We present recent UV laboratory spectra of various polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and explore the potential of these molecules as carriers of the DIBs. From a detailed comparison of gas-phase and Ne-matrix absorption spectra of anthracene, phenanthrene, pyrene, 2,3-benzofluorene, benzo[ghi]perylene, and hexabenzocoronene with new interstellar spectra, we infer upper limits in the abundance of these PAHs in the interstellar medium. Upper limits in the column densities of anthracene of $0.8 - 2.8 \times 10^{12}$\ cm$^{-2}$ and of pyrene and 2,3-benzofluorene ranging from $2 - 8 \times 10^{12}$\ cm$^{-2}$ are inferred. Upper limits in the column densities of benzo[ghi]perylene are $0.9 - 2.4 \times 10^{13}$ and $10^{14}$ cm$^{-2}$ for phenanthrene. The measurements indicate fractional abundances of anthracene, pyrene, and 2,3-benzofluorene of a few times $10^{-10}$. Upper limits in the fractional abundance of benzo[ghi]perylene of a few times $10^{-9}$ and of phenanthrene of few times $10^{-8}$ are inferred. {Toward CPD $-32^\circ 1734$, we found near 3584 Å an absorption line of OH$^+$, which was discovered in the interstellar medium only very recently.
The fractional abundances of PAHs inferred here are up to two orders of magnitude lower than estimated total PAH abundances in the interstellar medium. This indicates that either neutral PAHs are not abundant in translucent molecular clouds, or that a PAH population with a large variety of molecules is present.
This work proposes deuteronated PAH (DPAH+ ) molecules as a potential carrier of the 4.4 and 4.65 μm mid infrared emission bands that have been observationally detected towards the Orion and M17 regions. Density Functional Theory calculations have been carried out on DPAH+ molecules to see the variations in the spectral behaviour from that of a pure PAH. DPAH+ molecules show features that arise due to the stretching of the aliphatic C-D bond. Deuterated PAHs have been previously reported as carriers for such features. However, preferred conditions of ionization of PAHs in the interstellar medi…
Interstellar Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon (PAH) molecules exist in diverse forms depending on the local physical environment. Formation of ionized PAHs (anions and cations) is favourable in the extreme conditions of the ISM. Besides in their pure form, PAHs are also likely to exist in substituted forms; for example, PAHs with functional groups, dehydrogenated PAHs etc. A dehydrogenated PAH molecule might subsequently form fullerenes in the ISM as a result of ongoing chemical processes. This work presents a Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculation on dehydrogenated PAH anions to explore t…
Based on a one-zone evolution model of grain size distribution in a galaxy, we calculate the evolution of infrared spectral energy distribution (SED), considering silicate, carbonaceous dust, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The dense gas fraction ($η_\mathrm{dense}$) of the interstellar medium (ISM), the star formation time-scale ($τ_\mathrm{SF}$), and the interstellar radiation field intensity normalized to the Milky Way value ($U$) are the main parameters. We find that the SED shape generally has weak mid-infrared (MIR) emission in the early phase of galaxy evolution because the…
The high interstellar abundances of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and their size distribution are the result of complex chemical processes implying dust, UV radiation, and the main gaseous components (H, C+, and O). These processes must explain the high abundance of relatively small PAHs in the diffuse interstellar medium (ISM) and imply the continuous formation of some PAHs that are small enough (number of carbon atoms NC <~ 35-50) to be completely dehydrogenated by interstellar UV radiation. The carbon clusters Cn thus formed are constantly exposed to the absorption of ~10-13.6 eV …
The Lifecycle and Emission Properties of PAHs in Cosmological Hydrodynamic Galaxy Formation Simulations
University of Florida（佛罗里达大学）；Cosmic Dawn Center at the Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen and DTU-Space, Technical University of Denmark（哥本哈根大学尼尔斯·玻尔研究所宇宙黎明中心及丹麦技术大学DTU空间）；University of Virginia（弗吉尼亚大学）；Virginia Institute for Theoretical Astronomy, University of Virginia（弗吉尼亚大学理论天体物理研究所）；Ritter Astrophysical Research Center, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Toledo（托莱多大学物理与天文系雷特天体物理研究中心）；University of Pittsburgh（匹兹堡大学）
CONTEXT: The attachment of free electrons to polycondensed aromatic ring molecules (PAHs) is studied for the variety of these molecules with different numbers of condensed rings and over a broad range of electron temperatures, using a multichannel quantum scattering approach. The calculations of the relevant cross sections are used in turn to model the corresponding attachment rates for each of the systems under study, and these rates are parametrized as a function of temperature using a commonly employed expression for two-body processes in the interstellar medium (ISM). AIM: The scope of thi…
PAHSPECS: JWST/MIRI Spectroscopy of PAHs at Cosmic Noon
