Excitation of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon (PAH) Emission: Dependence on Size Distribution, Ionization, and Starlight Spectrum and Intensity

TL;DR

This study models how PAH emission spectra depend on starlight properties, PAH size and charge, revealing how different stellar environments influence infrared features and enabling measurement of PAH abundance.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of PAH emission sensitivity to various astrophysical parameters, including starlight spectrum and intensity, and offers methods to measure PAH abundance from spectral features.

Findings

PAH emission varies significantly with starlight spectrum and intensity.

The 7.7μm emission strength can determine PAH abundance.

High starlight intensities suppress the 17μm PAH feature.

Abstract

Using physical models, we study the sensitivity of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) emission spectra to the character of the illuminating starlight, to the PAH size distribution, and to the PAH charge distribution. Starlight models considered range from the emission from a 3 Myr-old starburst, rich in far-ultraviolet (FUV) radiation, to the FUV-poor spectrum of the very old population of the M31 bulge. A wide range of starlight intensities is considered. The effects of reddening in dusty clouds are investigated for different starlight spectra. For a fixed PAH abundance parameter $q_{\rm PAH}$ (the fraction of the total dust mass in PAHs with $<10^3$ C atoms), the fraction of the IR power appearing in the PAH emission features can vary by a factor of two as the starlight spectrum varies from FUV-poor (M31 bulge) to FUV-rich (young starburst). We show how $q_{\rm PAH}$ can be measured from the strength of the 7.7$\mu$m emission. The fractional power in the 17$\mu$m feature can be suppressed by high starlight intensities.