PAH Feature Ratios around Stellar Clusters and Associations in 19 Nearby Galaxies

Autores
Rodríguez, María Jimena
Año de publicación
2025
Idioma
inglés
Tipo de recurso
artículo
Estado
versión publicada
Descripción
We present a comparison of observed polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) feature ratios in 19 nearby galaxies with a grid of theoretical expectations for near- and mid-infrared dust emission. The PAH feature ratios are drawn from Cycle 1 JWST observations and are measured for 7224 stellar clusters and 29,176 stellar associations for which we have robust ages and mass estimates from Hubble Space Telescope five-band photometry. Though there are galaxy-to-galaxy variations, the observed PAH feature ratios largely agree with the theoretical models, particularly those that are skewed toward more ionized and larger PAH size distributions. For each galaxy we also extract PAH feature ratios for 200 pc wide circular regions in the diffuse interstellar medium, which serve as a noncluster/association control sample. Compared to what we find for stellar clusters and associations, the 3.3 μm/ 7.7 μm and 3.3 μm/11.3 μm ratios from the diffuse interstellar medium are ∼0.10–0.15 dex smaller. When the observed PAH feature ratios are compared to the radiation field hardness as probed by the [O III]/Hβ ratio, we find anticorrelations for nearly all galaxies in the sample. These results together suggest that the PAH feature ratios are driven by the shape and intensity of the radiation field and that the smallest PAHs—observed via JWST F335M imaging—are increasingly “processed” or destroyed in regions with the most intense and hard radiation fields.
La lista completa de autores que integran el documento puede consultarse en el archivo.
Facultad de Ciencias Astronómicas y Geofísicas
Materia
Ciencias Astronómicas
Galaxies
Star clusters
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
Nivel de accesibilidad
acceso abierto
Condiciones de uso
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Repositorio
SEDICI (UNLP)
Institución
Universidad Nacional de La Plata
OAI Identificador
oai:sedici.unlp.edu.ar:10915/181948

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oai_identifier_str oai:sedici.unlp.edu.ar:10915/181948
network_acronym_str SEDICI
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network_name_str SEDICI (UNLP)
spelling PAH Feature Ratios around Stellar Clusters and Associations in 19 Nearby GalaxiesRodríguez, María JimenaCiencias AstronómicasGalaxiesStar clustersPolycyclic aromatic hydrocarbonsWe present a comparison of observed polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) feature ratios in 19 nearby galaxies with a grid of theoretical expectations for near- and mid-infrared dust emission. The PAH feature ratios are drawn from Cycle 1 JWST observations and are measured for 7224 stellar clusters and 29,176 stellar associations for which we have robust ages and mass estimates from Hubble Space Telescope five-band photometry. Though there are galaxy-to-galaxy variations, the observed PAH feature ratios largely agree with the theoretical models, particularly those that are skewed toward more ionized and larger PAH size distributions. For each galaxy we also extract PAH feature ratios for 200 pc wide circular regions in the diffuse interstellar medium, which serve as a noncluster/association control sample. Compared to what we find for stellar clusters and associations, the 3.3 μm/ 7.7 μm and 3.3 μm/11.3 μm ratios from the diffuse interstellar medium are ∼0.10–0.15 dex smaller. When the observed PAH feature ratios are compared to the radiation field hardness as probed by the [O III]/Hβ ratio, we find anticorrelations for nearly all galaxies in the sample. These results together suggest that the PAH feature ratios are driven by the shape and intensity of the radiation field and that the smallest PAHs—observed via JWST F335M imaging—are increasingly “processed” or destroyed in regions with the most intense and hard radiation fields.La lista completa de autores que integran el documento puede consultarse en el archivo.Facultad de Ciencias Astronómicas y Geofísicas2025-03info:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionArticulohttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501info:ar-repo/semantics/articuloapplication/pdfhttp://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/handle/10915/181948enginfo:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/issn/1538-3881info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.3847/1538-3881/ada89finfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccesshttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)reponame:SEDICI (UNLP)instname:Universidad Nacional de La Platainstacron:UNLP2025-09-29T11:49:38Zoai:sedici.unlp.edu.ar:10915/181948Institucionalhttp://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/Universidad públicaNo correspondehttp://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/oai/snrdalira@sedici.unlp.edu.arArgentinaNo correspondeNo correspondeNo correspondeopendoar:13292025-09-29 11:49:39.187SEDICI (UNLP) - Universidad Nacional de La Platafalse
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv PAH Feature Ratios around Stellar Clusters and Associations in 19 Nearby Galaxies
