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# Draco – A Failure of the Tidal Model

## 1 Introduction

Dwarf spheroidal (dSph) galaxies are very unusual astrophysical objects. Their stellar masses are comparable to those of massive globular clusters (Harris 1996), but unlike globular clusters, which are dense and compact, dSphs are very extended and diffuse assemblies of stars. Their limiting radii exceed those of globular clusters by several hundreds (Irwin & Hatzidimitriou 1995) and reach several kpc, while the velocity dispersion of their stars again is comparable to what is measured in globular clusters. This makes them unusual in the sense that if dSphs were bound objects in virial equilibrium, then their gravitational mass as implied by the velocity dispersion must exceed the luminous mass observed in stars by one to two orders of magnitude. Dwarf spheroidal galaxies therefore are often claimed to be completely dominated by invisible dark matter (see, e.g., the review on that subject by Mateo 1997).

The assumption of virial equilibrium, however, may be challenged since many dSphs orbit massive $`L_{}`$-type galaxies like our Milky Way and are therefore subject to strong tidal torques. This influences their internal dynamics, and may bring them on the brink of disruption as is claimed for the nearby dSph Ursa Minor (Martínez-Delgado et al. 2001) or even complete dissolution as observed in the case of the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy (Ibata, Gilmore, & Irwin 1994). It is therefore a valid approach to hypothesize that many, if not all, dSph companions of the Milky Way may be the remnants of tidally disrupted satellites without appreciable amounts of dark matter.

The ‘tidal scenario’ has received considerable attention. In early studies, Kuhn & Miller (1989) concentrated on the effects of resonant coupling between orbital and internal motions, while Kuhn (1993) investigated diffusion in phase and configuration space of assemblies of stars orbiting various rigid potentials. Both studies concluded that indeed tidal effects could mimic the observed large mass-to-light ratios. The opposite conclusion was derived by Oh Lin, & Aarseth (1995) who included the effects of the satellites’ self-gravity into their studies, and by Piatek & Pryor (1995) who focused on tidal effects during the satellites’ perigalactic passage. Further discussion on tidal mass loss can be found in Helmi & White (1999), Johnston, Sigurdsson, & Hernquist (1999), Bekki, Couch, & Drinkwater (2001).

The most detailed models of the long-term evolution of low-mass satellite galaxies in the tidal field of the Milky Way have been discussed by Kroupa (1997) and Klessen & Kroupa (1998) who demonstrated that a remnant containing a few percent of the initial mass prevails as a long-lived and distinguishable entity for a period of several billion years after the initial satellite dissolves. They proposed that what appears to be a bound dSph galaxy to a terrestrial observer may in fact be the unbound remnant of a tidally disrupted satellite galaxy on an eccentric orbit with two tidal arms extending along a small angle from the line of sight of a terrestrial observer. This model successfully demonstrates that high velocity dispersions in dSphs may be obtained without internal dark matter. It also accounts for the distorted morphology of, e.g., the double-peaked dSph Ursa Minor (e.g., Kleyna et al. 1998). The tidal model furthermore predicts an appreciable spread in stellar distance moduli as the tidal remnant will have considerable depth along the observer’s line of sight, which is an observationally testable prediction. Another model prediction is a radial velocity gradient during most of the evolution after tidal disintegration. These effects have been studied in detail by Klessen & Zhao (2002), who suggested to use the width of the horizontal branch (HB) in the color-magnitude diagram (CMD) as possible test for the tidal origin of the Galactic dSphs (see also Klessen & Kroupa 1998).

In our current investigation we apply the HB test to the nearby dSph galaxy in the constellation of Draco. Our goal is to construct a tidal model for Draco that complies with all observational properties of the galaxy known to date. We will see that this attempt fails, and we thus claim that Draco cannot be of tidal origin. This implies that either Draco is strongly dark-matter dominated, or, alternatively, that modifications to the law of gravity are necessary (Milgrom 1983, 1995; see Sanders & McGaugh 2002 for a review). We focus on Draco, because it is particularly well suited for testing the tidal model. Draco is the only dSph to-date for which high-quality, deep, multi-color CCD imaging exists covering both Draco as well as a seven times larger region than its tidal radius. Draco is a close satellite galaxy of our Milky Way. Its compact and seemingly undistorted morphological appearance (Odenkirchen et al. 2001a) as well as its thin HB in the CMD can be used to define stringent constraints on tidal models.

Our line of reasoning is as follows. First, in Section 2, we discuss morphological and kinematic properties of Draco. We use public data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS, see York et al. 2000; Gunn et al. 1998; and Stoughton et al. 2002 for more information) to determine the width of the HB of Draco. In Section 3, we attempt to construct an appropriate model for the tidal origin of Draco. Our finding is that this is not possible. Finally, in Section 4 we summarize and discuss our results.

## 2 Morphology and Horizontal-Branch Thickness of the Draco Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy

If dSphs are unbound tidal remnants, then nearby dSphs provide the best test objects since here we can study the then expected depth effects with the greatest precision. Draco is a nearby Milky Way satellite at a distance of only $``$ 80 kpc. With an absolute magnitude of $`M_V=9.4`$ mag, a central surface brightness of $`\mu _V=24.4\pm 0.5`$ mag arcsec-2, and lack of detectable gas (M$`{}_{HI}{}^{}<8000`$ M), it is a typical low-luminosity Local Group dSph (see Grebel 2000 and Grebel, Gallagher, & Harbeck 2003 for a recent compilation of Local Group dSph properties). Draco is dominated by metal-poor stellar populations older than 10 Gyr and possesses a well-populated HB (e.g., Stetson, McClure, & VandenBerg 1985; Grillmair et al. 1998; Aparicio, Carrera, & Martínez-Delgado 2001). The metallicity spread observed in Draco (e.g., Carney & Seitzer 1986; Shetrone, Côté, & Sargent 2001) shows that its early star formation history was extended and complex, unlike that of a globular cluster.

### 2.1 Morphological Properties of Draco

Draco and its surroundings have been mapped in their entirety with deep, homogeneous five-color photometry by the SDSS. The SDSS obtains CCD imaging in the passbands u, g, r, i, and z of a contiguous region of $`<10^4`$ deg2 centered on the north Galactic cap. The public data presented here are part of the SDSS Early Data Release (EDR, Stoughton et al. 2002). The SDSS multi-color photometric database permits one to employ optimized filtering techniques to enhance the signal of the stellar population associated with the target of interest versus contaminants such as foreground stars, and to remove background galaxies based on shape parameters (see Odenkirchen et al. 2001a,b for details). The SDSS also provides corrections for Galactic foreground extinction using Schlegel, Finkbeiner, & Davis’ (1998) maps. Odenkirchen et al. (2001a) carried out a morphological study of Draco based on these SDSS data covering more than 27 deg2 of the galaxy itself and its surroundings, extending earlier photographic work by Irwin & Hatzidimitriou (1995). Odenkirchen et al. found Draco to exhibit a flattened stellar surface density distribution with constant ellipticity ($`e=0.29\pm 0.02`$, position angle $`=88\mathrm{°}\pm 3\mathrm{°}`$). The limiting radius of Draco is $`40.1^{}`$ along the major axis from an empirical King profile (King 1962), and $`49.5^{}`$ from a theoretical King profile (King 1966), which is 41% to 75% more extended than found in the earlier photographic study of Irwin & Hatzidimitriou (1995). Overdensities consistent with the presence of extratidal stars were not detected down to a level of $`10^3`$ of Draco’s central surface density or to a surface brightness of $`33.5`$ mag arcsec-2. Odenkirchen et al. point out that that Draco’s density profile may be equally well fitted by a Sérsic profile with an exponent of $`n=1.2`$, since there is no detectable break in the profile, which may indicate an even more extended distribution below the current detection limit. The isopleths of Draco’s stellar surface density are highly regular, nested ellipses that retain the same position angle with increasing distance from the dSph’s center. These properties led Odenkirchen et al. to infer that Draco is bound and strongly dark-matter dominated.

Aparicio et al. (2001) used B and R CCD photometry covering 1 square degree including parts of Draco and some of its surroundings. They also found a large tidal radius ($`41^{}`$) and no evidence for extratidal stars. Another structural study of mostly non-contiguous CCD imaging in Draco and surroundings covering a total area of $`1.36`$ square degrees in V and R was carried out by Piatek et al. (2002), and again confirmed the lack of extratidal stars. A recent CCD study of the central part of Draco (0.17 deg-2; Bellazzini et al. 2002) using the V and I filters also found the smooth elliptical isopleths presented by Odenkirchen et al. (2001a). Aparicio et al. (2001) compared Draco’s CMD to one of the models proposed by Kroupa (1997), RS1-4, according to which Draco is extended along the line of sight. Using the width of the HB of Draco, particularly of the red HB, they found an upper limit of $`14`$ kpc for Draco’s depth extent, which is at most one third of the extent predicted by Kroupa’s model. Aparicio et al. conclude that their upper limit precludes the explanation of Draco’s velocity dispersion as caused entirely by projection effects, and that dark matter is a more likely culprit.

Finally, Kleyna et al. (2001, 2002) studied the radial velocity dispersion of Draco’s red giants as a function of projected distance out to a distance of $`25^{}`$ from Draco’s center. From this inner region they infer that Draco has a gradually rising rotation curve and is embedded in an extended dark matter halo rather than a halo in which mass follows light. Kleyna et al.’s (2001) calculations suggest that Draco is close to its perigalacticon and that its tidal radius exceeds $`1^{}`$.

