2013ApJ...773...42O

Absorption spectra toward Herschel 36 (Her 36) for the ¹Π ← ¹Σ transitions of CH⁺ in the J = 1 excited rotational level and for the ²Δ ← ²Π transitions of CH in the J = 3/2 excited fine structure level have been analyzed. These excited levels are above their ground levels by 40.1 K and ∼25.7 K and indicate high radiative temperatures of the environment of 14.6 K and 6.7 K, respectively. The effect of the high radiative temperature is more spectacular in some diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs) observed toward Her 36; remarkable extended tails toward red (ETRs) were observed. We interpret these ETRs as being due to a small decrease of the rotational constants upon excitation of the excited electronic states. Along with radiative pumping of a great many high-J rotational levels, this causes the ETRs. In order to study this effect quantitatively, we have developed a model calculation in which the effects of collisions and radiation are treated simultaneously. The simplest case of linear molecules is considered. It has been found that the ETR is reproduced if the fraction of the variation of the rotational constant, β ≡ (B' - B)/B, is sufficiently high (3%-5%) and the radiative temperature is high (T_r> 50 K). Although modeling for general molecules is beyond the scope of this paper, the results indicate that the prototypical DIBs λ5780.5, λ5797.1, and λ6613.6 which show the pronounced ETRs are due to polar molecules that are sensitive to the radiative excitation. The requirement of high β favors relatively small molecules with three to six heavy atoms. DIBs λ5849.8, λ6196.0, and λ6379.3 that do not show the pronounced ETRs are likely due to non-polar molecules or large polar molecules with small β.