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arXiv 0802.0674astro-ph
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高银河纬度星际云的扩展红光发射

Extended Red Emission in High-Galactic Latitude Interstellar Clouds

A. N. Witt, S. Mandel, P. H. Sell, T. Dixon, U. P. Vijh

摘要:

银河系高纬度附近的星际云是研究星际尘埃与来自特征明确的星际辐射场的光子相互作用的理想对象。散射和紫外光激发的光致发光在光学波长,以及在中红外和远红外波长的热发射是这种相互作用的可观察的表现。在这里,我们报告的光学薄高银河系纬度云,这是为了研究这些对象的表面亮度,结构和光谱能量分布的光学成像调查的初步结果。本文的主要目的是研究扩展的红色发射(ERE),已报告在银河系高纬度地区的早期调查,这是由于紫外线激发的光致发光的星际尘埃的一个尚未确定的组成部分。我们发现了强有力的证据,证明在光学薄的云层中,尘埃以宽(>1000 A FWHM)的ERE带形式发射,峰值发射波长接近600 nm,峰值强度约为5 × 10 ^-9(erg cm^-2 s^-1 A^-1 sr^-1)。这相当于这些云的总光学表面亮度的30%左右,其余的与灰尘散射光的预期一致。这支持了在银河系弥漫的星际介质中普遍存在ERE载体的说法。我们认为,ERE载体参与辐射处理的尘埃吸收的UV/光学光度的银河系的约20%至30%,与大部分的这种能量被发射在近中红外光谱区域。

英文摘要:

Nearby interstellar clouds at high Galactic latitudes are ideal objects in which the interaction of interstellar dust with photons from the well-characterized interstellar radiation field can be studied. Scattering and UV-excited photoluminescence at optical wavelengths as well as thermal emission at mid- and far-infrared wavelengths are observable manifestations of such interactions. Here we report initial results from an optical imaging survey of optically thin high-Galactic-latitude clouds, which is designed to study the surface brightness, structure, and spectral energy distribution of these objects. The primary aim of this paper is to study the extended red emission (ERE) that has been reported at high Galactic latitudes in earlier investigations and which is attributed to ultraviolet-excited photoluminescence of an as yet unidentified component of interstellar dust. We find strong evidence for dust emission in the form of a broad (>1000 A FWHM) ERE band with peak emission near 600 nm wavelength and peak intensity of ~ 5x10^-9 (erg cm^-2 s^-1 A^-1 sr^-1) in optically-thin clouds. This amounts to about 30% of the total optical surface brightness of these clouds, the remainder being consistent with expectations for dust-scattered light. This supports claims for the ubiquitous presence of the ERE carrier throughout the diffuse interstellar medium of the Milky Way Galaxy. We suggest that the ERE carrier is involved in the radiative processing of about 20% to 30% of the dust-absorbed UV/optical luminosity of the Milky Way galaxy, with the bulk of this energy being emitted in the near- to mid-infrared spectral regions.

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