Invited Talk

New Views on Diffuse Interstellar Band Carriers

Nick Cox (Instituut voor Sterrenkunde, KU Leuven)

In this contribution I will review the current status of the identification of the elusive diffuse interstellar band (DIB) carriers. DIBs constitute a large set of hundreds of weak to strong, and narrow to broad optical absorption features originating from within the interstellar medium (ISM). Together these bands could account for as much as 10% of the complex organic molecular content of the diffuse ISM. Unveiling their physical nature is key to our understanding of interstellar chemistry and the formation of large molecules in space.

I will focus on recent results obtained in (1) surveys of DIBs in our Galaxy, the Local Group, and beyond, (2) the identification and study of new DIBs at near-infrared wavelengths, and (3) laboratory and theoretical studies of candidate carriers and comparisons of these with the latest astronomical observations.

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