Anharmonicity and infrared bands of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon (PAH) molecules
Abstract
We present a systematic laboratory study of the CH stretching region in Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon (PAH) molecules of different shapes and sizes to investigate anharmonic behaviour and address the reliability of the never-validated but universally accepted scaling factors employed in astronomical PAH models. At the same time, new anharmonic theoretical quantum chemistry studies have been performed with the software program Spectro using our experimental data as benchmark. We performed mass and conformational-resolved, high-resolution spectroscopy of cold (~10K) linear and compact PAH molecules starting with naphthalene (C10H8) in the 3-µm CH stretching region. Surprisingly, the measured infrared spectra show many more strong modes than expected. Measurements of the deuterated counterparts demonstrate that these bands are the result of Fermi Resonances. First comparisons with harmonic and anharmonic DFT calculations using Gaussian 09 show that both approximations are not able to reproduce in detail the observed molecular reality. The improved anharmonic calculations performed with Spectro now include the effects of Fermi resonances and have been applied to PAHs for the first time. The analysis of the experimental data is greatly aided by these new theoretical quantum chemistry studies. Preliminary assignments are presented, aided by comparison between the observed rotational contour and the symmetry of candidate bands.
- Publication:
-
IAU General Assembly
- Pub Date:
- August 2015
- Bibcode:
- 2015IAUGA..2252613P