The Rotational Excitation Temperature of the $λ$6614 Diffuse Interstellar Band Carrier

Abstract

Analysis of high spectral resolution observations of the $λ$6614 diffuse interstellar band (DIB) line profile show systematic variations in the positions of the peaks in the substructure of the profile. These variations -- shown here for the first time -- can be understood most naturally in the framework of rotational contours of large molecules, where the variations are caused by changes in the rotational excitation temperature. We show that the rotational excitation temperature for the DIB carrier is likely significantly lower than the gas kinetic temperature -- indicating that for this particular DIB carrier angular momentum buildup is not very efficient.