and LAMOST low-resolution spectra; c) Search for extremely faint emission line nebulae in the Galaxy; and d) Perform photometric calibration for wide field imaging surveys. In this contributio…
With the use of the data from archives, we studied the correlations between the equivalent widths of four diffuse interstellar bands (4430$Å$, 5780$Å$, 5797$Å$, 6284$Å$) and properties of the target stars (colour excess values, distances and Galactic coordinates). Many different plots of the diffuse interstellar bands and their maps were produced and further analysed. There appears to be a structure in the plot of equivalent widths of 5780$Å$ DIB (and 6284$Å$ DIB) against the Galactic $x$-coordinate. The structure is well defined below $\sim150$ m$Å$ and within $|x|<250$ pc, peaking around $x=…
Magnetism is one of the most important forces on the interstellar medium (ISM), anisotropically regulating the structure and star formation that drive galactic evolution. Recent high dynamic range observations of diffuse gas and molecular clouds have revealed new links between interstellar structures and the ambient magnetic field. ISM morphology encodes rich physical information, but deciphering it requires high-resolution measurements of the magnetic field: linear polarization of starlight and dust emission, and Zeeman splitting. These measure different components of the magnetic field, and …
Whether ice in cold cosmic environments is physically separated from the silicate dust or mixed with individual silicate moieties is not known. However, different grain models give very different compositions and temperatures of grains. The aim of the present study is a comparison of the mid-IR spectra of laboratory silicate-grains/water-ice mixtures with astronomical observations to evaluate the presence of dust/ice mixtures in interstellar and circumstellar environments. The laboratory data can explain the observations assuming reasonable mass-averaged temperatures for the protostellar envel…
The advent of more precise measurements of distance estimates for some objects (bayesian estimates for filaments, trigonometric estimates for masers) permits a better comparison of their relative locations, and a comparison with a most recent spiral arm model fitted to the diffuse CO 1-0 gas. Our results support the idea that some bone-like filaments, greater than 10 pc (labeled elsewhere as bones, mst, herschel) and smaller than 100 pc, are observed near the potential minimum of the Scutum spiral arm (bone-like filaments are offset outward from masers by about 200 pc).
The origin of the diffuse interstellar bands is one of the longest-standing mysteries of the interstellar medium is explored within the framework of The Heterogeneous dust Evolution Model at the IaS (THEMIS). The likely nature of the diffuse interstellar band carriers and their evolution is here explored within the framework of the structures and sub-structures inherent to doped hydrogenated amorphous carbon grains in the interstellar medium. Based on the natural aromatic-rich moieties (ashphaltenes) recovered from coal and oil the likely structure of their interstellar analogues is investigat…
We present a comprehensive survey of boron abundances in diffuse interstellar clouds from observations made with the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) of the Hubble Space Telescope. Our sample of 56 Galactic sight lines is the result of a complete search of archival STIS data for the B II 1362 resonance line, with each detection confirmed by the presence of absorption from O I 1355, Cu II 1358, and Ga II 1414 (when available) at the same velocity. Five previous measurements of interstellar B II from Goddard High Resolution Spectrograph observations are incorporated in our analysis, y…
Diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs) are weak absorption features of interstellar origin present in the optical and infrared spectra of stars. Their use as a tool to trace the structure of the Galactic ISM is gaining relevance in the recent years. Here we present an experiment to test our ability to trace differential reddening on the plane of the sky by using the information relative to the DIB at $λ$6614 extracted from the spectra of cool stars. For that we made use of archive FLAMES data of the globular cluster M4, as well as WISE and Planck images for reference. We found a global positive tre…
We report cosmic ray ionization rates towards ten reddened stars studied within the framework of the EDIBLES (ESO Diffuse Interstellar Bands Large Exploration Survey) program, using the VLT-UVES. For each sightline, between 2 and 10 individual rotational lines of OH$^+$ have been detected in its (0,0) and (1,0) $A^3Π-X^3Σ^-$ electronic band system. This allows constraining of OH$^+$ column densities towards different objects. Results are also presented for 28 additional sightlines for which only one or rather weak signals are found. An analysis of these data makes it possible to derive the pri…
Grain growth by accretion of gas-phase metals is a common assumption in models of dust evolution, but in dense gas, where the timescale is short enough for accretion to be effective, material is accreted in the form of ice mantles rather than adding to the refractory grain mass. It has been suggested that negatively-charged small grains in the diffuse interstellar medium (ISM) can accrete efficiently due to the Coulomb attraction of positively-charged ions, avoiding this issue. We show that this inevitably results in the growth of the small-grain radii until they become positively charged, at …
A bright UV GALEX image in the direction of a dense high galactic latitude interstellar dust cloud is examined to test (and to reject) the idea that a bright extragalactic UV background radiation field exists. A GALEX "Deep Imaging Survey" image of a second high latitude region (a region almost totally free of dust) shows a similar bright background, which, clearly, cannot be due to starlight scattered from interstellar dust. I speculate that the background is due to dark matter particles interacting with interstellar gas/dust nucleons.