title PAH Feature Ratios around Stellar Clusters and Associations in 19 Nearby Galaxies
spellingShingle PAH Feature Ratios around Stellar Clusters and Associations in 19 Nearby Galaxies
Rodríguez, María Jimena
Ciencias Astronómicas
Galaxies
Star clusters
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
title_short PAH Feature Ratios around Stellar Clusters and Associations in 19 Nearby Galaxies
title_full PAH Feature Ratios around Stellar Clusters and Associations in 19 Nearby Galaxies
title_fullStr PAH Feature Ratios around Stellar Clusters and Associations in 19 Nearby Galaxies
title_full_unstemmed PAH Feature Ratios around Stellar Clusters and Associations in 19 Nearby Galaxies
title_sort PAH Feature Ratios around Stellar Clusters and Associations in 19 Nearby Galaxies
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Rodríguez, María Jimena
author Rodríguez, María Jimena
author_facet Rodríguez, María Jimena
author_role author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Ciencias Astronómicas
Galaxies
Star clusters
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
topic Ciencias Astronómicas
Galaxies
Star clusters
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
dc.description.none.fl_txt_mv We present a comparison of observed polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) feature ratios in 19 nearby galaxies with a grid of theoretical expectations for near- and mid-infrared dust emission. The PAH feature ratios are drawn from Cycle 1 JWST observations and are measured for 7224 stellar clusters and 29,176 stellar associations for which we have robust ages and mass estimates from Hubble Space Telescope five-band photometry. Though there are galaxy-to-galaxy variations, the observed PAH feature ratios largely agree with the theoretical models, particularly those that are skewed toward more ionized and larger PAH size distributions. For each galaxy we also extract PAH feature ratios for 200 pc wide circular regions in the diffuse interstellar medium, which serve as a noncluster/association control sample. Compared to what we find for stellar clusters and associations, the 3.3 μm/ 7.7 μm and 3.3 μm/11.3 μm ratios from the diffuse interstellar medium are ∼0.10–0.15 dex smaller. When the observed PAH feature ratios are compared to the radiation field hardness as probed by the [O III]/Hβ ratio, we find anticorrelations for nearly all galaxies in the sample. These results together suggest that the PAH feature ratios are driven by the shape and intensity of the radiation field and that the smallest PAHs—observed via JWST F335M imaging—are increasingly “processed” or destroyed in regions with the most intense and hard radiation fields.
La lista completa de autores que integran el documento puede consultarse en el archivo.
Facultad de Ciencias Astronómicas y Geofísicas
description We present a comparison of observed polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) feature ratios in 19 nearby galaxies with a grid of theoretical expectations for near- and mid-infrared dust emission. The PAH feature ratios are drawn from Cycle 1 JWST observations and are measured for 7224 stellar clusters and 29,176 stellar associations for which we have robust ages and mass estimates from Hubble Space Telescope five-band photometry. Though there are galaxy-to-galaxy variations, the observed PAH feature ratios largely agree with the theoretical models, particularly those that are skewed toward more ionized and larger PAH size distributions. For each galaxy we also extract PAH feature ratios for 200 pc wide circular regions in the diffuse interstellar medium, which serve as a noncluster/association control sample. Compared to what we find for stellar clusters and associations, the 3.3 μm/ 7.7 μm and 3.3 μm/11.3 μm ratios from the diffuse interstellar medium are ∼0.10–0.15 dex smaller. When the observed PAH feature ratios are compared to the radiation field hardness as probed by the [O III]/Hβ ratio, we find anticorrelations for nearly all galaxies in the sample. These results together suggest that the PAH feature ratios are driven by the shape and intensity of the radiation field and that the smallest PAHs—observed via JWST F335M imaging—are increasingly “processed” or destroyed in regions with the most intense and hard radiation fields.
publishDate 2025
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2025-03
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
Articulo
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info:ar-repo/semantics/articulo
format article
status_str publishedVersion
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv http://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/handle/10915/181948
url http://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/handle/10915/181948
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv eng
language eng
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/issn/1538-3881
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.3847/1538-3881/ada89f
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:SEDICI (UNLP)
instname:Universidad Nacional de La Plata
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repository.name.fl_str_mv SEDICI (UNLP) - Universidad Nacional de La Plata
repository.mail.fl_str_mv alira@sedici.unlp.edu.ar
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