Hydrogenated Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons and the 2940 and 2850 Wavenumber (3.40 and 3.51 micron) Infrared Emission Features

Abstract

The 3150-2700 cm-1 (3.17-3.70 microns) range of the spectra of a number of Ar-matrix-isolated PAHs containing excess H atoms (Hn-PAHs) are presented. This region covers features produced by aromatic and aliphatic C-H stretching vibrations as well as overtone and combination bands involving lower lying fundamentals. The aliphatic C-H stretches in molecules of this type having low to modest excess H coverage provide excellent fits to a number of the weak emission features superposed on the plateau between 3080 and 2700 cm-1 (3.25 and 3.7 microns) in the spectra of many planetary nebulae, reflection nebulae, and H II regions. Higher H coverage is implied for a few objects. We compare these results in context with the other suggested identifications of the emission features in the 2950-2700 cm-1 (3.39-3.70 microns) region and briefly discuss their astrophysical implications.