Centro de Astrobiología (CAB), CSIC-INTA（天体生物学中心（CAB），西班牙国家航空航天技术研究所/西班牙国家研究委员会）；Institute of Astrophysics, Foundation for Research and Technology–Hellas (FORTH)（希腊研究与技术基金会天体物理研究所）；Leiden Observatory, Leiden University（莱顿大学莱顿天文台）；Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics, University of California San Diego（加州大学圣地亚哥分校天文与天体物理系）；Instituto de Estudios Astrofícos, Facultad de Ingeniería y Ciencias, Universidad Diego Portales（迭戈帕托莱斯大学工程与科学学院天体物理研究所）；Millenium Nucleus for Galaxies (MINGAL)（星系千年核心（MINGAL））；INAF Osservatorio di Astrofisica e Scienza dello Spazio di Bologna（博洛尼亚空间天体物理学与科学国家研究院）
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are some of the major dust components in the interstellar medium (ISM). We present our evolution models for the abundance of PAHs in the ISM on a galaxy-evolution timescale. We consider shattering of carbonaceous dust grains in interstellar turbulence as the formation mechanism of PAHs while the PAH abundance can be reduced by coagulation onto dust grains, destruction by supernova shocks, and incorporation into stars. We implement these processes in a one-zone chemical evolution model to obtain the evolution of the PAH abundance in a galaxy. We find that…
Dust and PAHs in late-stage galaxy evolution: Imprints of TP-AGB dust injection, grain growth and AGN feedback in high-z quiescent galaxies with JWST and ALMA
National Center for Nuclear Research（国家核研究中心）；SISSA（的里雅斯特国际高等研究学院）；INAF, Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste（意大利国家天体物理研究所的里雅斯特天文台）；INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico d’Abruzzo（意大利国家天体物理研究所阿布鲁佐天文台）；Department of Astronomy, University of Massachusetts, Amherst（马萨诸塞大学阿默斯特分校天文学系）；Cosmic Dawn Center (DAWN)（宇宙黎明中心）；Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of British Columbia（不列颠哥伦比亚大学物理与天文学系）；Caltech/IPAC（加州理工学院/IPAC）；IFPU – Institute for Fundamental Physics of the Universe（基础物理学宇宙研究所）；Centro de Astrobiología (CAB), CSIC-INTA（天体生物学中心）；Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie（马克斯·普朗克射电天文研究所）；Center for Astrophysics and Cosmology, University of Nova Gorica（新戈里察大学天体物理学与宇宙学中心）
Using atomistic simulations, we characterize the adsorption process of organic molecules on carbon nanoparticles, both of which have been reported to be abundant in the interstellar medium (ISM). It is found that the aromatic organics are adsorbed more readily than the aliphatic ones. This selectivity would favor the formation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) or fullerene-like structures in the ISM due to structural similarity. It is also observed in our simulations that the molecules form a monolayer over the nanoparticle surface before stacking up in aggregates. This suggests a pos…
We examine the annihilation of positrons on polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) molecules in interstellar medium conditions. We estimate the annihilation rates of positrons on PAHs by a semi-empirical approach. We show that PAHs can play a significant role in the overall galactic positron annihilation picture and use the annihilation rates and INTEGRAL galactic emission measurements to constrain the amount of PAHs present in the ISM. We find an upper limit of 4.6 x 10^-7 for the PAH abundance.
Time-scales of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon and dust continuum emission from gas clouds compared to molecular gas cloud lifetimes in PHANGS-JWST galaxies
The abundance and emission of PAHs from the local to early Universe
University of Florida（佛罗里达大学）；University of Copenhagen（哥本哈根大学）；Technical University of Denmark（丹麦技术大学）；University of Virginia（弗吉尼亚大学）；INAF, Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste（意大利国家天体物理研究所的的里雅斯特天文台）；Institute for Fundamental Physics of the Universe（宇宙基础物理研究所）；Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology（加州理工学院喷气推进实验室）；University of Texas at Austin（德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校）；University of Massachusetts, Amherst（马萨诸塞大学阿默斯特分校）；European Southern Observatory（欧洲南方天文台）；Centro de Astrobiologia (CAB), CSIC-INTA（西班牙国家研究委员会-国家航空航天技术研究所天体生物学中心）
Interstellar polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are strongly affected by the absorption of vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) photons in the interstellar medium (ISM), yet the branching ratio between ionization and fragmentation is poorly studied. This is crucial for the stability and charge state of PAHs in the ISM in different environments, affecting in turn the chemistry, the energy balance, and the contribution of PAHs to the extinction and emission curves. We studied the interaction of PAH cations with VUV photons in the 7-20 eV range from the synchrotron SOLEIL beamline, DESIRS. We recorded b…
We present insights into the behavior of the astronomical 7.7 $μ$m polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) emission complex as gleaned from analyzing synthesized spectra, utilizing the data and tools from the NASA Ames PAH IR Spectroscopic Database. We specifically study the influence of PAH size, charge, aliphatic content and nitrogen substitution on the profile and peak position of the 7.7 $μ$m feature ($λ$7.7). The 7.7 $μ$m band is known to vary significantly from object-to-object in astronomical observations, but the origin of these variations remains highly speculative. Our results indicate…