### 2.2 The Horizontal Branch of Draco

Taking advantage of the large area coverage afforded by the SDSS data, we investigate the distribution of HB stars in Draco and surroundings. As compared to conventional CCD imaging data, the SDSS data allow us to study the entire projected area within which models of the kind calculated by Kroupa (1997), Klessen & Kroupa (1998), Klessen & Zhao (2002), and in the current paper predict stars originating from a disrupted dSph galaxy without dark matter. Furthermore, the SDSS database allows us to exclude objects identified as galaxies or as quasars based on their shape parameters or location in multi-color space (see, e.g., Richards et al. 2001; Stoughton et al. 2002).

The red HB of Draco is heavily contaminated by Galactic foreground stars (Fig. 1), particularly by the metal-weak Galactic halo main sequence and, to a lesser extent, by main-sequence stars from the thick disk (Chen et al. 2001). While we can easily perform statistical field star subtractions in the color-luminosity range of Draco’s HB, this contamination hampers our ability to determine the width of the red HB. This problem becomes particularly severe at larger distances from the center of Draco, where the stellar density of Draco drops rapidly. We therefore decided not to include red HB stars in our analysis.

Apart from a well-populated red HB, Draco contains a sizeable number of RR Lyrae stars, which overlap with the red HB locus and become, on average, increasingly more luminous toward bluer colors (e.g., Bellazzini et al. 2002; their Figure 6). To avoid uncertainties in luminosity (and hence width) introduced by RR Lyrae variables, we excluded their loci from our analysis as well.

This leaves us with the blue HB. While Draco’s blue HB is sparsely populated in comparison to the red HB, blue stars generally have the advantage of being easily recognizable even in regions where Galactic field stars dominate otherwise, since Galactic field star contamination is very low at these blue colors. The field star contribution in the area of the red HB amounts to $`62.2\pm 5.3`$ objects per square degree, while for the blue HB it is only $`1.8\pm 0.9`$ deg-2. Some of the latter contaminants may be unidentified quasars at redshifts between $`2`$ and $`3`$ (e.g., Fan 1999; Richards et al. 2001).

Many dwarf galaxies show population gradients in the sense that younger populations are more centrally concentrated than older ones (see Grebel 1997, 1999, 2001 for reviews). Gradients may even exist in the old populations of dwarf galaxies: Harbeck et al. (2001) showed that in dwarf galaxies blue HB stars often have a spatially more extended distribution than red HB stars. This “second parameter” variation may be caused by age or metallicity, or both, or additional factors (e.g., Hurley-Keller, Mateo, & Grebel 1999; Harbeck et al. 2001). In Draco, our analysis of the SDSS data reveals that Draco’s HB stars follow the same trend. Beyond galactocentric distances $`>0.5^{}`$ (Figure 2), the contribution of red HB stars decreases: the fraction of blue HB stars (measured as the number of blue HB stars, #BHB, over the sum of #BHB and the number of red HB stars, #RHB) increases from $`<20`$% in the inner region of Draco to $`90`$% in its outskirts (Figure 2). This makes blue HB stars useful tracers of the spatial extent of Draco.

We choose the SDSS color $`(g^{}i^{})`$ to ensure a large color baseline in two of the most sensitive SDSS filters. (Note that the superscript  is conventionally used to indicate that the photometric calibration of the SDSS EDR data is not yet final and may be further refined in later data releases; see also Stoughton et al. 2002.) The SDSS g filter lies between Johnson B and V and largely overlaps with these two filters, while the SDSS i filter is slightly more narrow and a bit bluer than the Kron-Cousins I filter (see Fig. 1 in Grebel 2002). Transformation equations between the SDSS filter system and the conventional Johnson-Cousins system are given in Fukugita et al. (1996); for the purposes of our study we will consider SDSS $`g^{}`$ as equivalent to Johnson $`V`$.

All SDSS magnitudes were corrected for Galactic foreground extinction using the appropriate values of Schlegel et al. (1998), which are provided by the SDSS database. We show the distribution of Galactic reddening in the region of Draco and surroundings in Fig. 1 of Odenkirchen et al. (2001a). We assume that there is no internal extinction in Draco (see, e.g., Gallagher et al. 2003 and references therein). The resulting dereddened SDSS magnitudes are denoted $`g_0^{}`$ and $`i_0^{}`$. To select blue HB stars, we considered only objects flagged as stars in the database, which in addition were required to fulfill the criteria

$$19\stackrel{\mathrm{m}}{\mathrm{.}}8<g_0^{}<20\stackrel{\mathrm{m}}{\mathrm{.}}3\mathrm{and}0\stackrel{\mathrm{m}}{\mathrm{.}}35<(g_0^{}i_0^{})<0\stackrel{\mathrm{m}}{\mathrm{.}}10$$

$$19\stackrel{\mathrm{m}}{\mathrm{.}}8<g_0^{}<20\stackrel{\mathrm{m}}{\mathrm{.}}7\mathrm{and}0\stackrel{\mathrm{m}}{\mathrm{.}}50<(g_0^{}i_0^{})<0\stackrel{\mathrm{m}}{\mathrm{.}}35$$

for the “red” part of the blue HB and for the extended blue HB, respectively (Fig. 1, fat dots). We note that while extinction properties vary with stellar temperature, these effects are anticipated to be small within the range of colors considered here and correspond to an uncertainty of at most 0.01 mag in $`g_0^{}`$ (Grebel & Roberts 1995, their Figure 6, top left panel; assuming that $`(MT_2)(g_0^{}i_0^{})`$ and $`g_0^{}M`$).

We then applied the same procedure as used in Klessen & Zhao (2002) to calculate the luminosity width of the HB: We calculated the average over the standard deviations $`\sigma (g_0^{})`$ of stars in $`(g_0^{}i_0^{})`$ color bins of a width of $`\mathrm{\Delta }(g_0^{}i_0^{})=0.05`$ mag for all blue HB star candidates within certain distances from the center of Draco. The results are given in Table 1. Column 1 shows the selection area centered on Draco, column 2 the average of the standard deviations in $`g_0^{}`$, column 3 specifies the number of $`(g_0^{}i_0^{})`$ color bins, and column 4 the number of blue HB candidates that entered into the calculations. For comparison, column 5 gives the HB thickness, $`\sigma (V)`$, expected from the best-fit tidal model (see Section 3.5). Table 1 demonstrates that the blue HB exhibits only a small width in the center of Draco and that it remains narrow also when larger areas are considered, while tidal models predict a significant HB widening. The fractional increase in blue HB star candidates in the outermost annulus (see column 4) is consistent with the numbers expected from field contamination quoted above.

## 3 A Tidal Model for the Draco?

With regard to its morphology and structure, Draco is one of the best studied dSph satellite galaxies of the Milky Way. Its compact and seemingly undistorted morphological appearance, together with a well-defined, thin HB in the CMDs sets severe constraints on tidal models. In this Section we investigate whether it is possible to construct a tidal model for Draco that is able to reproduce all observed morphological, kinematic, and photometric properties of this satellite galaxy.

### 3.1 The Numerical Method

In order to construct and constrain a tidal model for the Draco dSph galaxy, we follow the evolution and disintegration of various satellite dwarf galaxies in the tidal field of our Galaxy until well after they have completely dissolved. The considered model galaxies vary in mass and size, but all follow an initial Plummer-type equilibrium density profile with parameters as summarized in Table 2. The satellites are placed on nearly radial orbits with eccentricity $`ϵ=0.9`$ and peri- and apogalactic distances $`100`$kpc and $`5`$kpc, respectively (see Figure 3). The model galaxies have a fixed mass-to-light ratio $`M/L=3`$ and there is no dark matter component. The Milky Way, however, does contain dark matter. It dominates the gravitational potential at large scales, and is described as isothermal sphere with circular velocity of $`220`$km s-1 and a core radius of 5 kpc.

Each satellite galaxy consists of 131 072 particles, and their time evolution in the Galactic tidal field is followed numerically solving the equations of motion using a standard TREECODE scheme (Barnes & Hut 1986). The Galactic tidal field hereby is treated as rigid external potential. Further details are given in Klessen & Kroupa (1998).

### 3.2 The Effect of Projection on Morphology

The first constraints on tidal models for Draco can be derived from the very compact observed morphological appearance of the dwarf galaxy and the lack of ‘extra-tidal’ stars. The radial profile of stellar density of Draco is well described by King models (King 1962, 1966) or generalized exponentials (e.g., Sérsic 1968) with core radii of $`r_\mathrm{c}8^{}`$ and limiting radii $`r_\mathrm{t}`$ in the range $`40^{}`$ to $`50^{}`$ (Odenkirchen et al. 2001a; Aparicio et al. 2001). Adopting a distance to Draco of $`d=80`$kpc, this corresponds to a total radius of the galaxy of about $`1`$kpc. Note that the available observational data do not imply that a clear outer ‘edge’ in the galaxy has been detected (Section 2.1). The only firm statement that can be made is that the stellar density drops to less than 1% of its central value within $`r_\mathrm{t}\stackrel{<}{}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}50}^{}`$, where the galaxy blends into the distribution of foreground stars.

The angular size of Draco is very small compared to typical values reported from numerical simulations. The tidal models published to date predict limiting radii considerably in excess of $`1^{}`$, when the satellite galaxy is projected onto the plane of the sky of an hypothetical observer on Earth after its complete dissolution, i.e., in the phase when it clearly bears morphological and kinematic resemblance to Galactic dSphs (e.g., Figure 2 of Klessen & Zhao 2002; see also Kroupa 1997, Klessen & Kroupa 1998). Furthermore, these model dSphs often appear quite elongated along the orbital trajectory and have no clear truncation radius, i.e., exhibit a large number of ‘extra-tidal’ stars. The fact that Draco is compact (i.e., the surface density decreases by two orders of magnitude within $`r_\mathrm{t}\stackrel{<}{}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}50}^{}`$) and not very elongated (with a ratio between minor and major axis of $`0.7`$) therefore strongly restricts the overall parameter space for tidal models.

