Abstract
The unidentified infrared bands are ubiquitous in the interstellar medium and typically attributed to emission from neutral and ionized polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (or PAHs). The contribution of neutral PAH clusters to these bands has been impossible to determine due to a paucity of infrared spectral data. Here we investigated neutral clusters of the three-ring PAH anthracene using FTIR absorption spectroscopy of anthracene matrix-isolated at varying concentrations in solid argon. In order to determine likely cluster structures of the embedded molecules, we also calculated theoretical absorption spectra for the anthracene monomer through hexamer using density functional theory with a dispersion correction (DFT-D). The DFT-D calculations have been calibrated for the anthracene dimer using the second-order Moller-Plesset approach. Because there is some support for the hypothesis that three or four-ring PAHs are present in the Red Rectangle nebula, we discuss the application of our results to this nebula in particular as well as to the interstellar infrared emission in general.
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