Rotational Temperature Modeling of the Swan $\Delta\nu = 0$ Band Sequence in Comet 122P/de~Vico

TL;DR

This study models the rotational temperature of the Swan band in comet 122P/de Vico using high-resolution spectra, revealing a two-component rotational temperature and the significance of local perturbations in spectral fitting.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed modeling approach for the Swan band in comet spectra, including the effects of local perturbations and estimates of molecular constants.

Findings

Two-component rotational temperature similar to comet Halley

Inclusion of local perturbations improves spectral fits

New estimates of molecular constants for perturbing states

Abstract

We modeled observations of the C$_2$ $\mathrm{d} ^3\Pi_g - \mathrm{a} ^3\Pi_u$ (Swan) $\Delta \nu = 0$ sequence observed in spectra of comet 122P/de Vico obtained with the 2.7m Harlan J. Smith Telescope and Tull Coude spectrograph of McDonald observatory on 10/03/1995 and 10/04/1995. The data used spanned 4986-5169\AA at R=$\lambda/\Delta\lambda$=60,000. We used the PGOPHER molecular spectra model to generate and fit synthetic spectra with the d$^3\Pi_g$ having one and two rotational temperatures. We found the excited state had a two component rotational temperature, similar to that found for comet Halley. The modeled spectrum was sufficiently high quality that local perturbations were important to include. The large perturbation, b$^3\Sigma_g^-(\nu=10)$, was added to our fits and some new estimates on its molecular constants were found.