Let us first consider the effect of the orbital parameters of tidal satellite galaxies on their morphological appearance for observers on Earth. As a dwarf galaxy orbits around the Milky Way, it loses stars, which subsequently populate two extended tidal tails. After complete disruption the location of the former satellite is still discernible for one to two Gyr as an enhancement of stellar density, moving along the orbital trajectory in between the leading and trailing tidal arm. This remnant slowly expands and decreases in density as its stars drift apart and populate the tidal arms. If the satellite is on a relatively circular orbit, a terrestrial observer (being much closer to the Galactic center) would see the resulting elongated structure of the tidal debris from the ‘side’, and would recognize a low-density feature that stretches over many degrees on the plane of the sky along the orbital path, bearing little resemblance of real dSph galaxies. In addition, it would be difficult to see and distinguish this feature at all, as it is likely to blend into the distribution of Galactic foreground stars. In this case only an extensive search for kinematic signatures of tidal streamers can reveal its true nature (see, e.g., Majewski et al. 2000; Helmi & de Zeeuw 2000; Dohm-Palmer et al. 2001; Helmi, White, & Springel 2002; Kundu et al. 2000; Newberg et al. 2002). On the other hand, if the satellite was originally on a very eccentric orbit (as the model galaxies discussed here), it is likely that the viewing angle between the orbital trajectory and the line of sight of an observer on Earth is very small. The tidal debris is then seen along the major axis and subsequently covers a much smaller projected area on the observer’s plane of the sky, with morphological and kinematic features now similar to observed dSph galaxies (Kroupa 1997; Klessen & Kroupa 1998). This ‘piling up’ of stars along the line of sight makes the tidal remnant easier to detect against the Galactic foreground stars, and leads to a large dispersion of stellar distance moduli, which in turn results in a widening of the distribution of stars in the CMD along the luminosity axis. This widening can be particularly well measured using HB stars, and has been suggested as a possible observational test for the tidal models (Klessen & Zhao 2002).

Figure 3 illustrates the effect of the orbital eccentricity $`ϵ`$ on the projected morphological appearance. Instead of observing satellite galaxies on different orbits (from the same position at $`d_{\mathrm{gal}}=8.5`$kpc), we equivalently select a model with $`ϵ=0.9`$ and vary the location of the observer, such that the line of sight covers a range of viewing angles $`0^{}\stackrel{<}{}\theta 45^{}`$ with the orbital trajectory (and hence the major axis of the tidal debris). The right-hand side of Figure 3 shows that only for eccentricities that allow for $`\theta \stackrel{<}{}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}5}^{}`$ tidal models are able to reproduce a compact and roundish morphological appearance with azimuthally averaged radial stellar density profiles. These profiles can be fit by King models or generalized exponential models and exhibit a lack of significant numbers of ‘extra-tidal’ stars. This limits the parameter space for tidal models of Draco to high orbital eccentricities. If Draco currently were near its perigalacticon as indeed suggested by Kleyna et al. (2001), then tidal models could immediately be excluded. Note that small viewing angles favor projections where the major axis is perpendicular to the orbital trajectory, leading to line of sight velocity gradients that run primarily along the minor axis (although connected to very large dispersions, see Section 3.4). This is in contrast to angles $`\theta >10^{}`$ where the elongation always lies along the orbital path (similar to the line of sight velocity gradient).

### 3.3 Small Angular Size and the Timescale for Tidal Disintegration

We selected model 1 for illustration in Figure 3, because it is the largest satellite in our suite of models and it is the one most easily disrupted. Note that already in the initial bound state, it is too extended to describe Draco at a distance of $`80`$kpc. It is therefore necessary to study the tidal evolution and observational appearance of satellite galaxies of smaller sizes, to see whether it is possible to find a model that better resembles the observational data. Galaxies 2 to 4 are less massive than model 1 by a factor of 10 ($`10^6`$M instead of $`10^7`$M) and are increasingly more compact ranging in their initial stage in size from $`r_\mathrm{t}=0.5`$kpc to $`r_\mathrm{t}=0.2`$kpc with core radii from $`r_\mathrm{c}=0.1`$kpc down to $`r_\mathrm{c}=0.02`$kpc, respectively (see Table 2). Model 4 is therefore quite comparable to a massive globular cluster (Harris 1996). The time evolution of the Lagrangian radii encompassing 10%, 20%, etc., of the mass is shown in Figure 4 as the satellite galaxies orbit around the Milky Way. Models 1 and 2 dissolve after $`t2.8`$Gyr during their third perigalactic passage. Model 3 needs five ($`t5.2`$Gyr) and model 4 seven passages ($`t7.5`$Gyr) to completely dissolve in the Galactic tidal field. Satellite galaxies of the same mass that are initially more compact would not fully dissolve over the lifetime of the Galaxy on the orbit considered here. Similar characteristics hold for satellites that are more massive but have a comparable size as model 4. This limits the available parameter space of initial satellite properties ($`M`$, $`r_\mathrm{c}`$, and $`r_\mathrm{t}`$) and motivates our choices in Table 2.

Within the allowed parameter range smaller initial satellites lead to more compact morphological appearance of the tidal remnant after complete dissolution. In our set of four satellite galaxies, only model 4 is able to reproduce the fact that the stellar surface density of Draco falls off to less than 1% within $`\stackrel{<}{}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}1}^{}`$. Figure 5 illustrates this point by showing the image of the satellites as seen on Earth after complete disruption at the time when they first reach distances to the observer of $`d80`$kpc. The upper panel shows the projected number density $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ of $`N`$-body particles per square degree on the sky; the lower panel shows the resulting azimuthally averaged radial profile. The conversion of $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ into the corresponding stellar number density $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_{}`$ depends on the number of particles used in the simulation, the mass of the galaxy, and assumptions about the IMF. A prediction of the observed surface density of stars (e.g., for comparing with star count results) furthermore depends on the sensitivity limit of the instrument used and the crowding (number density) of foreground stars, which gives a constant offset. For instance, the number density of particles in the central region of model 4 is $`\mathrm{\Sigma }1.7\times 10^5`$ per square degree. As the number of particles is $`\mathrm{131\hspace{0.17em}072}`$ and the total mass $`10^6`$M, each particle carries $`7.6`$M. We assume a standard IMF as proposed by Kroupa (2002) with average stellar mass $`M=0.38`$M and where stars with $`M1`$M contribute roughly 50% of the mass but only 6% in number. If we furthermore assume a detection limit of $`1`$M, then each $`N`$-body particle represents about $`1.2`$ stars lying above the detection threshold, $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_{}=1.2\mathrm{\Sigma }`$. For the very inner region of Draco, model 4 thus predicts star counts of order $`10^5`$ per square degree. This is consistent with the observed values (Irwin & Hatzidimitriou 1995; Odenkirchen et al. 2001a; Aparicio et al. 2001).

### 3.4 Rapid Expansion after Complete Tidal Dissolution

The results of the previous section confirm that it is possible to construct tidal models that resemble the morphology of the Draco dSph galaxy at least immediately after their complete disruption. However, how long does this period of time last? This question is addressed in Figure 6 which shows the projected surface density of model 4 during various phases of its dynamical evolution under the condition that the galaxy lies at a distance of roughly $`80`$kpc to an observer on Earth. The figure depicts all such instances in the time interval $`t>5`$Gyr until the end of the simulation at $`t=11.5`$Gyr. Earlier times exhibit no substantial evolution in the projected stellar density distribution and only two snapshots are shown. Note that the satellite completely dissolves during the seventh perigalactic passage at $`t7.5`$Gyr. The figure illustrates how the tightly bound satellite galaxy evolves into unbound debris in the tidal field of the Galaxy, and how this tidal stripping process influences the observable structure. Note the variation of morphological parameters (e.g., in the axis ratios, the position of the major axis, or the ‘smoothness’ of the particle distribution) amongst the six snapshots with $`t>7.5`$Gyr. Note also that only the first two snapshots after complete disintegration are compact enough to describe Draco. At later times the surface density does not drop below 1% of its central value within radii of $`2.5^{}`$, largely exceeding the limiting radius of Draco $`r_\mathrm{t}\stackrel{<}{}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}50}^{}`$. Figure 6 therefore indicates that the time interval during which tidal models are able to reproduce properties of Draco is quite limited (to about $`1`$Gyr). This implies that we would observe the dSph galaxy at a very special instance in time (namely right after its tidal disruption) if the tidal models were correct. This result is further supported by the time evolution of the line of sight velocity dispersion $`\sigma _{\mathrm{LOS}}`$, as indicated in Figure 7. For model 4, $`\sigma _{\mathrm{LOS}}`$ lies within the observed margin $`8`$km s$`{}_{}{}^{1}<\sigma _{\mathrm{LOS}}\stackrel{<}{}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}10}`$km s-1 only for a period of about 1 Gyr following the complete disruption. At earlier times $`\sigma _{\mathrm{LOS}}`$ is smaller, and at later times it is larger. Similar time scales hold for the other models.

