On Titanium Carbide Nanoparticles as the Origin of the 21 Micron Emission Feature in Post-asymptotic Giant Branch Stars

Abstract

Titanium carbide (TiC) nanocrystals were recently proposed as the carrier of the mysterious 21mum emission feature observed in post-asymptotic giant branch stars, based on their close spectral match and the presolar nature of meteoritic TiC nanograins (which reveals their stellar ejecta origin). But we show in this it Letter that the Kramers-Kronig dispersion relations, which relate the wavelength-integrated extinction cross section to the total dust mass, would impose a lower bound on the TiC mass. This Kramers-Kronig lower limit exceeds the maximum available TiC mass by a factor of at least simali$50, independent of the absolute value of the ultraviolet/visible absorptivity of nano TiC. The TiC model is therefore readily ruled out by the Kramers-Kronig physical principle.