S. Brünken et al. 2009 ApJ 706 1588 doi:10.1088/0004-637X/706/2/1588
S. Brünken1,2,3, Z. Yu1,2,4, C. A. Gottlieb1,2, M. C. McCarthy1,2 and P. Thaddeus1,2
Show affiliationsThe rotational spectrum of thiocyanic acid HSCN, a highly polar isomer of the well-known astronomical molecule isothiocyanic acid HNCS, has been measured in two radio bands: in the centimeter-wave band by Fourier transform microwave spectroscopy in a molecular beam, and in the millimeter-wave band by long-path absorption spectroscopy in a low-pressure glow discharge. Twelve spectroscopic constants were derived from more than 60 a-type rotational transitions between 11 and 346 GHz with J up to 30 and Ka ≤ 6, including seven centimeter-wave transitions with resolved hyperfine structure. With these constants the rotational spectrum in the Ka = 0 and Ka = 1 ladders—those most likely to be observed in space—can now be calculated up to 400 GHz with formal uncertainties of less than 0.2 km s–1 in equivalent radial velocity. Thiocyanic acid was recently identified in Sgr B2 by Halfen et al. following the laboratory measurements, and there is possible evidence for it in cold dark clouds, with the implication that HSCN may be detectable in many galactic sources.
ISM: individual (Sgr B2); ISM: molecules; line: identification; molecular data; molecular processes; radio lines: ISM
Issue 2 (2009 December 1)
Received 2009 May 18, accepted for publication 2009 October 8
Published 2009 November 16
S. Brünken et al. 2009 ApJ 706 1588
P. Thaddeus et al. 2008 ApJ 677 1132
D. T. Halfen et al 2009 ApJ 702 L124
David R. Alves et al. 2001 The Astronomical Journal 121 318
P-H Beauchemin et al 2004 J. Phys. G: Nucl. Part. Phys. 30 N17
S. Brünken et al. 2008 ApJ 676 1367
Nimesh A. Patel et al 2009 ApJ 691 L55
Grzegorz Pietrzyński et al. 2006 ApJ 648 366
S. Brünken et al. 2009 ApJ 697 880
Y Y Tong et al 1994 J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 6 L533