Open AccessCorrelations between diffuse interstellar bands and atomic lines
Author(s) -
Galazutdinov G. A.,
Manicò Giulio,
Pirronello Valerio,
Krełowski Jacek
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
monthly notices of the royal astronomical society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.058
H-Index - 383
eISSN - 1365-2966
pISSN - 0035-8711
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2004.08314.x
Subject(s) - physics , astrophysics , observatory , ionization , interstellar medium , interstellar cloud , spectral line , homogeneous , astronomy , ion , galaxy , quantum mechanics , thermodynamics
We present and discuss correlations between strengths of the well‐known, strong interstellar atomic lines of K i and Ca ii , and four selected, strong unidentified diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs): 5780, 5797, 5850 and 6614. In order to analyse a homogeneous sample of echelle high‐resolution spectra it has been chosen to use measurements from Terskol Observatory in Northern Caucasus plus a selected number of higher resolution observations performed using other instruments. We demonstrate that the strength of certain DIBs correlate well with neutral potassium lines and to a much lower degree with ionized calcium lines. This fact suggests that the degree of irradiation of a cloud with UV photons, capable to ionize interstellar atoms, plays a crucial role in the formation/maintenance of certain molecular species: possible carriers of DIBs.