Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Hou, Gao-Lei
• Lushchikova, Olga V.
• Bakker, Joost M.
• Lievens, Peter
• Decin, Leen
• Janssens, Ewald

Titel

Buckyball-metal Complexes as Potential Carriers of Astronomical Unidentified Infrared Emission Bands

Ist Teil von

• The Astrophysical journal, 2023-07, Vol.952 (1), p.13

Ort / Verlag

Philadelphia: The American Astronomical Society

Erscheinungsjahr

2023

Quelle

EZB-FREE-00999 freely available EZB journals

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Abstract Efforts over 40 yr still leave the source of astronomical infrared emission bands largely unidentified. Here, we report the first laboratory infrared (6–25 μ m) spectra of gas-phase fullerene-metal complexes, [C 60 -Metal] + (Metal = Fe, V) and show with density functional theory calculations that complexes of C 60 with cosmically abundant metals, including Li, Na, K, Mg, Ca, Al, V, and Fe, all have similar spectral patterns. Comparison with observational infrared spectra from several fullerene-rich planetary nebulae demonstrates a strong positive linear cross-correlation. The infrared features of [C 60 -Metal] + coincide with four bands attributed earlier to neutral C 60 bands and in addition also with several bands unexplained to date. Abundance and collision theory estimates indicate that [C 60 -Metal] + could plausibly form and survive in astrophysical environments. Hence, [C 60 -Metal] + are proposed as promising carriers, in supplement to C 60 , of observational bands, potentially representing the largest molecular species in space other than C 60 , C 60 + , and C 70 .