Concerns regarding recurrent fluorescence's impact on smaller diffuse ISM aromatics
Abstract
Recent research implied that recurrent fluorescence (RF) could bolster smaller aromatics against fragmentation in the diffuse ISM, yet that hypothesis is contested by timescales for unrelenting dissociative recombination (electrons), and unceasing dissociating photons. Specifically, neutral cyanonaphthalene can sustain $13.6$ eV photoionization, and the ensuing cation's excess energy is channeled through intramolecular vibrational redistribution (IVR), with RF providing the radiative stabilization pathway (≃7 eV negligible survival limit). However, that cation endures dissociative recombination every τ≈0.5+5.6−0.4 years, which deposits ≃ 8.6 eV and exceeds the limit. Moreover, that is paired with 7−13.6 eV photodestruction each τ≈16+223−14 years (total visual dust extinction AV=0−1, and τ≈4+7−2 years for AV≈0). Recent laboratory characterizations of RF were seminal, but the mechanism may not overturn models indicating a gap in smaller NC≈7−11 diffuse ISM aromatics, nor support those molecules as viable diffuse interstellar band carriers.
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BibTeX
@misc{majaess2026concerns,
title = {{Concerns regarding recurrent fluorescence's impact on smaller diffuse ISM aromatics}},
author = {Daniel Majaess and Cercis Morera-Boado and Tina A. Harriott and Cherif F. Matta},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2608.17886},
eprint = {2608.17886},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.17886},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Concerns regarding recurrent fluorescence's impact on smaller diffuse ISM aromatics
AU - Daniel Majaess
AU - Cercis Morera-Boado
AU - Tina A. Harriott
AU - Cherif F. Matta
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/04
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2608.17886
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.17886
AB - Recent research implied that recurrent fluorescence (RF) could bolster smaller aromatics against fragmentation in the diffuse ISM, yet that hypothesis is contested by timescales for unrelenting dissociative recombination (electrons), and unceasing dissociating photons. Specifically, neutral cyanonaphthalene can sustain $13.6$ eV photoionization, and the ensuing cation's excess energy is channeled through intramolecular vibrational redistribution (IVR), with RF providing the radiative stabilization pathway (≃7 eV negligible survival limit). However, that cation endures dissociative recombination every τ≈0.5^+5.6_−0.4 years, which deposits ≃ 8.6 eV and exceeds the limit. Moreover, that is paired with 7−13.6 eV photodestruction each τ≈16^+223_−14 years (total visual dust extinction A_V=0−1, and τ≈4^+7_−2 years for A_V≈0). Recent laboratory characterizations of RF were seminal, but the mechanism may not overturn models indicating a gap in smaller N_C≈7−11 diffuse ISM aromatics, nor support those molecules as viable diffuse interstellar band carriers.
ER -