### 3.5 Horizontal Branch Thickness

As discussed above, the compactness of Draco at a distance of $`80`$kpc, the shape of its radial surface density distribution, and the measured value of its line-of-sight velocity dispersion severely limit the available parameter space for tidal models and make their applicability to Draco very unlikely. To fully exclude a tidal model for Draco, one needs to consider its HB. As discussed in Section 2.2, the HB of stars in the CMD is remarkably thin with $`\mathrm{\Delta }g_0^{}_{\mathrm{HB}}0.13`$mag, and it shows remarkably little variation with extent of the region considered. Values range from $`\mathrm{\Delta }g_0^{}_{\mathrm{HB}}0.12`$mag for stars within a radius of $`0.25^{}`$ around the center of Draco to $`\mathrm{\Delta }g_0^{}_{\mathrm{HB}}\stackrel{<}{}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0.14}`$mag when considering all HB stars within $`2.5^{}\times 2.5^{}`$. The best-fit tidal model exhibits comparable values only in the innermost region. When considering larger areas, it shows a HB thickness significantly larger than observed. It is a general property of tidal models to predict a strong correlation between the HB thickness and the angular size of the considered field. This is in sharp contrast to the observational data of Draco which reveal no significant variation of HB thickness with area. As illustration, Figure 8 shows the CMD obtained for fields of different sizes from model 4 at time $`t=7.6`$Gyr when it reaches a distance of $`80`$kpc for the first time after complete disruption. The corresponding stellar density distribution can be seen in the right column of Figure 5. The synthetic CMDs are obtained using the method described by Klessen & Zhao (2002) with the globular cluster M3 as template, and with $`\mathrm{\Delta }V_{\mathrm{HB}}`$ computed as in Section 2.2. M3 has metallicities similar to Draco and has a very thin HB with $`\mathrm{\Delta }V_{\mathrm{HB}}\stackrel{<}{}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0.08}`$mag. Hence, any significant HB widening apparent in Figure 8 stems from stellar distance moduli variations in the projected tidal debris. The larger the considered area, the larger is the derived HB thickness. Stars that are further away from the projected center of density are likely to be further downstream or upstream along the tidal arms. The inclusion of those stars into the analysis leads to a larger range of distance moduli and subsequently to a widening of the luminosity distribution in the CMD.

To test the statistical significance of our result we need to address two questions. First, how does the HB thickness of the best-fit tidal model vary within the evolutionary window allowed from morphological and kinematic considerations? Second, what is the effect of the small sampling size in the observations – the HB thickness for the innermost region of Draco is obtained from only 17 BHB stars? In the previous section we have demonstrated that the LOS velocity dispersion in the best-fit tidal model lies within the observed margins only for a period of about $`1`$Gyr after complete disruption. Furthermore, Draco is at a distance of $`80`$kpc. Inspection of the satellite trajectories in Figure 4 reveals that model 4 complies with both requirements only twice, at $`t=7.6`$Gyr and at $`t=8.2`$Gyr. When we allow for a distance uncertainty of Draco of 5%, which corresponds in the models to a time span of roughly $`50`$Myr, and compare the HB morphology within and between these two intervals, we see that the variations are very small. This enables us to derive a well-defined and meaningful average HB thickness. The second question can be addressed by bootstrapping. From the large number of HB stars in the model we randomly select a small subset corresponding in number to the observed sample (e.g. 17 for the innermost $`0.25^{}\times 0.25^{}`$) and compute the resulting HB width. We repeat the procedure $`\mathrm{10\hspace{0.17em}000}`$ times for each field size. The resulting HB thickness $`\mathrm{\Delta }V_{\mathrm{HB}}`$ together with its standard deviation averaged over all bootstrapping attempts and averaged over all allowed snapshots of model 4 is listed in column 5 of Table 1 for direct comparison with the observations. The statistical error decreases slightly with increasing field size because of the increasing number of stars considered in the subsamples (column 4). The last column in Table 1 indicates in addition the percentage of the bootstrapping attempts that delivered $`\mathrm{\Delta }V_{\mathrm{HB}}`$ values in excess of the observations. This number increases from $`50`$% in the inner $`0.25^{}\times 0.25^{}`$ to about $`100`$% in the full field, and gives a clear indication that we must consider wide-field data to arrive at statistically sound statements about the nature of dSph galaxies. It should be noted, that the results still hold, even if no assumption about the intrinsic HB morphology are made, i.e., even if we assume an intrinsic HB width of zero, $`\mathrm{\Delta }V_{\mathrm{HB}}`$ in the outer regions would be significantly in excess of the observed values.

In summary, Draco has a remarkably thin blue HB showing no signs of variation with radius. Tidal models, however, predict a strong increase of HB thickness with considered field size. While in the central regions, the HB width in the best-fit tidal model still only marginally exceeds the values observed in Draco, this excess is highly significant at larger radii. The large area coverage offered by SDSS is needed to derive this result, and taking all together, we feel save to conclude that even best-fit tidal models which are able to reproduce the morphological parameters of Draco cannot correctly predict its HB properties.

## 4 Summary – The Failure of the Tidal Model for Draco

The dSph galaxies in the vicinity of the Milky Way are either strongly dark-matter dominated, or they are the remnants of tidally disrupted satellite galaxies and are seen today by terrestrial observers at certain highly favorable viewing angles. This is inferred from the observed stellar velocity dispersions, which are large with respect to the luminous mass of the galaxy. A possible third alternative is a modification to Newton’s law of gravity (Sanders & McGaugh 2002).

It was our attempt in this paper to construct an appropriate tidal model for the Draco dSph galaxy. Draco is particularly useful for testing tidal models, because it is one of the best-studied satellite galaxies of our Milky Way, and its compact and seemingly undistorted morphological appearance as well as its thin HB in the CMD set tight constraints on tidal models. Our effort to find a model for Draco that is able to reproduce all properties of the galaxy known to date failed.

Our line of reasoning is the following. First, we consider the apparent lack of ‘extra-tidal’ stars in the vicinity of Draco to constrain the orbital trajectory of the progenitor satellite galaxy. Indeed, tidal models without a noticeable number of ‘extra-tidal’ stars are possible if the viewing angle to the galaxy is close to a tangent to the orbital trajectory (see Figure 3), which requires that the satellites follow very eccentric orbits. Second, the observed compactness of Draco can be reproduced if the satellite galaxy itself initially is small and compact. However, this galaxy cannot be too compact, otherwise it will not be disrupted in the tidal field of the Milky Way over a Hubble time. Third, rapid expansion of the tidal debris after complete disruption limits the period during which the tidal models resemble Draco to about $`1`$Gyr. A similar timespan can be derived from looking at the line-of-sight velocity dispersion. Together, these morphological and kinematic constraints severely limit the available parameter space for tidal models, but do not render them completely implausible. Finally, large field-of-view photometric data from the SDSS can be used to fully exclude tidal models for Draco on the basis of its HB thickness. The observed small variations in the position of stars in the CMD of Draco are inconsistent with the predicted wide distribution in the tidal model due to distance modulus variations along the line of sight. These models furthermore exhibit a strong increase of HB thickness with increasing field size, while Draco exhibits no such variation.

Altogether, we conclude that Draco cannot be the remnant a tidally disrupted satellite galaxy. Instead, it most likely is strongly dark-matter-dominated as predicted by standard cosmological scenarios and, increasingly, by observational evidence such as structural studies (e.g., Odenkirchen et al. 2001a) and the radial dependence of the velocity dispersion (see Kleyna et al. 2001, 2002).

We thank J. S. Gallagher, P. Kroupa, M. Odenkirchen, R. Scholz, and H. Zhao for stimulating discussions. We also thank the referee for many useful comments and suggestions. R.S.K. acknowledges support by the Emmy Noether Program of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, grant KL1358/1) and subsidies from a NASA astrophysics theory program supporting the joint Center for Star Formation Studies at NASA-Ames Research Center, UC Berkeley, and UC Santa Cruz. Funding for the creation and distribution of the SDSS Archive has been provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the Participating Institutions, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Energy, the Japanese Monbukagakusho, and the Max Planck Society. The SDSS Web site is http://www.sdss.org/. The SDSS is managed by the Astrophysical Research Consortium (ARC) for the Participating Institutions. The Participating Institutions are The University of Chicago, Fermilab, the Institute for Advanced Study, the Japan Participation Group, The Johns Hopkins University, Los Alamos National Laboratory, the Max-Planck-Institute for Astronomy (MPIA), the Max-Planck-Institute for Astrophysics (MPA), New Mexico State University, University of Pittsburgh, Princeton University, the United States Naval Observatory, and the University of Washington. This research has made extensive use of NASA’s Astrophysics Data System.


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# On the carriers of the celestial infrared vibrational bands and their excitation mechanisms

## 1 Introduction

This paper is devoted to the understanding of the set of celestial IR (InfraRed) emission bands in the range 3-15 $`\mu `$m which have been loosely, but wittingly, dubbed Unidentified Infrared Bands (UIBs) well after their discovery in the ’70s. Since then they have been thoroughly documented, using higher sensitivity and resolution. Particularly large amounts of high quality data were collected by the IR satellites ISO  and IRTS , which were launched and operated in the ’90s. Knowledgeable reviews of these and other observations may be found, for instance, in .

While electronic transitions in atomic ions, such as Argon and Sulphur, are also detected in the relevant range, sometimes on top of a UIB, they are easily distinguished by their much narrower width. The only present consensus regarding the UIBs is that they are due to fluctuations of the electric dipole moment associated with the vibrations of the atoms of carbon-rich carriers. Different research groups do not agree as to whether the carriers are *free-flying molecules* or *solid-state grains.* Very closely related to this dichotomy is the issue of the excitation mechanism which gives rise to the IR emission. Roughly speaking, the free-flying molecule model has been associated from inception to *stochastic heating*, i.e. random absorption of a single UV photon, followed by *immediate thermalization* of the deposited energy, and subsequent cooling due to IR radiation; this of course requires very small carriers ($``$50 atoms) and strong UV irradiation. Moreover, these carriers are considered to be PAHs (Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons), which are planar clusters of hexagonal C rings with peripheral attached H atoms. No assignment to any known particular PAH has yet been proposed, but it is suggested that the problem will ultimately be solved by a size-distribution of neutral/ionized, more or less hydrogenated PAHs. In this model, separate particles, the Very Small Grains (VSG), have to be invoked in order to account for the observed underlying continuum, but no composition or structure has yet been specified for this family as well. Donn et al.  have discussed this model long ago, but Sellgren, Tokunaga, Boulanger and others  have recently spelled out some of the ”puzzles”  presented by the new observations.

