Studies of Diffuse Interstellar Bands. V. Pairwise Correlations of Eight Strong DIBs and Neutral Hydrogen, Molecular Hydrogen, and Color Excess

TL;DR

This study analyzes correlations between eight diffuse interstellar bands and interstellar medium components, revealing their associations with neutral hydrogen and their independence from molecular hydrogen, providing insights into their origins and potential as interstellar probes.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive correlation analysis of eight strong DIBs with interstellar hydrogen and dust, highlighting their likely origins in diffuse H regions and their independence from molecular hydrogen.

Findings

DIBs strongly correlate with neutral hydrogen column density.

Most DIBs are more associated with H than H2.

DIBs are likely from different molecules in diffuse H regions.

Abstract

We establish correlations between equivalent widths of eight diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs), and examine their correlations with atomic hydrogen, molecular hydrogen, and EB-V . The DIBs are centered at \lambda\lambda 5780.5, 6204.5, 6283.8, 6196.0, 6613.6, 5705.1, 5797.1, and 5487.7, in decreasing order of Pearson\^as correlation coefficient with N(H) (here defined as the column density of neutral hydrogen), ranging from 0.96 to 0.82. We find the equivalent width of \lambda 5780.5 is better correlated with column densities of H than with E(B-V) or H2, confirming earlier results based on smaller datasets. We show the same is true for six of the seven other DIBs presented here. Despite this similarity, the eight strong DIBs chosen are not well enough correlated with each other to suggest they come from the same carrier. We further conclude that these eight DIBs are more likely to be associated with H than with H2, and hence are not preferentially located in the densest, most UV shielded parts of interstellar clouds. We suggest they arise from different molecules found in diffuse H regions with very little H (molecular fraction f<0.01). Of the 133 stars with available data in our study, there are three with significantly weaker \lambda 5780.5 than our mean H-5780.5 relationship, all of which are in regions of high radiation fields, as previously noted by Herbig. The correlations will be useful in deriving interstellar parameters when direct methods are not available. For instance, with care, the value of N(H) can be derived from W{\lambda}(5780.5).