Journal
ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL LETTERS
Volume 724, Issue 1, Pages L39-L43Publisher
IOP PUBLISHING LTD
DOI: 10.1088/2041-8205/724/1/L39
Keywords
astrochemistry; circumstellar matter; infrared: stars; planetary nebulae: general; stars: AGB and post-AGB
Categories
Funding
- Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (MICINN) [AYA-2007-64748]
- NASA [1407, GO 20443, 50261]
- Polish MNiSW [N203 511838]
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Hydrogen depleted environments are considered an essential requirement for the formation of fullerenes. The recent detection of C-60 and C-70 fullerenes in what was interpreted as the hydrogen-poor inner region of a post-final helium shell flash planetary nebula (PN) seemed to confirm this picture. Here, we present strong evidence that challenges the current paradigm regarding fullerene formation, showing that it can take place in circumstellar environments containing hydrogen. We report the simultaneous detection of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and fullerenes toward C-rich and H-containing PNe belonging to environments with very different chemical histories such as our own Galaxy and the Small Magellanic Cloud. We suggest that PAHs and fullerenes may be formed by the photochemical processing of hydrogenated amorphous carbon. These observations suggest that modifications may be needed to our current understanding of the chemistry of large organic molecules as well as the chemical processing in space.
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