Extracting interstellar diffuse absorption bands from cool star spectra

Abstract

Interstellar diffuse bands are usually extracted from hot star spectra because they are characterized by smooth continua. It introduces a strong limitation on the number of available targets, and reduces potential studies of the IS matter and the use of absorptions for cloud mapping. We have developed a new automatic fitting method appropriate to interstellar absorptions in spectra of cool stars that possess stellar atmospheric parameters. We applied this method to the extraction of three DIBs in high resolution VLT FLAMES/GIRAFFE spectra of red clump stars from the bulge. By combining all stellar synthetic spectra, HITRAN-LBLRTM atmospheric transmission spectra and diffuse band empirical absorption profiles, we determine the 6196, 6204, and 6284 A DIB strength toward the 219 target stars and discuss the sources of uncertainties. In order to test the sensitivity of the DIB extraction, we intercompare the three results and compare the DIB equivalent widths with the reddening derived from an independent extinction map based on OGLE photometric data. Most stellar spectra could be well reproduced by the composite stellar, atmospheric and interstellar models. Measurement uncertainties on the EWs are smaller for the broad and strong 6284 A DIB, and are of the order of 10-15%. Uncertainties on the two narrow and weaker DIBs are larger, as expected, and found to be highly variable from one target to the other. They strongly depend on the radial velocity of the star . DIB-DIB correlations among the three bands demonstrate that a meaningful signal is extracted. For the 6284 and 6204 A DIBs, the star-to-star variability of the equivalent width (EW) also reflects features of the OGLE extinction map...