2003/06/03 by Mate Adamkovics, Geoffrey A. Blake, Benjamin J. McCall · 2 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #Excitation #Excitation temperature #Line-of-sight #Mean kinetic temperature #Population #Rotational temperature #Spectral line #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #Thermal #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1086/377305
published as Astrophys.J. 595 (2003) 235-246 · 12 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal
arxiv created 2003/06/03 · openalex publication_date 2003/09/16 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
The rotationally resolved spectrum of the A 1 Π u ← X 1 Σ 000-000 transition of C 3 , centered at 4051.6 Å, has been observed along 10 translucent lines of sight. To interpret these spectra, a new method for the determination of column densities and analysis of excitation profiles involving the simulation and fitting of observed spectra has been developed. The populations of lower rotational levels ( J ≤ 14) in C 3 are best fitted by thermal distributions that are consistent with the kinetic temperatures determined from the excitation profile of C 2 . Just as in the case of C 2 , higher rotational levels ( J > 14) of C 3 show increased nonthermal population distributions in clouds that have been determined to have total gas densities below ~500 cm -3 .