Dust in the diffuse emission of the galactic plane - The Herschel/Spitzer SED fitting

TL;DR

This study combines Herschel and Spitzer data to analyze diffuse galactic emission, revealing the complex relationship between dust components, radiation, and emission features at multiple wavelengths.

Contribution

It presents the first pixel-by-pixel SED fitting of diffuse galactic emission using DustEM, linking dust properties with observed infrared emission features.

Findings

AIB intensity does not directly trace PAH abundance.

PACS70microns map resembles shorter wavelength maps due to radiation and density.

VSG contribution to emission can be significant, up to 50%.

Abstract

The first Herschel Hi-Gal images of the galactic plane unveil the far-infrared diffuse emission of the interstellar medium with an unprecedented angular resolution and sensitivity. In this paper, we present the first analysis of these data in combination with that of Spitzer Glimpse & Mipsgal. We selected a relatively diffuse and low excitation region of the l~59\,^{\circ} Hi-Gal Science Demonstration Phase field to perform a pixel by pixel fitting of the 8 to 500 microns SED using the DustEM dust emission model. We derived maps of the Very Small Grains (VSG) and PAH abundances from the model. Our analysis allows us to illustrate that the Aromatic Infrared Bands (AIB) intensity does not trace necessarily the PAH abundance but rather the product of "abundance x column density x intensity of the exciting radiation field". We show that the spatial structure of PACS70microns map resembles the shorter wavelengths (e.g. IRAC8microns) maps, because they trace both the intensity of exciting radiation field and column density. We also show that the modeled VSG contribution to PACS70microns (PACS160microns) band intensity can be up to 50% (7%). The interpretation of diffuse emission spectra at these wavelengths must take stochastically heated particles into account. Finally, this preliminary study emphasizes the potential of analyzing the full dust SED sampled by Herschel and Spitzer data, with a physical dust model (DustEM) to reach the properties of the dust at simultaneously large and small scales.