A framework for resolving the origin, nature and evolution of the diffuse interstellar band carriers?

TL;DR

This paper proposes that the carriers of diffuse interstellar bands are nano-sized fragments from UV processing of hydrogenated amorphous carbon grains, offering a new framework to understand their origin and diversity.

Contribution

It introduces a novel hypothesis that DIB carriers are nano-sized products of UV fragmentation of hydrogenated amorphous carbon dust, providing a new perspective on their nature and evolution.

Findings

DIB carriers may be nm- and sub-nm-sized fragments.

A proposed dust evolution framework links DIBs to carbon grain processing.

Potential heteroatom doping influences DIB carrier properties.

Abstract

The carriers of the diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs) still remain an unknown commodity. Both dust and molecules have been suggested as carriers but none proposed have yet been able to explain the nature and the diversity of the DIBs. Hence, it is perhaps time to review the problem in terms of the intermediate-sized nano-particles. It is here proposed that the DIB carriers are the nm-sized and sub- nm-sized products of the UV photo-fragmentation of hydrogenated amorphous carbon grains, a-C(:H), and their heteroatom-doped variants, a-C:H:X (where X may be O, N, Mg, Si, Fe, S, Ni, P, ...). An interstellar hydrogenated amorphous carbon dust evolutionary framework is described within which a solution to the age-old DIB problem could perhaps be found.