In this paper, I explore the extent to which these puzzles can be solved by a solid-state model , and more specifically the *coal/kerogen* model. This differs from the PAH model on nearly every count. The composition, here, is not restricted to C and H, but also includes small amounts of O, N and S, as suggested by cosmic abundances. *The structure is not planar or regular, but 3-D and highly disordered; it is partly aromatic, partly aliphatic and olefinic* depending on dust environment and history. To accomodate this diversity and disorder, the carrier size should be larger than a few hundred atoms. Most importantly, *well defined natural terrestrial analog materials are proposed*: these are all members of the kerogen/coal ”saga”, which have been thoroughly documented during the past half century, and whose composition and structure have been abundantly described in the literature. The diversity of the celestial IR spectra, in relative feature intensities and in position and width, is matched by that of the terrestrial spectra, which itself is not erratic but known to be due to progressive release of S, N, O and H atoms upon ageing and/or heating of the material. No ionization or size distribution need be invoked. The structure accounts for the feature bandwiths and ensures the presence of a continuum where required. Finally, the excitation mechanisms invoked here are 1) steady state ”thermal” heating for strongly illuminated dust, 2) chemiluminescence for weakly illuminated dust.

The coal model was first presented in 1989 . At that time, modelling the available celestial spectra required the use of relatively highly aromatic coal analogs . The data now available warrant the complementary use of the lesser aromatic analogs, kerogens . These data also prompted the consideration and elaboration of a new excitation process . I therefore believe that the coal/kerogen model is now in a position to cure the main riddles of the PAH model. These developments motivated the writing of the present report.

Section 2 is a short reminder of the main properties and behaviours of kerogens and coals, relevant to the present discussion. In Sec. 3, I delineate some of the main riddles signalled by authors who applied the PAH model to the interpretation of astronomical observations. In each case, I then discuss how the solid-state model can remedy the problem or provide an alternative interpretation. Section 4 discusses in more detail chemiluminescence as an alternative to stochastic heating. Operational conclusions are drawn in the last section.

## 2 Some properties of coals and kerogens

The following is a cursory summary of the properties of natural amorphous carbons of interest to the present issue. Details and abundant references to specialized literature can be found in .

2.1 *Composition and Structure*

The term coal refers here to the residual part of the raw terrestrial material after minerals and free molecules preexisting in its pores have been disposed of by suitable, standard, physical and chemical procedures. *This residue is almost exclusively composed of C, H and O, with traces of N and S.* While coal is extracted from deep in the earth, kerogen is obtained from the superficial sedimentary rocks after treatment by aqueous alkaline and other organic solvents. The solid residue can be considered as coal in “dispersed” form (very small particles). *It is in this form that most of the organic matter in meteoritic carbonaceous chondrites is found*, a useful hint for our present purposes.

The properties of coal do not depend heavily on the geographical origin of the material. As a result, each sample is concisely characterized by one point in the van Krevelen diagram (Fig. 1) with coordinates O/C and H/C (atomic ratios). The representative points of coals from different origins form an inverted-L-shaped strip. For coals extracted from various mining depths, but same geographical location, the strip nearly reduces to a line of the same shape; as the mining depth increases, the representative point follows the line down to the origin. The composition and properties of kerogens are more dispersed at high heteroatom concentrations, but ultimately merge with those of coals at low heteroatom concentrations. This graphical orderliness stems from the chemical properties of carbon.

Like in PAHs, the atoms in coals and kerogens are held together by $`\sigma `$ and $`\pi `$ covalent *bonds*. But, while the former include only aromatic C *sites*, the latter comprise all three types of sites: sp1 (acetylenic), sp2 (aromatic, olefinic) and sp3 (aliphatic). This is a result of the presence of “impurities” (O, N, …) which impedes the tentency towards the more thermodynamically stable aromatic structures and leads, instead, to *disordered materials*. As a consequence, PAHs know of only one type of C-H bond, while coals/kerogens admit of several others: C-H (non-aromatic), CH2 (olefinic, aliphatic) and CH3. Other important consequences are: a diversity of C-C bonds (single, double), the presence of COH and C=O groups (which all have strong incidence on IR spectra), and -O- bridges which provide the structure with some flexibility and allow it to grow in 3-D.

Together with disorder comes the potentiality for *evolution*. Figure 2 illustrates the displacements brought about, in van Krevelen’s diagram, by spontaneous or induced losses of CO2, H2O and CH4. In earth, these losses are stimulated by heat and pressure, which explains the trajectory of the representative point in Fig. 1 towards the origin as mining depth increases. The structural rearrangements which necessarily accompany these compositional changes are schematically outlined, in Fig. 2, along the left vertical axis, showing the aromatization trend along the evolutionary (maturation) track.

In the laboratory, mild, prolonged, heating (annealing) of a low aromaticity sample prompts its representative point to quickly proceed along the same natural track it would have followed in earth, given time, had it not been extracted. This simple and coherent behaviour of coal/kerogen again emphasizes the tight link between composition and structure and provides a guiding line to find one’s way in the *diversity* of these materials.

Thousands of samples have been studied thoroughly all over the world, using all available analytical techniques: thermal, thermogravimetric, IR, Raman and NMR spectroscopies, etc. This made it possible to find correlations between spectral bands and assign nearly every band to a *functional group* (a handful of associated atoms). These efforts culminated in the building up of representations of the structures of coals and kerogens as a function of their evolutionary stage, i.e. their location in the van Krevelen diagram (Fig. 1). The work of Behar and Vandenbroucke  is a good example of this development. They found that *it is not possible to adequately describe the observed spontaneous and continuous changes in properties in terms of a limited number of small, specific, molecules (a conclusion to be extended below to the interpretation of UIBs)*. In order to fit the measurements on different samples, one has rather to build a *random array* made of a dominant carbon skeleton with functional groups of heteroatoms (H, O, N, S) attached randomly to it, then statistically tailor the number of different bondings (C-C, C=C, etc), functional groups (C-H, C=O, etc) and aromatic or polyaromatic rings, etc. The variety of environments of the functional groups ensures that their characteristic vibrations will blend into bands of the right width. The relative intensities of the latter will change according to the concentrations of the corresponding functional groups. *This scheme accounts for the continuous set of IR spectra observed along the evolutionary track*.

Behar and Vandenbroucke give numbers for the structural parameters enumerated above and for 8 representative evolutionary stages. They also give sketches of the corresponding structures, examples of which are shown in Fig. 3. A remarkable feature in these sketches is that, even though the size and number of aromatic clusters are quite limited, all the main UIBs are present in the corresponding IR spectra, albeit with different intensities. The drawing of the clusters also highlights the 3-D nature of the structures. Note the large number of short aliphatic chains in the lesser aromatic samples; the aromatic clusters become large and dominant in the late stages of maturation.

2.2 *The IR spectrum*

As a typical example, Fig. 4 (adapted from ) displays the IR absorbance spectrum of a young kerogen of type II (H/C=1.32, O/C=0.104). The peak wavenumber (cm-1) and wavelength ($`\mu `$m), integrated intensity (cm/mg) and assignment of the bands are, respectively, (see ):

1. $``$3400($``$2.95); 46.2; OH stretch; due partly to chemically bonded OH groups and partly to adsorbed or trapped, not chemically bonded, H2O molecules; the latter are responsible for the long redward tail, through H-bondings with other parts of the skeleton; peak position and band profile change considerably with H2O content (depending on evolutionary stage or heat treatment). This feature is clearly distinct from the water ice band, which peaks near 3.1 $`\mu `$m and has a much steeper red wing (associated to that observed in the sky towards young stellar objects). Adsorbed H2O is probably absent from IS dust.

2. 3060 (3.27); C-H aromatic or olefinic stretch, barely visible here, and only measurable for very small H/C and O/C ratios.

3. 2920 (3.42); 48.2; blend of anti-symmetric and symmetric CH3 stretch at 2962 and 2872, asymmetric and symmetric CH2 stretch at 2926 and 2853; CH stretch at 2890 cm-1, respectively. Here, *the non-aromatic C-H bonds reside mainly on non-aromatic structures, not at the periphery of PAHs like in the work of Wagner et al. .*

4. 1710 (5.85); 14; C=O (ketone) stretch.

5. 1630 (6.15); 11.4; disputed (but perhaps concurrent) assignments to H2O deformation, quinonic C=O with H bond and C=C olefinic and aromatic stretch.

6. 1455 (6.87); 6.1; asymmetric CH2 and CH3 deformation.

7. 1375 (7.28); 1.2; symmetric CH3 deformation.

8. 1800 to 900 ( 5.5 to 11); 67.3; massif (underlying broad band) peaking near 8 $`\mu `$m, due to C…C and C-O stretch, C-H in-plane bend and OH deformation; in highly aromatic samples, there may be a contribution by electrons, in the form of a plasma resonance .

9. 930 to 700( 11 to 14); aromatic out-of-plane bending, depending on the number of adjacent protons; weakly contrasted 3 or 4 peaks, barely visible here; intensity increases with mining depth but never exceeds an intensity of 5.

10. An underlying continuum, roughly decreasing with frequency, is mostly visible in the near-IR, but also present farther to the red in all coals/kerogens; part of it is due to light scattering (in transmission measurements) and part of it to real absorption; it increases strongly with aromaticity.

