PHANGS-JWST First Results: Mapping the 3.3 μm Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Vibrational Band in Nearby Galaxies with NIRCam Medium Bands
Author
Sandstrom, K.M.Chastenet, J.
Sutter, J.
Leroy, A.K.
Egorov, O.V.
Williams, T.G.
Bolatto, A.D.
Boquien, M.
Cao, Y.
Dale, D.A.
Lee, J.C.
Rosolowsky, E.
Schinnerer, E.
Barnes, A.T.
Belfiore, F.
Bigiel, F.
Chevance, M.
Grasha, K.

Groves, B.
Hassani, H.
Hughes, A.
Klessen, R.S.
Kruijssen, J.M.D.
Larson, K.L.
Liu, D.
Lopez, L.A.
Meidt, S.E.
Murphy, E.J.
Sormani, M.C.
Thilker, D.A.
Watkins, E.J.
Affiliation
Steward Observatory, University of ArizonaIssue Date
2023-02-16
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American Astronomical SocietyCitation
Karin M. Sandstrom et al 2023 ApJL 944 L7Journal
Astrophysical Journal LettersRights
© 2023. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society. Original content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence.Collection Information
This item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at repository@u.library.arizona.edu.Abstract
We present maps of the 3.3 μm polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) emission feature in NGC 628, NGC 1365, and NGC 7496 as observed with the Near-Infrared Camera imager on JWST from the PHANGS-JWST Cycle 1 Treasury project. We create maps that isolate the 3.3 μm PAH feature in the F335M filter (F335MPAH) using combinations of the F300M and F360M filters for removal of starlight continuum. This continuum removal is complicated by contamination of the F360M by PAH emission and variations in the stellar spectral energy distribution slopes between 3.0 and 3.6 μm. We modify the empirical prescription from Lai et al. to remove the starlight continuum in our highly resolved galaxies, which have a range of starlight- and PAH-dominated lines of sight. Analyzing radially binned profiles of the F335MPAH emission, we find that between 5% and 65% of the F335M intensity comes from the 3.3 μm feature within the inner 0.5 r 25 of our targets. This percentage systematically varies from galaxy to galaxy and shows radial trends within the galaxies related to each galaxy’s distribution of stellar mass, interstellar medium, and star formation. The 3.3 μm emission is well correlated with the 11.3 μm PAH feature traced with the MIRI F1130W filter, as is expected, since both features arise from C-H vibrational modes. The average F335MPAH/F1130W ratio agrees with the predictions of recent models by Draine et al. for PAHs with size and charge distributions shifted toward larger grains with normal or higher ionization. © 2023. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society.Note
Open access journalISSN
2041-8205Version
Final Published Versionae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.3847/2041-8213/acb0cf
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Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as © 2023. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society. Original content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence.