English

On the Correlation Between CO Absorption and Far-Ultraviolet Non-Linear Extinction Toward Galactic OB Stars

Astrophysics 2009-10-31 v1

Abstract

A sample of 59 sight lines to reddened Galactic OB stars was examined for correlations of the strength of the CO Fourth Positive (A - X) absorption band system with the ultraviolet interstellar extinction curve parameters. We used archival high-dispersion NEWSIPS IUE spectra to measure the CO absorption for comparison to parametric fits of the extinction curves from the literature. A strong correlation with the non-linear far-UV curvature term was found with greater absorption, normalized to E(B-V), being associated with more curvature. A weaker trend with the linear extinction term was also found. Mechanisms for enhancing CO in dust environments exhibiting high non-linear curvature are discussed.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.astro-ph/0005187,
  title  = {On the Correlation Between CO Absorption and Far-Ultraviolet Non-Linear Extinction Toward Galactic OB Stars},
  author = {Eric B. Burgh and Stephan R. McCandliss and B-G Andersson and Paul D. Feldman},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:astro-ph/0005187},
  year   = {2009}
}

Comments

10 pages, including 6 figures. LaTeX2e (emulateapj5.sty). To appear in ApJ, Sep 20, 2000