The intensity, K, given here (third number) is related to the absorbance, $`\alpha `$, by

$$\alpha \text{(cm}^1\text{)=2.3 10}^3\text{ }\rho \text{ K/}\mathrm{\Delta }\nu ,$$
(1)
where $`\rho `$ is the material density in g cm-3 ($``$1) and $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$$`\nu `$, the bandwidth in cm-1. *K (cm/mg) is $`10^3`$ times the intensity usually defined in the astrophysical literature*; it is also related to the integrated cross-section per C atom, $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$, by

$$\mathrm{\Sigma }(\mathrm{cm}^2\mathrm{cm}^1\mathrm{Catom}^1)=4.7\text{ }10^{20}(1+\frac{H}{12C}+\frac{16O}{12C})\text{ K}$$
(2)
$`4.7`$ to $`7`$ $`10^{20}`$ K.

Not unexpectedly, a strong relationship holds between the bands at 2920 and 1455 cm-1 for all kerogen types and evolutionary stages: the ratio of their integrated intensities is $``$8. Also, K(3.4 $`\mu `$m) increases linearly with H/C, from 0 at $``$0.3 at least up to 80 cm/mg at H/C=1.3.

It should be clear from the above that a single spectrum like Fig. 4 cannot, by far, convey the full diversity of coal and kerogen spectra. Series of spectra in restricted wavelength ranges and corresponding to successive degrees of maturation may help for this purpose. An example is given in Fig. 6 for the 3 $`\mu `$m range; others can be found in .

## 3 Puzzles and clues

Here I discuss some of the problems encountered in applying the PAH model to the most recent astronomical observations. In enunciating these, I shall try to remain faithful to the wording of the referenced papers; this task is made easier by the authors’ candour. The recent review by Sellgren  was particularly useful in this respect.

3.1 *Carrier composition*

By definition, PAHs are pure hydrocarbons. However, the carriers of the UIBs are most likely formed in the winds of C-rich post AGB stars. In general, oxygen is not much less abundant than carbon in these winds. Nitrogen and sulphur are also present in notable quantities. It is therefore difficult to understand why these three elements should be excluded from the dust formed in such environments. All the more so since the less abundant silicon shows up in the SiC feature at 11.3 $`\mu `$m, and, most importantly since the ISM (InterStellar Medium) harbors many families of molecules containing these so-called heteroatoms, especially O, mostly associated with C (see ).

On the other hand, minority atoms, mostly O, are present in coals and kerogens in known concentrations, and these inclusions have important consequences: 1) they considerably enhance the dipole moment of some vibrational transitions involving C atoms, such as the 6.2 $`\mu `$m stretch of the C=C bond; 2) they give rise to features observed in the sky in the mid-IR, such as the band at 1710 cm-1 (5.85 $`\mu `$m) and the massif at 7-9 $`\mu `$m , as well as in the far IR, such as the 30 $`\mu `$m blend associated with COH wagging (see ); 3) minority atoms efficiently interfere with the tendency of C atoms to settle into an ordered aromatic structure; *hence the amorphous 3-D structure of Fig. 3, which determines all the favourable properties of this model*, as shown below.

3.2 *Feature bandwidths*

The UIBs are strikingly wider than the bands of any observed and identified molecule, the narrowest width being about 15 cm-1. Even at the highest resolution, no rotation-vibration decomposition is discernible, although such decomposition was clearly demonstrated, with the same spectrometers, for many identified molecules, such as H2 and H2O. Neither is it possible to assign these widths to lifetime broadening, since the typical width of 30 cm-1 would correspond to a lifetime of about 0.1 ps, way shorter than the radiative lifetime ($``$0.1 s) and non-radiative lifetimes, ranging between 1 and 1000 ps. Thermal Doppler effects are also excluded for the masses and temperatures of particles of interest. Thus, although UIBs can be fit by one or more Lorentzians or Gaussians, these are too wide to carry physical meaning: the UIBs are definitely broader than laboratory PAH features *in absorption* (see , ).

In *emission*, highly excited molecules may have much broader features than in absorption because of *anharmonicity and spectral congestion*. This is illustrated by Williams and Leone (21\], who excited gas-phase naphtalene molecules (plane clusters of 2 benzenic rings, 18 atoms) with short laser pulses of photons of energy 5.3 and 6.6 eV. Monitoring the outgoing radiation at 3.3 $`\mu `$m, (C-H stretch), they found its width to decrease from $``$100 to $``$30 cm-1, while the peak shifted to the blue by 45 cm-1, as the energy content of the molecule was reduced by on-going radiative emission. No such behaviour is observed in the sky.

Being associated by birth with single-photon excitation (stochastic heating), the PAH model is therefore faced with a dilemma: either the molecule is so small, and the photon so energetic, that the ”temperature” can reach about 1000 K and the emission is strong enough as to be detected, but then with unacceptably large widths and red shifts; or the molecule is large and the photon energy low so that no undesirable broadening and/or red shift occurs, but then with unacceptably weak intensities and narrow widths. Recent attempts to solve this dilemma relied on the strong but unsupported assumption that the band position and widths of the features are the same functions of temperature for all interstellar PAH sizes, or on very specific mixtures of selected PAH cations supposed to be independent of history and environment (see discussions by Verstraete et al.  and Boulanger et al. ).

By contrast, the *disordered solid-state* model assigns the features to the synchronous vibrations of specific functional groups, and most of their width to the dispersion of similar functional groups among various environments, a situation corresponding to small-scale inhomogeneity . The widths of UIBs is indeed typical of solid, disordered materials  and, in particular, coals and kerogens . The disorder, here, is mainly induced by heteroatoms and is, therefore, chemical and structural in nature (Sec. 2). Within limits, and especially below 500 K, feature widths are not sensitive to temperature or grain size, provided it is large enough (a few hundred atoms) to accomodate the required diversity of environments for a given average chemical composition. Under such circumstances, small degrees of ionization and dehydrogenation are not likely to alter the spectrum notably, in stark contrast with PAH behaviour.

While this explains the remarkable stability of the UIB widths , it also leaves room for the observed diversity , which may result from different compositions at inception, as well as different thermal and radiative processing in the interstellar medium. Because of this disordered, solid-state structure, the coal/kerogen model also adequately mimicks the celestial massifs at 7-9 $`\mu `$m (see fig. 4) and 11-13 $`\mu `$m , which are major puzzles for the PAH model .

3.3 *Carrier aromaticity*

The use of the term PAH implies full aromaticity. This radical assumption was initially suggested by the strength and ubiquity of the 3.3, 6.2 and 11.3 $`\mu `$m features. However, it was not supported by later observations illustrated by fig. 5 for the stretch bands and in  for other ones: distinct emission features between 3.3 and 3.6 $`\mu `$m are seen towards AGB stars such as IRAS 05341+0852, 04296+3429 and CRL 2688, in Planetary Nebulae (e.g. Hb 5 ) and towards at least one Nova: Nova Cen 1986 . In some cases, they are even stronger than the 3.3 $`\mu `$m feature, as in absorption towards the Galactic Center, where the aromatic feature is dwarfed by a massif with peaks near 3.4 and 3.5 $`\mu `$m.

The initial assignment of these ”red” features to hot bands (v$`>`$1) of the C-H str transition has proven unconvincing because of their strength and the non-detection of the correlative first harmonic to be expected near 1.67 $`\mu `$m . It seems therefore more reasonable to assign them to the well documented aliphatic and olefinic, symmetric and asymmetric, C-H stretches at 3.4, 3.46, 3.515 and 3.56 $`\mu `$m, in CH, CH2, CH3 and aldehydes (-CHO) groups . Figure 6 illustrates this statement by setting, side by side with the spectra of fig. 5, the spectra of coals at increasingly higher stages of aromatization (see Sec. 2): not only is the fit of corresponding spectra remarkable, but the regular decrease of the red blend together with the rise of the 3.3 feature confirms their assignment to non-aromatic vibrations.

Neither is it obvious that the 6.2 and 11.3 $`\mu `$m features are characteristic of aromatics. Indeed, while the 11-13 $`\mu `$m massif with 3 or 4 peaks, observed towards post-AGB stars may reasonably be ascribed to the out-of-plane vibrations of aromatic C-H bonds , it has proven very difficult to devise a PAH cluster that could display a highly contrasted, strong and lonely 11.3 feature as observed in most IS (InterStellar) spectra. According to , this requires ”rectangular” PAHs with 100 to 150 C atoms, a very special requirement indeed! (see next subsection). Moreover, the expected correlation between the 3.3 and 11.3 features is not confirmed by observations . Even the exact spatial coincidence of the intensity peak of the 11.3 feature with that of the 3.3 feature appears to be in doubt (see ).

On the other hand, a (more familiar) alternative or concurrent assignment for the 11.3 $`\mu `$m band could be the wagging of the two H atoms of a vinylidine group (R2-C=C-H2), which also occurs at the desired frequency . Clearly, the constraint of full aromaticity is not warranted: an understanding of the “3.4” feature, as well as of the diversity of UIB spectra, is better served by thinking in terms of *evolution of IS dust composition and structure*, both intimately connected and induced by prolonged heating (Sec. 2) and irradiation . While this is natural, straightforword and quantitative in the coal/kerogen model, it seems to be hardly possible with compact PAHs, whatever their size and degree of ionization or hydrogenation.

3.4 *Spectral continuum*

Known PAHs, even when ionized, cannot provide enough visible *continuum* absorption to account for the energy in the emission features observed around UV-poor reflection nebulae .Neither can they mimick the unpolarized near-IR continuum detected towards the same objects . This, of course, does not come as a surprise since free-flying molecules are not usually known for their continuum, although they do exhibit lines or bands in the vis/UV. Herein lies yet another, perhaps the main, reasons for invoking PAHs much larger than initially envisioned . Unfortunately, none has yet been produced in the laboratory, if this is possible at all. Indeed it is well known that, in the absence of externally applied pressure, a planar sheet of compact benzene rings (graphene) of increasing size tends to bend, warp and finally folds upon itself to form a fullerene or a carbon nanotube.