Understanding the effects of dust extinction is important to properly interpret observations. The optical total-to-selective extinction ratio, Rv = Av/E(B-V), is widely used to describe extinction variations in ultraviolet and optical bands. Since the Rv=3.1 extinction curve adequately represents the average extinction law of diffuse regions in the Milky Way, it is commonly used to correct observational measurements along sightlines toward diffuse regions in the interstellar medium. However, the Rv value may vary even along different diffuse interstellar medium sightlines. In this paper, we in…
The carriers of the still (mostly) unidentified diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs) have been a long-standing mystery ever since their first discovery exactly 100 years ago. In recent years, the ubiquitous detection of a large number of DIBs in a wide range of Galactic and extragalactic environments has led to renewed interest in connecting the occurrence and properties of DIBs to the physical and chemical conditions of the interstellar clouds, with particular attention paid to whether the DIB strength is related to the shape of the interstellar extinction curve. To shed light on the nature and …
We confirm, using spectra from seven observatories, that the diffuse bands 6196 and 6614 are very tightly correlated. However, their strength ratio is not constant as well as profile shapes. Apparently the two interstellar features do not react in unison to the varying physical conditions of different interstellar clouds.
Using over a million and a half extragalactic spectra we study the properties of the mysterious Diffuse Interstellar Bands (DIBs) in the Milky Way. These data provide us with an unprecedented sampling of the skies at high Galactic-latitude and low dust-column-density. We present our method, study the correlation of the equivalent width of 8 DIBs with dust extinction and with a few atomic species, and the distribution of four DIBs - 5780.6A, 5797.1A, 6204.3A, and 6613.6A - over nearly 15000 squared degrees. As previously found, DIBs strengths correlate with extinction and therefore inevitably w…
The diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs) are ubiquitous absorption spectral features arising from the tenuous material in the space between stars -- the interstellar medium (ISM). Since their first detection nearly nine decades ago, over 400 DIBs have been observed in the visible and near-infrared wavelength range in both the Milky Way and external galaxies, both nearby and distant. However, the identity of the species responsible for these bands remains as one of the most enigmatic mysteries in astrophysics. An equally mysterious interstellar spectral signature is the 2175 Angstrom extinction bu…
Observations of H3+ in the Galactic diffuse interstellar medium (ISM) have led to various surprising results, including the conclusion that the cosmic-ray ionization rate (zeta_2) is about 1 order of magnitude larger than previously thought. The present survey expands the sample of diffuse cloud sight lines with H3+ observations to 50, with detections in 21 of those. Ionization rates inferred from these observations are in the range (1.7+-1.3)x10^-16 s^-1<zeta_2<(10.6+-8.2)x10^-16 s^-1 with a mean value of zeta_2=(3.5^+5.3_-3.0)x10^-16 s^-1. Upper limits (3 sigma) derived from non-detections o…
We have revisited the chemistry of chlorine-bearing species in the diffuse interstellar medium with new observations of the HCl$^+$ molecular ion and new astrochemical models. Using the GREAT instrument on board SOFIA, we observed the $^2Π_{3/2}\, J = 5/2 - 3/2$ transition of HCl$^+$ near 1444 GHz toward the bright THz continuum source W49N. We detected absorption by diffuse foreground gas unassociated with the background source, and were able to thereby measure the distribution of HCl$^+$ along the sight-line. We interpreted the observational data using an updated version of an astrochemical …
We present a power spectrum analysis of the Herschel-SPIRE observations of the Polaris flare, a high Galactic latitude cirrus cloud midway between the diffuse and molecular phases. The SPIRE images of the Polaris flare reveal for the first time the structure of the diffuse interstellar medium down to 0.01 parsec over a 10 square degrees region. These exceptional observations highlight the highly filamentary and clumpy structure of the interstellar medium even in diffuse regions of the map. The power spectrum analysis shows that the structure of the interstellar medium is well described by a si…
We study the behavior of eight diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs) in different interstellar environments, as characterized by the fraction of hydrogen in molecular form [$f$(H$_2$)], with comparisons to the corresponding behavior of various known atomic and molecular species. The equivalent widths of the five "normal" DIBs ($λλ$5780.5, 5797.1, 6196.0, 6283.8, and 6613.6), normalized to $E(B-V)$, show a "Lambda-shaped" behavior: they increase at low $f$(H$_2$), peak at $f$(H$_2$) ~ 0.3, and then decrease. The similarly normalized column densities of Ca, Ca$^+$, Ti$^+$, and CH$^+$ also decline fo…
