HCN fluorescence on Titan

Abstract

The HCN emission features near 3 μm recently detected by Geballe et al. (2003, Astrophys. J. 583, L39) are analyzed with a model for fluorescence of sunlight in the ν 3 band of HCN. The emission spectrum is consistent with current knowledge of the atmospheric temperature profile and the HCN distribution inferred from millimeter-wave observations. The spectrum is insensitive to the abundance of HCN in the thermosphere and the thousand-fold enhancement relative to photochemical models suggested by Geballe et al. (2003, Astrophys. J. 583, L39) is not required to explain the observations. We find that the spectrum can be matched with temperatures from 130 to 200 K, with slightly better fits at high temperature, contrary to the temperature determination of 130±10 K of Geballe et al. (2003, Astrophys. J. 583, L39). The HCN emission spectrum is sensitive to the collisional de-excitation probability, P 10, for the ν 3 state and we determine a value of 10 −5 with an accuracy of about a factor of two. Analysis of absorption lines in the C 2H 2 ν 3 band near 3 μm, detected in the same spectrum, indicate a C 2H 2 mole fraction near 0.01 μbar of 10 −5 for P 10=10 −4. The derived mole fraction, however, is dependent upon the value adopted for P 10 and lower values are required if P 10 at Titan temperatures is less than its room temperature value.