Spatial Distribution and Variations of Dust Abundances in the Large Magellanic Cloud

Details Spatial Distribution and Variations of Dust Abundances in the Large Magellanic Cloud Spatial Distribution and Variations of Dust Abundances in the Large Magellanic Cloud

May 2009

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009aas...21431407p&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #214, #314.07; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 41, p.759

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Scientific paper

The Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) is the nearest galaxy external to the Milky Way, located at a distance of about 55 kpc. As opposed to the situation in the Galaxy, where studies of the infrared emission from dust in the interstellar medium (ISM) suffer from significant confusion along the line of sight, the favorable viewing angle for the LMC offers a direct view to the processes taking place in the diffuse ISM. The LMC has a lower metallicity than that of our Galaxy, estimated to 1/2-1/3 of the solar metallicity.
Using the data obtained with the Spitzer Space telescope as part of the Surveying the Agents of a Galaxy's Evolution (SAGE) Legacy survey, we have studied the variations of the dust composition and abundance across the LMC. We traced maps of the relative abundance of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAH) and Very Small Grains (VSG), compared to Big Grains (BG). PAH are more abundant in the old stellar bar and close to molecular clouds, whereas the main source of VSG is located around 30-Doradus (brightest region of the LMC) and at the center of the bar. Morever the VSG relative abundance follows the distribution of the HII regions quite well, contrary to the PAH distribution. PAH and VSG could have a different origin or might have been subjected to different processing in the ISM. VSG abundance could trace the active star formation sites and PAH abundance could represent quiescent environments. We think that VSG could result from BG destruction in grain-grain collisions, due to turbulent motions. PAH could come from VSG shattering in some regions and could also be injected into the ISM during the AGB mass loss.

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