Spectral properties of Anomalous Microwave Emission in 144 Galactic clouds

Anomalous Microwave Emission (AME) is a diffuse microwave component thought to arise from spinning dust grains, though it remains poorly understood. We analyzed AME in 144 Galactic clouds by combining low-frequency maps from S-PASS (2.3,GHz), C-BASS (4.76,GHz), and QUIJOTE (10--20,GHz) with 21 ancillary maps. Using aperture photometry and parametric spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting via Markov chain Monte Carlo methods without informative priors, we measured AME emissivity, peak frequency, and spectral width. We achieved peak frequency constraints nearly three times tighter than previous work and identify 83 new AME sources. The AME spectra are generally broader than predicted by spinning dust models for a single phase of the interstellar medium, suggesting either multiple spinning dust components along the line of sight or incomplete representation of the grain size distribution in current models. However, the narrowest observed widths match theoretical predictions, supporting the spinning dust hypothesis. The AME amplitude correlates most strongly with the thermal dust peak flux and radiance, showing ∼30% scatter and sublinear scaling, which suggests reduced AME efficiency in regions with brighter thermal dust emission. The AME peak frequency increases with thermal dust temperature in a trend current theoretical models do not reproduce, indicating that spinning dust models must incorporate dust evolution and radiative transfer in a self-consistent framework where environmental parameters and grain properties are interdependent. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon tracers correlate with AME emissivity, supporting a physical link to small dust grains. Finally, a log-Gaussian function provides a good empirical description of the AME spectrum across the sample, given current data quality and frequency coverage.

Publication Details

Journal
Springer Link (Chiba Institute of Technology)
Published
2026-02-23
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202557578/pdf
Primary Topic
Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
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article

Spectral properties of Anomalous Microwave Emission in 144 Galactic clouds

Springer Link (Chiba Institute of Technology)
Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies
article

Spectral properties of Anomalous Microwave Emission in 144 Galactic clouds

article en

Abstract

Anomalous Microwave Emission (AME) is a diffuse microwave component thought to arise from spinning dust grains, though it remains poorly understood. We analyzed AME in 144 Galactic clouds by combining low-frequency maps from S-PASS (2.3,GHz), C-BASS (4.76,GHz), and QUIJOTE (10--20,GHz) with 21 ancillary maps. Using aperture photometry and parametric spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting via Markov chain Monte Carlo methods without informative priors, we measured AME emissivity, peak frequency, and spectral width. We achieved peak frequency constraints nearly three times tighter than previous work and identify 83 new AME sources. The AME spectra are generally broader than predicted by spinning dust models for a single phase of the interstellar medium, suggesting either multiple spinning dust components along the line of sight or incomplete representation of the grain size distribution in current models. However, the narrowest observed widths match theoretical predictions, supporting the spinning dust hypothesis. The AME amplitude correlates most strongly with the thermal dust peak flux and radiance, showing ∼30% scatter and sublinear scaling, which suggests reduced AME efficiency in regions with brighter thermal dust emission. The AME peak frequency increases with thermal dust temperature in a trend current theoretical models do not reproduce, indicating that spinning dust models must incorporate dust evolution and radiative transfer in a self-consistent framework where environmental parameters and grain properties are interdependent. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon tracers correlate with AME emissivity, supporting a physical link to small dust grains. Finally, a log-Gaussian function provides a good empirical description of the AME spectrum across the sample, given current data quality and frequency coverage.

Springer Link (Chiba Institute of Technology)
Openalex Percentile: Top 41%
Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies
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