Optical absorption line techniques have been applied to the study of a number of translucent
molecular clouds in which the total column densities are large enough that substantial
molecular abundances can be maintained. Results are presented for a survey of absorption
lines of interstellar C2, CH, and CN. Detections of CN through the A2II -X2E+ (1,0) and
(2,0) bands of the red system are reported, and are compared with observations of the
blue system for one line of sight. The population distributions in C2 provide diagnostic
information on temperature and density. The measured column densities of the three
species can be used to test details of the theory of molecule formation in clouds where
photo -processes still play a significant role. The C2 and CH column densities are strongly
correlated with each other and probably also with the H2 column density. In contrast, the
CN column densities are found to vary greatly from cloud to cloud. The observations are
discussed with reference to detailed theoretical models.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:arizona.edu/oai:arizona.openrepository.com:10150/623918 |
| Date | 12 1900 |
| Creators | van Dishoeck, E. F. |
| Contributors | Univ Arizona, Steward Observ, Black, J. H. |
| Publisher | Steward Observatory, The University of Arizona (Tucson, Arizona) |
| Source Sets | University of Arizona |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text, Article |
| Source | Steward Observatory Parker Library SO QB 4 .S752 ARCH |
| Rights | Copyright © All Rights Reserved. |
| Relation | Preprints of the Steward Observatory #847, http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?bibcode=1989ApJ...340..273V&db_key=AST&data_type=HTML&format=&high=3ed65e9cd019901 |
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