Nanodiamonds around HD 97048 and Elias 1

¹ Instituut voor Sterrenkunde, K.U. Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200B, 3001 Heverlee, Belgium
² Kapteyn Astronomical Institute, PO Box 800, 9700 AV Groningen, The Netherlands
³ SRON, PO Box 800, 9700 AV Groningen, The Netherlands

Corresponding author: C. Van Kerckhoven, caroline@ster.kuleuven.ac.be

Received: 5 June 2001
Accepted: 11 December 2001

Abstract

We present an analysis of ISO-SWS observations of the Herbig Ae/Be stars HD 97048 and Elias 1. Besides the well-known family of IR emission bands at 3.3, 6.2, “7.7”, 8.6 and 11.2 μm these objects show strong, peculiar emission features at 3.43 and 3.53 μm. The latter two features show pronounced substructure which is very similar in the two sources. Comparison of the spectra of HD 97048 and Elias 1 with laboratory spectra of H–terminated diamond surfaces show excellent and very convincing agreement in peak position and spectral detail (Guillois et al. [CITE]). The position of the 3.53 μm band indicates a temperature of ~1000 K. An analysis of the radiative energy budget makes us conclude that the diamond carrier of the 3.53 μm feature has typical sizes of 1–10 nm for HD 97048. A fit of the 3.53 μm feature with a theoretical, calculated profile indicates that the emitting diamonds in HD 97048 see a FUV flux of 5.8 10^-3 [ W/cm²] . The derived diamond mass, 1.5 10^-10 , is only a tiny fraction of the total circumstellar dust mass and corresponds to only about 1 parts per billion relative to hydrogen. We discuss the origin of the diamond around these Herbig Ae/Be stars and conclude that most likely they are formed in situ. The implications for the nanodiamonds discovered in meteorites are also discussed.