Relation between polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon, Br$α$ and infrared luminosity of local galaxies observed with AKARI [GA]

http://arxiv.org/abs/1707.01652


We produce a catalogue of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) 3.3 $\mu$m, Br$\alpha$ and infrared luminosity ($L$(IR)) of 412 local galaxies, and investigate a relation between these physical parameters. We measure the PAH 3.3 $\mu$m and Br$\alpha$ flux using AKARI 2-5 $\mu$m spectra and the $L$(IR) using the AKARI-all-sky-survey data. The $L$(IR) and redshift ranges of our sample are $L$(IR)=$10^{9.7-12.8}$L$\odot$ and $z{\rm spec}=0.002-0.3$, respectively. We found that the ratio of $L$(PAH 3.3 $\mu$m) to $L$(IR) is constant at $L$(IR) $<$ $10^{11} \rm L_\odot$ whereas it decreases with the $L$(IR) at higher $L$(IR). Also, the ratio of $L$(Br$\alpha$) to $L$(IR) decreases with the $L$(IR). The both $L$(PAH)/$L$(IR) and $L$(Br$\alpha$)/$L$(IR) ratios are not strongly dependent on galaxy type and dust temperature. The relative weakness of the two ratios could be attributed to destruction of PAH, a lack of UV photons exciting PAH molecules or ionising hydrogen gas, extremely high dust attenuation, or active galactic nucleus contribution to the $L$(IR). Although we cannot determine the cause of the decreases of the luminosity ratios, a clear correlation between them implies that they are related with each other. The catalogue presented in our work will be available at the AKARI archive web page.

Read this paper on arXiv…

K. Murata, T. Nakagawa, H. Matsuhara, et. al.
Fri, 7 Jul 17
38/46

Comments: 11 pages, 6 figures, 2 tables, accepted for publication in PASJ. Catalogue is available from this http URL