http://arxiv.org/abs/2212.00130
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.
D. Dale, M. Boquien, A. Barnes, et. al.
Fri, 2 Dec 22
66/81
Comments: 8 pages, accepted as part of a PHANGS-JWST Focus Issue to appear in ApJ