The mid-infrared colors of the interstellar medium and extended sources at the Galactic center
| Autor: | Casey J. Law, S. Stolovy, Solange Ramirez, R. G. Arendt, Daniel Y. Gezari, K. Sellgren, Angela S. Cotera, F. Yusef-Zadeh, Howard A. Smith |
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| Přispěvatelé: | High Energy Astrophys. & Astropart. Phys (API, FNWI) |
| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2008 |
| Předmět: |
Physics
Star formation Astrophysics::High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena Radiation field Galactic Center Extinction (astronomy) Mid infrared Astronomy and Astrophysics Astrophysics::Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics Astrophysics Galaxy Spitzer Space Telescope Space and Planetary Science Astrophysics::Solar and Stellar Astrophysics Astrophysics::Earth and Planetary Astrophysics Central Molecular Zone Astrophysics::Galaxy Astrophysics Caltech Library Services |
| Zdroj: | Astrophysical Journal, 682(1), 384-399. IOP Publishing Ltd. |
| ISSN: | 0004-637X |
| Popis: | A mid-infrared (3.6-8 mu m) survey of the Galactic center has been carried out with the IRAC instrument on the Spitzer Space Telescope. This survey covers the central 2 degrees x 1.4 degrees (similar to 280 x 200 pc) of the Galaxy. At 3.6 and 4.5 mu m the emission is dominated by stellar sources, the fainter ones merging into an unresolved background. At 5.8 and 8 mu m the stellar sources are fainter, and large-scale diffuse emission from the ISM of the Galaxy's central molecular zone becomes prominent. The survey reveals that the 8-to-5.8 mu m color of the ISM emission is highly uniform across the surveyed region. This uniform color is consistent with a flat extinction law and emission from polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Models indicate that this broadband color should not be expected to change if the incident radiation field heating the dust and PAHs is < 10(4) times that of the solar neighborhood. The few regions with unusually red emission are areas where the PAHs are underabundant and the radiation field is locally strong enough to heat large dust grains to produce significant 8 mu m emission. These red regions include compact H II regions, Sgr B1, and wider regions around the Arches and Quintuplet clusters. In these regions the radiation field is greater than or similar to 10(4) times that of the solar neighborhood. Other regions of very red emission indicate cases where thick dust clouds obscure deeply embedded objects or very early stages of star formation. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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