NGC 1097 is a nearby Seyfert 1 galaxy with a bright circumnuclear starburst ring, a strong large-scale bar and an active nucleus. We present a detailed study of the spatial variation of the far infrared (FIR) [CII]158um and [OI]63um lines and mid-infrared H2 emission lines as tracers of gas cooling, and of the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) bands as tracers of the photoelectric heating, using Herschel-PACS, and Spitzer-IRS infrared spectral maps. We focus on the nucleus and the ring, and two star forming regions (Enuc N and Enuc S). We estimated a photoelectric gas heating efficiency ([…
Where Have All the Sulfur Atoms Gone? Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon as a Possible Sink for the Missing Sulfur in the Interstellar Medium. I. The C--S Band Strengths
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) molecules, as revealed by the distinctive set of emission bands at 3.3, 6.2, 7.7, 8.6, 11.3 and 12.7 $μ$m characteristic of their vibrational modes, are abundant and widespread throughout the Universe. They are ubiquitously seen in a wide variety of astrophysical regions, ranging from planet-forming disks around young stars to the interstellar medium (ISM) of the Milky Way and external galaxies out to high redshifts at z>4. PAHs profoundly influence the thermal budget and chemistry of the ISM by dominating the photoelectric heating of the gas and controlli…
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and fullerenes play a major role in the physics and chemistry of the interstellar medium. Based on a number of recent experimental and theoretical investigations we developed a model in which PAHs are subject to photo-dissociation (carbon and hydrogen loss) and hydrogenation. We take into account that dehydrogenated PAHs may fold into closed structures -- fullerenes. Fullerenes, in their turn, can be also hydrogenated, becoming fulleranes, and photo-dissociated, losing carbon and hydrogen atoms. The carbon loss leads to shrinking of fullerene cages to sm…
Aim. We investigate the role of PAHs as a sink for deuterium in the interstellar medium and study UV photolysis as a potential process in the variations of the deuterium fractionation in the ISM. Methods. The UV photo-induced fragmentation of various isotopologues of D-enriched, protonated anthracene and phenanthrene ions was recorded in a FTICR mass spectrometer. IRMPD spectroscopy using FELIX provided the IR spectra that were compared to DFT vibrational spectra; reaction barriers and rates were also calculated and related to the product abundances. Results. The mass spectra for both UV and I…
We present ROBO, a model and its companion code for the study of the interstellar medium (ISM). The aim is to provide an accurate description of the physical evolution of the ISM and to set the ground for an ancillary tool to be inserted in NBody-Tree-SPH (NB-TSPH) simulations of large scale structures in cosmological context or of the formation and evolution of individual galaxies. The ISM model consists of gas and dust. The gas chemical composition is regulated by a network of reactions that includes a large number of species (hydrogen and deuterium based molecules, helium, and metals). New …
Deuterium (D) is one of the light elements created in the big bang. As the Galaxy evolves, the D/H abundance in the interstellar medium (ISM) decreases from its primordial value due to "astration". However, the observed gas-phase D/H abundances of some interstellar sightlines are substantially lower than the expected reduction by astration alone. The missing D could have been depleted onto polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) molecules which are ubiquitous and abundant in interstellar regions. To quantitatively explore the hypothesis of PAHs as a possible reservoir of interstellar D, we compu…
The fullerene C$_{60}$, one of the largest molecules identified in the interstellar medium (ISM), has been proposed to form top-down through the photo-chemical processing of large (more than 60 C-atoms) polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) molecules. In this article, we focus on the opposite process, investigating the possibility that fullerenes form from small PAHs, in which bowl-forming plays a central role. We combine laboratory experiments and quantum chemical calculations to study the formation of larger PAHs from charged fluorene clusters. The experiments show that with visible laser ir…
An absorption feature is occasionally reported around 11 microns in astronomical spectra, including those of forming stars. Candidate carriers include water ice, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), silicon carbide, crystalline silicates or even carbonates. All are known constituents of cosmic dust in one or more types of environments, though not necessarily together. In this paper we present new ground-based 8-13 micron spectra of one evolved star, several embedded young stellar objects (YSOs) and a background source lying behind a large column of the interstellar medium (ISM) toward the …
CRIRES high-resolution near-infrared spectroscopy of diffuse interstellar band profiles. Detection of 12 new DIBs in the YJ band and the introduction of a combined ISM sight line and stellar analysis approach