Now, these particular carbon structures indeed have features in the UV/vis but they also have features elsewhere, such as the four conspicuous IR bands of fullerene at 526, 576, 1183 and 1428 cm-1 . None of these has been detected in the sky despite intensive seach.

Moreover, even these structures do not display mid- and far-IR continua, which points to still another puzzle of the PAH model: there is also a *mid-IR* continuum underneath the UIBs; for want of a better assignment, this has been attributed to a separate dust component, the very small grains (VSGs), but its composition and structure could not be specified further . Note that they were thought to be small solely on the grounds of the self-imposed constraint that their emission should be excited upon absorption of a single UV/vis photon. Recent surveys of the spatial variations of this continuum have added to the confusion and seem to require again very special behaviour of the assumed separate component in order to match the systematic changes in the ratio of features to continuum .

Of course, theorists never lack an explanation, but all tentative applications of the PAH model seem to converge towards particles much larger than invoked in the first place . At that point, it must be recalled that *bulk* carbonaceous materials indeed display a continuum, but the profile and intensity of the latter depend heavily on the composition and structure of the material . Thus, the continuum of glassy carbon is very strong and varies approximately as $`\lambda `$-1 at least as far as 100 $`\mu `$m, but coals and a-C:H (amorphous hydrogenated carbon) are semi-conductors whose absorption falls down sharply towards the red at a cut-off wavelength ($``$1 $`\mu `$m) which increases with aromaticity. The lower aromaticity kerogen has a cut-off at shorter wavelengths and, hence, a weaker mid-IR continuum, better suited to the high contrast of the UIBs; it has also a near-IR continuum rising towards short wavelengths; it has the further advantage of carrying both continuum and bands , thus eschewing the need for two different carriers.

3.5 *Near- and far-UV bands*

Simple aromatic molecules are known for their near- and far-UV transitions between ground and excited electronic states. None of these was detected in the sky, either in absorption or in emission (fluorescence) , although several attempts were made to identify the DIBs (Diffuse Interstellar Bands) with such bands. In this field, too, hopes now hinge upon large 3-D systems .

Indeed, it was shown that high-temperature treatment (HTT) of coals favored aromatization and the growth of a *single* near-UV feature which irreversibly becomes narrower and bluer . In some favourable cases, the end point of this evolution is *polycrystalline (disordered) graphite*, with a single, conspicuous, feature near 217 nm, on top of a continuum which increases sharply to the blue and decreases slowly to the red . Then, of course, the material can hardly be designated as a PAH.

3.6 *Infrared bands*

Regarding wavelength and bandwidth, the UIBs are remarkably stable against large variations in the environment and irradiation. This stability is incompatible with an assignment of the bands to a soup of free-flying independent PAHs, neutral or ionized and more or less hydrogenated, as suggested by a number of authors in the past, since later laboratory studies showed that individual PAHs are highly sensitive to irradiation wavelength and intensity (see discussions in . In trying to use these parameters to fit observations, one is often led to conflicting or paradoxical conclusions (see discussions in ).

One is therefore led again to prefer a solid-state (bulk) model: in that case, ionization and dehydrogenation can only affect the surface of the grain, a minor fraction of the whole. Also, the dust is then much more robust against destruction by shocks. Moreover, the structure and composition of a bulk, amorphous, material as coal/kerogen can *evolve slowly, spontaneously or upon heat treatment* as shown in Sec. 2. This is accompanied by subtle changes in band wavelengths and widths (small fractions of a micrometer), also observed in the sky (see ). Very large changes in relative intensities are also observed, especially in the ratios \[3.3\]/\[3.4\], \[3.3\]/\[11.3\] and \[11.3\]/\[12.7\] (see). On terrestrial analogs, most of these can be explained by coherent and systematic changes of composition and structure brought about by heat or slow spontaneous evolution. The most spectacular and best documented case is that of C-H stretch (see fig. 6): Dischler analyzed in detail the evolution of each component of this group of vibrations  .

Thus *the spectral diversity of coals/kerogens of different degrees of maturation (ranks) and origins matches the diversity of astronomical spectra. The main astronomical features associated with carbonacious IS dust, including the continuum, are provided, to various extents, by coals/kerogens of various ranks. Different coals/kerogens or mixtures thereof can account, roughly at least, for astronomical spectra from different IS environments. These models introduce no significant spurious feature anywhere in the explored spectrum.* Examples of quantitative fits between UIBs and models can be found in  for the UV/vis range, here in Fig. 5 and 6 for the near-IR, in  for the 5-10 $`\mu `$m range, in  for the 11-13 $`\mu `$m range and  for the far-IR range; see also .

That is not to mean that a perfect match between celestial and laboratory spectra is easily obtained. For one thing, the high quality of ISO spectra has revealed many new weak features, or details of the profiles of previously known features, which have yet to be elucidated (see ). More importantly, no satisfactory interpretation is yet available for the 12.7 feature, nor for the 11.3 feature being usually so much stronger than the underlying blend (11-13 $`\mu `$m) which is commonly assigned to C-H mono, duo, trio and quarto out-of-plane bends (see Sec. 2). *The 11.3 and 12.7 bands are not present with a high contrast in the solid- state model spectra.*

But the coal/kerogen model provides at least a framework with definite guidelines and valuable assets:

-representative natural samples are available with known composition, structure, physical properties and band assignments;

-well-defined heat treatments can alter these properties controllably and coherently;

-the range of possible model spectra can be extended by using samples of different depths and geographical origins, thus scanning the whole van Krevelen diagram (fig. 1), i.e. a large range of *natural* structures.

-the existence, in space, of carbon chains and molecules as large as acetone is easier to understand in terms of breakup of large, inhomogeneous, kerogen-like, grains (formed in “dense” circumstellar shells and destroyed in strong IS shocks), rather than in terms of synthesis in the tenuous IS medium.

3.7 *Excitation*

The relatively high ratio of short to long wavelength UIB intensities initially led to the conclusion that the emitter temperature should be very high. Under the assumption of stochastic heating by absorption of a photon, and for the relatively small PAHs initially considered, calculations showed that such a temperature already requires the absorption of UV to far UV photons . The steady increase of the absolute intensities of the UIBs with ambient UV radiation field intensity (G value) over 4 to 5 orders of magnitude has been considered as the strongest argument in favour of stochastic heating by UV photons . These conclusions are in conflict with a number of astronomical and laboratory facts.

1)The relative UIB intensities from reflection nebulae are independent of the temperature of the illuminating star, i.e. of the hardness of the radiation field, from 22000 down to about 5000 K (see ); this is at variance with the sharp decrease of dust temperature with photon energy predicted by calculations .

2)Shortward of 10$`\mu `$m, the shape of UIB spectra of several galaxies that have been studied are strikingly similar for nuclear regions, active regions in the disks, as well as quiet regions . A similar stability is observed among spectra of regions of hugely different G values, which are accompanied by large variations of star temperature and, hence, of the spectrum of the exciting radiation. Again, one should therefore expect notable non-linear variations of relative band intensities, which is not the case . the authors of  conclude that the global relation between UIB intensity and UV illumination might be only indirect. This is corroborated by the observation of UIB emission from poor-UV regions, such as galaxy M31 .

3)The “small PAH-stochastic heating” paradigm is also confronted with the stability of the UIB wavelengths and widths against environmental variations, especially in view of attendent dehydrogenation,ionization or downright destruction of the molecule  (see Sec. 3.2).

4)It appears from the previous subsections that all available spectral evidence weighs in favour of bulk, solid-state models of IS dust, as opposed to free-flying individual molecules. Recent discussions involving PAHs also invoke large “molecules”, up to 1000 atoms or more . Now, according to the former calculations, this leads to prohibitively low dust temperatures and undetectable UIB emission. One way out of this paradox is to hypothesize very special, but as yet not measured, electronic properties: high photon absorption cross-sections, absorption cut-off sliding to the red as the particle size increases, etc. This becomes still more accrobatic if one is to account for UIBs detected in poor-UV environments (see ).

The coal model is confronted with a symmetrical puzzle as long as it holds to the simplest excitation process: thermal equilibrium. This is only effective in strong radiation fields, in the immediate vicinity of hot stars, as is the case with post-AGB stars and PPNe (Pre-Planetary Nebulae); see ); but it is out of the question in RNe (Reflection Nebulae) and questionable in other instances. All models are therefore confronted with the task of conceiving a third excitation mechanism.

A significant hint towards this goal is provided by the spatial distribution of the intensity of the 3.3 feature across the Orion Bar observed edge-on : it forms a narrow peak between the ionization front (delineated by the Br $`\alpha `$ and P$`\alpha `$ lines) and the H2 excitation peak (delineated by its ro-vibration transitions in the ground state). While the sharp drop towards the ionization front may perhaps be attributed to partial or total destruction of the carrier in the (hot) HII region, the drop on the opposite side is more problematic because it cannot be due to a decrease in the column density. Sellgren et al.  finally assigned it to the extinction of the stellar radiation by molecular hydrogen, assuming a density of 104 cm-3 for the latter. However, if this was the case (with a small PAH, as required by single-photon heating), one would also expect a change in the spectrum of the exciting radiation and, consequently, a change in the 3.3 emission feature across the Bar. What is observed, in fact, is a remarkable stability of wavelength, width, \[3.4\]/\[3.3\] and \[continuum\]/\[3.3\] ratios.

Now, the steep, large and opposite intensity variations of the ionic and molecular hydrogen spectral features observed to occur across the Bar suggest that, in between the ionic and molecular regions, their must be a narrow transition layer of atomic hydrogen, roughly coincident with the 3.3 feature peak. A similar situation has been described in NGC 7027  and seems to have been observed at the edge of high-latitude cirruses . This led us to surmise that the excitation of the UIBs is linked with the presence of these atoms, rather than directly with the ionizing radiation . Such a scenario (developed in the next section) naturally and straightforwardly explains the small transversal extent of the 3.3 layer, without having recourse to uncertain or qualitative assumptions as to the destruction of dust carriers towards the exciting star , or steep extinction of the UV towards the molecular cloud.

