A Spectroscopically Calibrated Prescription for Extracting Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Flux from JWST MIRI Imaging

Abstract We introduce a prescription for estimating the flux of the 7.7 μ m and 11.3 μ m polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) features from broadband JWST/MIRI images. Probing PAH flux with MIRI imaging data has advantages in field of view, spatial resolution, and sensitivity compared with MIRI spectral maps, but comparisons with spectra are needed to calibrate these flux estimations over a wide variety of environments. For 267 MIRI/MRS spectra from independent regions in the four luminous infrared galaxies (LIRGs) in the Great Observatories All-sky LIRG Survey Early Release Science program, we derive synthetic filter photometry and directly compare estimated PAH fluxes to those measured from detailed spectral fits. We find that for probing PAH 7.7 μ m, the best combination of filters is F560W, F770W, and either F1500W or F2100W, and the best for PAH 11.3 μ m is F560W, F1000W, F1130W, and F1500W. The prescription with these combinations yields predicted flux densities that typically agree with values from spectral decomposition within ∼7% and ∼5% for PAH 7.7 and 11.3 μ m, respectively.

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Publication Details

Journal
The Astrophysical Journal
Published
2025-04-08
DOI
https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/adb97f
Citations
1
Primary Topic
Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
1.15

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article

A Spectroscopically Calibrated Prescription for Extracting Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Flux from JWST MIRI Imaging

Cristina Maria Lofaro, J. D. Smith, Thomas S. -Y. Lai, Sabrina Stierwalt et al.
1 citations
The Astrophysical Journal
Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies
1.15
article

A Spectroscopically Calibrated Prescription for Extracting Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Flux from JWST MIRI Imaging

Cristina Maria Lofaro, J. D. Smith, Thomas S. -Y. Lai, Sabrina Stierwalt, Anne M. Medling, Darshan Kakkad, U Vivian, Cláudio Ricci, Justin Howell, Victorine A. Buiten, L. Armus, George C. Privon, Kirsten L. Larson, Torsten Boeker, Hanae Inami, Laura Lenkić, Matthew A. Malkan, Sean T. Linden, Thomas Bohn, V. Charmandaris, Yiqing Song, P. van der Werf, A. Evans, Marina Bianchin, T. Díaz-Santos, Grant P. Donnelly, Loreto Barcos-Muñoz
article en
1 citations

Abstract

Abstract We introduce a prescription for estimating the flux of the 7.7 μ m and 11.3 μ m polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) features from broadband JWST/MIRI images. Probing PAH flux with MIRI imaging data has advantages in field of view, spatial resolution, and sensitivity compared with MIRI spectral maps, but comparisons with spectra are needed to calibrate these flux estimations over a wide variety of environments. For 267 MIRI/MRS spectra from independent regions in the four luminous infrared galaxies (LIRGs) in the Great Observatories All-sky LIRG Survey Early Release Science program, we derive synthetic filter photometry and directly compare estimated PAH fluxes to those measured from detailed spectral fits. We find that for probing PAH 7.7 μ m, the best combination of filters is F560W, F770W, and either F1500W or F2100W, and the best for PAH 11.3 μ m is F560W, F1000W, F1130W, and F1500W. The prescription with these combinations yields predicted flux densities that typically agree with values from spectral decomposition within ∼7% and ∼5% for PAH 7.7 and 11.3 μ m, respectively.

The Astrophysical JournalVol. 983(1)
Hiroshima University (JP), Leiden University (NL), California Institute of Technology (US), Space Telescope Science Institute (US), University of Arizona (US), University of Padua (IT), University of Hertfordshire (GB), University of Crete (GR), University of California, Los Angeles (US), European University Cyprus (CY), Peking University (CN), University of California, Irvine (US), National Radio Astronomy Observatory (US), Atacama Large Millimeter Submillimeter Array (CL), University of Florida (US), McCormick (United States) (US), Kavli Institute for Theoretical Sciences (CN), European Southern Observatory (CL), Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova (IT), Infrared Processing and Analysis Center (US), University of Virginia (US), Occidental College (US), Foundation for Research and Technology Hellas (GR), University of Toledo (US), Universidad Diego Portales (CL)
National Science Foundation, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, California Institute of Technology, Space Telescope Science Institute, Nuclear Safety and Security Commission, Hellenic Foundation for Research and Innovation, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Astrophysics Division
Openalex Percentile: Top 20%
Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies
1.15
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