Assessment of the Presence of PAHs and Hydrogenated PAHs in the Young Stellar Object Mon R2 and the Taurus Dense Cloud Toward Elias 16

This study assesses the contribution of neutral polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and hydrogenated PAHs (H n -PAHs) in H 2 O-ices to the 3 μ m and 5–8 μ m regions of the infrared absorption spectrum of the Young Stellar Object, Mon R2 IRS 3, and the Taurus dense cloud in the direction of Elias 16. We compare the astronomical spectra to the previously published laboratory data of matrix-isolated PAHs and H n -PAHs in H 2 O-ices. For the molecules in this study, the band positions, FWHMs, and integrated band strengths have been measured. For the PAHs considered here, the ratio of the experimental A (C–H) stretch (in H 2 O ices) to the theoretical A (C–H) stretch (in the gas phase) is consistently about 0.10, meaning that the trove of theoretical data can be reliably scaled to compare to the astronomical spectra. We find that the fractional percentage contribution to the 5–8 μ m region for Mon R2 IRS 3 ranges between 2.7 and 3.9 for neutral PAHs and 0.25–1.2 for H n -PAHs. The best match to the observed 3.25 μ m profile in the Mon R2 IRS 3 spectrum is accomplished with the laboratory-measured coronene:H 2 O spectrum. Using this spectrum we estimate that neutral PAHs contribute up to 12.0% of the cosmic carbon budget for Mon R2 IRS 3 and