The Astrophysical Journal (Jan 2024)
The Fraction of Dust Mass in the Form of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons on 10–50 pc Scales in Nearby Galaxies
- Jessica Sutter,
- Karin Sandstrom,
- Jérémy Chastenet,
- Adam K. Leroy,
- Eric W. Koch,
- Thomas G. Williams,
- Ryan Chown,
- Francesco Belfiore,
- Frank Bigiel,
- Médéric Boquien,
- Yixian Cao,
- Mélanie Chevance,
- Daniel A. Dale,
- Oleg V. Egorov,
- Simon C. O. Glover,
- Brent Groves,
- Ralf S. Klessen,
- Kathryn Kreckel,
- Kirsten L. Larson,
- Elias K. Oakes,
- Debosmita Pathak,
- Lise Ramambason,
- Erik Rosolowsky,
- Elizabeth J. Watkins
Affiliations
- Jessica Sutter
- ORCiD
- Whitman College , 345 Boyer Avenue, Walla Walla, WA 99362, USA ; [email protected]; Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics, University of California , San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
- Karin Sandstrom
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics, University of California , San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
- Jérémy Chastenet
- ORCiD
- Sterrenkundig Observatorium, Universiteit Gent , Krijgslaan 281 S9, B-9000 Gent, Belgium
- Adam K. Leroy
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, The Ohio State University , 140 West 18th Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210, USA; Center for Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics (CCAPP) , 191 West Woodruff Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
- Eric W. Koch
- ORCiD
- Center for Astrophysics ∣ Harvard & Smithsonian , 60 Garden Street, 02138 Cambridge, MA, USA
- Thomas G. Williams
- ORCiD
- Sub-department of Astrophysics, Department of Physics, University of Oxford , Keble Road, Oxford, OX1 3RH, UK
- Ryan Chown
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, The Ohio State University , 140 West 18th Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
- Francesco Belfiore
- ORCiD
- INAF—Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri , Largo E. Fermi 5, I-50125, Florence, Italy
- Frank Bigiel
- ORCiD
- Argelander-Institut für Astronomie, Universität Bonn , Auf dem Hügel 71, 53121 Bonn, Germany
- Médéric Boquien
- ORCiD
- Université Côte d’Azur , Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur, CNRS, Laboratoire Lagrange, 06000, Nice, France
- Yixian Cao
- ORCiD
- Max-Planck-Institut für Extraterrestrische Physik (MPE) , Giessenbachstr. 1, D-85748 Garching, Germany
- Mélanie Chevance
- ORCiD
- Universität Heidelberg , Zentrum für Astronomie, Institut für Theoretische Astrophysik, Albert-Ueberle-Str 2, D-69120 Heidelberg, Germany; Cosmic Origins Of Life (COOL) Research DAO , Germany 22
- Daniel A. Dale
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Wyoming , Laramie, WY 82071, USA
- Oleg V. Egorov
- ORCiD
- Astronomisches Rechen-Institut, Zentrum für Astronomie der Universität Heidelberg , Mönchhofstr. 12-14, D-69120 Heidelberg, Germany
- Simon C. O. Glover
- ORCiD
- Universität Heidelberg , Zentrum für Astronomie, Institut für Theoretische Astrophysik, Albert-Ueberle-Str 2, D-69120 Heidelberg, Germany
- Brent Groves
- ORCiD
- International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research, University of Western Australia , 7 Fairway, Crawley, 6009 WA, Australia
- Ralf S. Klessen
- ORCiD
- Universität Heidelberg , Zentrum für Astronomie, Institut für Theoretische Astrophysik, Albert-Ueberle-Str 2, D-69120 Heidelberg, Germany; Universität Heidelberg , Interdisziplinäres Zentrum für Wissenschaftliches Rechnen, Im Neuenheimer Feld 205, D-69120 Heidelberg, Germany
- Kathryn Kreckel
- ORCiD
- Astronomisches Rechen-Institut, Zentrum für Astronomie der Universität Heidelberg , Mönchhofstr. 12-14, D-69120 Heidelberg, Germany
- Kirsten L. Larson
- ORCiD
- AURA for the European Space Agency (ESA), Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- Elias K. Oakes
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics, University of Connecticut , 196A Auditorium Road, Storrs, CT 06269, USA
- Debosmita Pathak
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, The Ohio State University , 140 West 18th Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
- Lise Ramambason
- ORCiD
- Universität Heidelberg , Zentrum für Astronomie, Institut für Theoretische Astrophysik, Albert-Ueberle-Str 2, D-69120 Heidelberg, Germany
- Erik Rosolowsky
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics, University of Alberta , 4-183 CCIS, Edmonton, AB, T6G 2E1, Canada
- Elizabeth J. Watkins
- ORCiD
- Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Manchester , Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PL, UK
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad54bd
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 971,
no. 2
p. 178
Abstract
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are a ubiquitous component of the interstellar medium (ISM) in z ∼ 0 massive, star-forming galaxies and play key roles in ISM energy balance, chemistry, and shielding. Wide field-of-view, high-resolution mid-infrared (MIR) images from JWST provide the ability to map the fraction of dust in the form of PAHs and the properties of these key dust grains at 10–50 pc resolution in galaxies outside the Local Group. We use MIR JWST photometric observations of a sample of 19 nearby galaxies from the Physics at High Angular Resolution in Nearby GalaxieS (PHANGS) survey to investigate the variations of the PAH fraction. By comparison to lower-resolution far-infrared mapping, we show that a combination of the MIRI filters ( R _PAH = [F770W+F1130W]/F2100W) traces the fraction of dust by mass in the form of PAHs (i.e., the PAH fraction, or q _PAH ). Mapping R _PAH across the 19 PHANGS galaxies, we find that the PAH fraction steeply decreases in H ii regions, revealing the destruction of these small grains in regions of ionized gas. Outside H ii regions, we find R _PAH is constant across the PHANGS sample with an average value of 3.43 ± 0.98, which, for an illuminating radiation field of intensity 2–5 times that of the radiation field in the solar neighborhood, corresponds to q _PAH values of 3%–6%.
Keywords
