Ultraviolet Spectra of Comets: Rejecting the Detection of Pentacene, Toluene, and Fe+

TL;DR

This paper critically evaluates recent claims of detecting organic molecules and iron in comet spectra, finding the evidence unsubstantiated and providing synthetic spectra to aid future searches.

Contribution

It refutes previous claims of pentacene, toluene, and Fe+ detection in comet spectra and offers theoretical spectra to support future identification efforts.

Findings

No spectroscopic evidence supports the detection of pentacene or toluene.

Spectroscopic data do not confirm Fe II line attribution.

Synthetic spectra for pentacene transitions are provided for future research.

Abstract

A recent study announced the detection of three bands in the ultraviolet emission spectra of more than a dozen comets, assigning two of them to pentacene (C$_{22}$H$_{14}$) and the third one to toluene (C$_7$H$_8$). The comparison of the spectra with the results of exploitable laboratorymeasurements on rare-gas-matrix-isolated pentacene and on jet-cooled toluene does not reveal elements that would justify the assignment, which is therefore unsubstantiated. The study also claimed the detection of an Fe II line in the gas of all but one comet. Yet, spectroscopic data on Fe II do not corroborate the attribution. Because spectroscopic measurements on the ultraviolet emission of pentacene in the gas phase are not available, this work also presents a synthetic spectrum of the S$_5$ $\rightarrow$ S$_0$ transition relevant to the wavelength range of the observations. Calculated using density functional theory and its time-dependent extension, the synthetic spectrum may facilitate the search for pentacene fluorescence in cometary spectra until laboratory measurements are accessible.