Emission from Very Small Grains and PAH Molecules in Monte Carlo Radiation Transfer Codes: Application to the Edge-On Disk of Gomez's Hamburger

TL;DR

This study models the optical to far-infrared emission of Gomez's Hamburger, incorporating PAH and VSG emission in Monte Carlo radiation transfer codes, revealing dust settling and providing refined disk parameters.

Contribution

Extended Monte Carlo codes to include PAH and VSG emission using emissivity tables, enabling more accurate infrared spectrum modeling of circumstellar disks.

Findings

Good match to observed PAH spectrum

PAHs/VSGs have larger scaleheight than larger grains

Refined disk mass and distance estimates

Abstract

We have modeled optical to far infrared images, photometry, and spectroscopy of the object known as Gomez's Hamburger. We reproduce the images and spectrum with an edge-on disk of mass 0.3M_sun and radius 1600AU, surrounding an A0 III star at a distance of 280pc. Our mass estimate is in excellent agreement with recent CO observations. However, our distance determination is more than an order of magnitude smaller than previous analyses which inaccurately interpreted the optical spectrum. To accurately model the infrared spectrum we have extended our Monte Carlo radiation transfer codes to include emission from polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) molecules and very small grains (VSG). We do this using pre-computed PAH/VSG emissivity files for a wide range of values of the mean intensity of the exciting radiation field. When Monte Carlo energy packets are absorbed by PAHs/VSGs we reprocess them to other wavelengths by sampling from the emissivity files, thus simulating the absorption and re-emission process without reproducing lengthy computations of statistical equilibrium, excitation and de-excitation in the complex many level molecules. Using emissivity lookup tables in our Monte Carlo codes gives the flexibility to use the latest grain physics calculations of PAH/VSG emissivity and opacity that are being continually updated in the light of higher resolution infrared spectra. We find our approach gives a good representation of the observed PAH spectrum from the disk of Gomez's Hamburger. Our models also indicate the PAHs/VSGs in the disk have a larger scaleheight than larger radiative equilibrium grains, providing evidence for dust coagulation and settling to the midplane.