Invited Talk

Carbon Nanoparticles and Carbonaceous Solids

Walt Duley (University of Waterloo)

I shall review the current status of our program on the laboratory simulation of interstellar carbonaceous material, specifically the production of carbon nanoparticles whose composition and spectral properties mimic those of large molecules and small particles in interstellar sources. Using spectroscopic properties as constraints, in particular the requirement that laboratory samples have a 217.5 nm feature matching the interstellar band, we can estimate the composition of the interstellar nanoparticle component that produces this feature. We use this information to trace the evolution of carbonaceous nano-material in circumstellar and interstellar sources. An extensive database on the infrared properties of these materials is now being developed from measured spectra. These data show how the composition of simulated interstellar carbon nano-particles is determined by the presence and relative concentration of polycyclic aromatic and aliphatic hydrocarbon components. I shall provide some examples of detailed spectral fits to IR emission spectra in the 6-20 mm region based on laboratory spectra of these materials, and suggest that it is now possible to generate laboratory samples that appear to be identical to those present in a variety of astronomical environments.

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