Properties of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in local elliptical galaxies revealed by the Infrared Spectrograph on Spitzer

TL;DR

This study uses Spitzer's Infrared Spectrograph to analyze mid-infrared properties of dusty elliptical galaxies, revealing common PAH features and their interstellar origin, with unusual emission ratios indicating a prevalence of neutral PAHs.

Contribution

First mid-infrared spectroscopic survey of local dusty elliptical galaxies showing widespread PAH presence and their interstellar origin, highlighting unusual PAH emission ratios.

Findings

PAHs detected in 14 of 18 galaxies, indicating commonality.

Unusual PAH emission ratios suggest large fraction of neutral PAHs.

PAH features correlate with 35 um continuum but not with 6 um continuum.

Abstract

We performed mid-infrared spectroscopic observations of 18 local dusty elliptical galaxies by using the Infrared Spectrograph (IRS) on board Spitzer. We have significantly detected polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) features from 14 out of the 18 galaxies, and thus found that the presence of PAHs is not rare but rather common in dusty elliptical galaxies. Most of these galaxies show an unusually weak 7.7 um emission feature relative to 11.3 um and 17 um emission features. A large fraction of the galaxies also exhibit H2 rotational line and ionic fine-structure line emissions, which have no significant correlation with the PAH emissions. The PAH features are well correlated with the continuum at 35 um, whereas they are not correlated with the continuum at 6 um. We conclude that the PAH emission of the elliptical galaxies is mostly of interstellar origin rather than of stellar origin, and that the unusual PAH interband strength ratios are likely to be due to a large fraction of neutral to ionized PAHs.