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B.O. O'Halloran, S. Satyapal, R.P. Dudik (George Mason University)
Since the advent of ISO it has been known that very low metallicity galaxies show very little in the way of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbonate (PAH) emission in the mid-IR. This asks the question - what causes the lack of PAH emission in low-metallicity galaxies? Is it a case of PAH carriers being destroyed or a lack of PAH carriers present in the first instance? Using archival low and high resolution Spitzer IRS data of a number of starburst galaxies, we use several well-known and new spectral diagnostics in an effort to determine the primary mechanism for the lack of PAH emission in low metallicity galaxies. The target sample do not contain AGN (which may contribute to PAH destruction), and cover a wide range of metallicities.
The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: boh@physics.gmu.edu
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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 37 #4
© 2005. The American Astronomical Soceity.