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Spitzer’s perspective of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in galaxies

Nature Astronomy volume 4, pages 339–351 (2020)Cite this article

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Abstract

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) molecules are abundant and widespread throughout the Universe, as revealed by their distinctive set of emission bands at 3.3, 6.2, 7.7, 8.6, 11.3 and 12.7 μm, which are characteristic of their vibrational modes. They are ubiquitously seen in a wide variety of astrophysical regions, ranging from planet-forming disks around young stars to the interstellar medium of the Milky Way and other galaxies out to high redshifts at z ≳ 4. PAHs profoundly influence the thermal budget and chemistry of the interstellar medium by dominating the photoelectric heating of the gas and controlling the ionization balance. Here I review the current state of knowledge of the astrophysics of PAHs, focusing on their observational characteristics obtained from the Spitzer Space Telescope and their diagnostic power for probing the local physical and chemical conditions and processes. Special attention is paid to the spectral properties of PAHs and their variations revealed by the Infrared Spectrograph onboard Spitzer across a much broader range of extragalactic environments (for example, distant galaxies, early-type galaxies, galactic halos, active galactic nuclei and low-metallicity galaxies) than was previously possible with the Infrared Space Observatory or any other telescope facilities. Also highlighted is the relation between the PAH abundance and the galaxy metallicity established for the first time by Spitzer.

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Fig. 1: Observed and model-predicted 5–20 μm PAH spectra.
Fig. 2: Spitzer/IRS rest-frame spectra of galaxies at high redshifts.
Fig. 3: Spitzer/IRS spectra of early-type galaxies.
Fig. 4: PAHs in the superwind of M82.
Fig. 5: Relative strengths of the 6.2, 7.7 and 11.3 μm PAH features.
Fig. 6: PAH abundance versus galaxy metallicity.

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Acknowledgements

I dedicate this article to the 60th anniversary of the Department of Astronomy of Beijing Normal University, the 2nd astronomy programme in the modern history of China. I thank B. T. Draine, L. C. Ho, M. Karouzos and X. J. Yang for useful comments and suggestions. I thank L. Armus, P. Beirão, J. G. Ingalls, H. Kaneda, D. Lutz, K. Mattila, D. A. Riechers, B. Siana, O. Vega, M. Yamagishi and L. Yan for providing the PAH spectra shown in Figs. 1–4. This work is supported in part by NASA grants 80NSSC19K0572 and 80NSSC19K0701.

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    Aigen Li

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Li, A. Spitzer’s perspective of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in galaxies. Nat Astron 4, 339–351 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-020-1051-1

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