Detailed Record


PHANGS–JWST First Results: The Influence of Stellar Clusters on Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Nearby Galaxies


Abstract We present a comparison of theoretical predictions of dust continuum and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) emission with new JWST observations in three nearby galaxies: NGC 628, NGC 1365, and NGC 7496. Our analysis focuses on a total of 1063 compact stellar clusters and 2654 stellar associations previously characterized by HST in the three galaxies. We find that the distributions and trends in the observed PAH-focused infrared colors generally agree with theoretical expectations, and that the bulk of the observations is more aligned with models of larger, ionized PAHs. These JWST data usher in a new era of probing interstellar dust and studying how the intense radiation fields near stellar clusters and associations play a role in shaping the physical properties of PAHs.
Authors Daniel A. Dale University of WyomingORCID , M. Boquien ORCID , Ashley T. Barnes ORCID , Francesco Belfiore ORCID , Frank Bigiel ORCID , Yixian Cao ORCID , Rupali Chandar ORCID , Jérémy Chastenet ORCID , Mélanie Chevance ORCID , Sinan Deger ORCID , Oleg V. Egorov ORCID , Kathryn Grasha ORCID , Brent Groves ORCID , Hamid Hassani ORCID , Kiana F. Henny University of WyomingORCID , Ralf S. Klessen ORCID , Kathryn Kreckel ORCID , J. M. Diederik Kruijssen ORCID , Kirsten L. Larson ORCID , Janice Lee ORCID , Adam K. Leroy ORCID , Daizhong Liu ORCID , E. J. Murphy ORCID , Erik Rosolowsky ORCID , Karin Sandström ORCID , E. Schinnerer ORCID , Jessica Sutter ORCID , David A. Thilker ORCID , Elizabeth J. Watkins ORCID , Bradley C. Whitmore ORCID , Thomas G. Williams ORCID
Journal Info IOP Publishing | The Astrophysical Journal Letters , vol: 944 , iss: 2 , pages: L23 - L23
Publication Date 2/1/2023
ISSN 2041-8205
TypeKeyword Image article
Open Access gold Gold Access
DOI https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/aca769
KeywordsKeyword Image Young Stellar Objects (Score: 0.458527)