## 4 Chemiluminescence

Hydrogen *radicals* (free atoms) are known to be highly reactive, especially with hydrogen and carbon. When such a radical hits a hydrogeneted surface, it is likely to form, with an H atom of the surface, a H2 molecule, which will promptly escape, leaving a *dangling bond*. This catalytic reaction between two H atoms is the main route envisioned by astrochemists to explain the high rate of formation of molecular hydrogen in space: here, the solid surface provides the third body which is necessary to ensure conservation of momentum. Since carbon is known for its high catalytic efficiency, our IS carbon dust is a good candidate for the job, provided it can present a large fraction of dangling bonds per C atom. It must therefore be disordered and porous, as are coals and kerogens. Note that the nascent H2 molecule carries away a large part of the energy made available by this exothermic reaction; it must therefore be ro-vibrationally excited and this may be the source of part of the H2 lines observed in PDR’s and at the edge of molecular clouds, between ionized H and molecular gas (CO).

Now, when another H atom approaches the dangling bond left on the dust, it is very likely to be captured and form a new strong C-H bond. The chemical (potential) energy of this bond, $``$4.5 eV, is insufficient to dissociate other bonds or excite higher electronic states; it is then available as ground-state vibrational energy for the atoms in the grain. Initially, this energy is essentially in the form of C-H stretch. However, it quickly spreads around, exciting the other characteristic (normal) modes of the given particle. The bond anharmonicity (non-linearity of restoring forces) opens channels for the available energy to be shared among the modes, which otherwise would be isolated. This process is called IVR (Internal Vibrational Redistribution), and is usually very short-lived, of order 1 ps, after which the energy deposited in an isolated grain can only escape through IR radiation, with a time constant of order 0.1 s.

Such *infrared chemiluminescence*, following molecular reaction in the gas phase was observed long ago  and often thereafter. Similar processes occur in an isolated gaseous molecule upon absorption of a vis/UV photon, as in the experiment of Williams and Leone , referred to above. The problem of theoretically predicting the chemiluminescence spectrum is extremely difficult to solve because of lack of detailed knowledge of the various couplings (force fields) between atoms in a given molecule: electrostatic dipole and higher order moments, van der Waals and other forces, hydrogen bonding, etc.This is compounded by the length of dynamical calculations in the case of large systems, such as those that are now envisioned as dust models. Fortunately, commercial software is now available which is dedicated to numerical simulation of molecular structure, dynamics and reactions. I have used such gear to collect quantitative, semi-quantitative and qualitative data on the structure of coal/kerogen model particles as large as 500 atoms, the interaction of H atoms with such particles and the resulting vibrational spectra .

The main result of these computations, of interest for present purposes, is that, to a large extent,  *the predicted emission spectrum is very similar to the absorption spectrum, independent of particle size and colour temperature of the illuminating star. No immediate thermalization occurs*. Moreover, since the only relaxation route is through IR radiation, *the luminescence efficiency in the UIBs should be very high* (of order 0.1 if it is defined as the ratio of IR energy emitted over deposited energy).

Chemiluminescence thus solves the puzzles encountered above with the two other excitation mechanisms, *provided enough atomic H is available*. If there is a luminous star near by a molecular cloud, it will give rise, at the edge of the cloud, to a PDR (PhotoDissociation R egion) such as the Orion Bar (referred to in Sec. 3.7), with contiguous ionized, atomic and molecular regions, successively in the radial direction from the star. The *quantity* of chemically excited dust in the atomic layer, and hence the UIB intensities, will obviously depend on G, but the IR emission spectrum will not! This is all compatible with the roughly linear increase of the individual UIB intensities versus G, as well as with the stability of their spectrum over 5 orders of magnitude of G . Moreover, because the rates of dissociation of H2 molecules and ionization of H atoms depend on the flux of UV photons, the UIB intensities will depend, in absolute but not relative value, on the stellar colour temperature, which is not the same for all G’s. This, together with the random variations of molecular density at the cloud edge, accounts for the observed excursions from strict linearity of intensity with G .

Of course, this does not exclude the coexistence of thermal equilibrium heating of grains if the ambient radiation field is strong enough. In the opposite case of no neighbouring luminous star, atomic H is still present, but in smaller quantities, if only for the diffuse galactic IS radiation field; this accounts for the UIB luminosity of nebulae at high Galactic latitudes, such as the Chameleon cloud or the Ursa Major cirrus .

A further observational support for this excitation model is the spatial coincidence of the UIB emission with the “filament” of excited H2 emission at the edges of NGC 7027  and of the $`\rho `$Oph main cloud : indeed, as indicated at the beginning of this Section, chemiluminescence induced by atomic hydrogen is genetically associated with the production of hydrogen molecules which carry away part of the chemical energy of the incoming H atom and are, therefore, ro-vibrationally excited.

In application of these ideas, a chemical kinetic model was built  for the galaxy M31, whose Diffise ISM emits the UIBs although it is nearly devoid of far UV radiation . A good numerical fit to the observed IR intensities was obtained assuming an atomic H density between 50 and 200 cm-3 (in agreement with the range determined for the edge of a typical molecular cloud in our Galaxy) and a chemiluminescence efficiency of 0.3, in agreement with the numerical chemical simulation referred to above.

The essential difference between this excitation mechanism and stochastic heating does not lie in the energy deposition process (atomic H capture or photon absorption), but in the unwarranted assumption at the core of the stochastic heating theory, that *thermalization of the absorbed energy occurs before radiative relaxation*, only because the latter may require up to 1 s. Common wisdom mixes up IVR with thermalization and the last decades of the past century were necessary to discriminate between various types of *chaos* and between various degrees of *randomization* (see bibliography in ). In momentum-configuration phase space, thermal (statistical) equilibrium is the extreme case where all points of the energetically available phase space are equally probable and ultimately visited by the representative point of the molecular system. This stage is only ideal and, in fact, very difficult to reach on a microscopic scale and in the finite time of experiments, but it is easier to approach when dealing with macroscopic assemblies of identical particles interacting with each other and with a “thermal bath” (itself an ideal concept!). By contrast, experiments resolved in time, space and wavelength have shown that the vibrations of atoms in an isolated system may retain a high degree of coherence for a long time. *That means that only parts of phase space are visited, that randomization is not complete and that a temperature cannot be defined*. I have shown numerically that this is the case for a disordered system, even as large as 500 atoms . For this purpose, I used a structure inspired by chemical models of coal . A small fragment of this is shown in fig. 7, and fig. 8 displays the frequency spectrum of its elecric dipole fluctuations after deposition of $``$4.5 eV in one C-H bond. If the same energy were thermalized, the peak temperature reached by the particle would be $``$ 300K and the ratio \[3.3\]/\[11.3\] would fall below 1$`\%`$ !

Experiments such as that of Williams and Leone  and Wagner et al.  seem to show that randomization in PAHs is also slow after absorption of a UV photon, so that IR *photo*luminescence is observed. This process could therefore coexist with chemiluminescence. However, it probably suffers from the undesirable loss of part of the deposited energy to vis/UV fluorescence and electronic continuum emission; neither of these affects chemiluminescence since the chemical excitation considered here leaves the system in the electronic ground state.

## 5 Conclusion

One is overwhelmed by the immense diversity of both UIB and coal/kerogen IR spectra. Some relief is provided by 1) the sparsness of the prominent bands, 2) their relative stability in wavelength, 3) the encouraging fits attempted between observations and models over most of the UIBs and extended to the UV/vis and far IR ranges, 4) the vast leeway for model tailoring, offered by the disordered structure of coals and kerogens, as opposed to the very restrictive aromaticity of PAHs, 5) the credibility of the model material, because it is so easily found in nature and essentially made of only the four most abundant elements in space (after He), and 6) the fact that this material has already been so thoroughly studied in the laboratory that even its diversity is mostly understood.

The issue of the excitation mechanism is intimately linked to the issue of modelling the observed spectra. By invoking chemiluminescence on large particles, one avoids high dust temperatures and the attendent puzzles of varying band wavelengths and widths which are not observed in the sky.

Among the issues that seem now to deserve early investigation are

\- the assignment of the “lone” 11.3-$`\mu `$m feature (as opposed to the mono-, duo-, etc. out-of-plane C-H bends);

\- the assignment of the 12.7 $`\mu `$m feature;

-the decreasing contrast of UIBs with increasing distance from central star, in certain objects (see );

-the experimental demonstration of IR photo- and/or chemiluminescence on *large isolated* fragments of coal or kerogen and measurement of their efficiencies;

-the need for a library of complete celestial IR spectra ($``$2 to $``$16 $`\mu `$m), each associated with a known environment, differing from the others by the intensity of the radiation field or the nature of the object : RN, PPN, PN, PDR, GC, etc.; this would help understand, by analogy with coals and kerogens, the evolution of IS dust from inception in the envelopes of AGB stars to its consumption in protostars;

-the measurement of the visible absorption spectrum of kerogen, to be compared with the DIBs.

The coal/kerogen model can set a frame for the discussion of these and other issues. However, keeping in mind that these terrestrial materials were forged under special physical and chemical conditions, the model will no doubt have to be amended according to observations, as the debate goes on.

###### Acknowledgements.

I am indebted to J. Conard, J.-N. Rouzaud (CNRS/Orleans), and M. Cauchetier, O. Guillois, I. Nenner, C. Reynaud (CEA/DRECAM, Saclay) for a fruitful collaboration, and to many others for enlightening discussions.

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