Small carbon clusters: spectroscopy, structure, and energetics

Electronic Ground and Excited State Spectroscopy of C(6)H and C(6)D

Rotational transitions in the X(2)Pi ground state of C(6)H and C(6)D have been measured by Fourier transform microwave and millimeter-wave absorption spectroscopy. More than 150 rotational lines in the ground (2)Pi(3/2) and (2)Pi(1/2) ladders have been observed, allowing an accurate determination of the rotational, fine structure, lambda-doubling, and hyperfine coupling constants using a standard effective Hamiltonian for a molecule in an isolated (2)Pi electronic state. The molecular ground state constants are used to characterize the rotationally resolved origin band of the (2)Pi <-- X(2)Pi electronic transition observed by cavity ring-down laser absorption spectroscopy in a pulsed supersonic slit-jet discharge source. From these data, spectroscopic constants for the excited electronic state are determined. Copyright 1999 Academic Press.

Condensation of carbon in radioactive supernova gas

Chemistry resulting in the formation of large carbon-bearing molecules and dust in the interior of an expanding supernova was explored, and the equations governing their abundances were solved numerically. Carbon dust condenses from initially gaseous carbon and oxygen atoms because energetic electrons produced by radioactivity in the supernova cause dissociation of the carbon monoxide molecules, which would otherwise form and limit the supply of carbon atoms. The resulting free carbon atoms enable carbon dust to grow faster by carbon association than the rate at which the dust can be destroyed by oxidation. The origin of presolar micrometer-sized carbon solids that are found in meteorites is thereby altered.