Looking for the weak members of the C$_{60}^+$ family in the interstellar medium


الملخص بالإنكليزية

We demonstrate, using the high resolution spectra from the ESPADONS spectrograph, fed with the 3.6m CFH telescope, that the strength ratios of the strong--to--weak spectral features, attributed to C$_{60}^+$, are variable. We found that in the range of expected 9366~AA C$_{60}^+$ feature there are two diffuse bands centered at 9362.0$pm$0.1 and 9365.3$pm$0.1 AA with variable intensity ratio. We confidently confirm the lack of 9428~AA feature which, in the laboratory spectra of C$_{60}^+$, is stronger than 9366~AA. The weakest laboratory feature, near 9348.4~AA, remains below the level of detection in all spectra. The intensity ratio 9577/9365 is variable. These facts contradict to their common origin and so -- the identification of some interstellar spectral features as being carried by the cation of the soccer ball. We also refined the rest wavelength position of the strongest diffuse band in this range: it is 9576.8$pm$0.1~AA.

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