TY - JOUR
T1 - Feedback in Emerging Extragalactic Star Clusters, FEAST
T2 - The Relation between 3.3 μm Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Emission and Star Formation Rate Traced by Ionized Gas in NGC 628
AU - Gregg, Benjamin
AU - Calzetti, Daniela
AU - Adamo, Angela
AU - Bajaj, Varun
AU - Ryon, Jenna E.
AU - Linden, Sean T.
AU - Correnti, Matteo
AU - Cignoni, Michele
AU - Messa, Matteo
AU - Sabbi, Elena
AU - Gallagher, John S.
AU - Grasha, Kathryn
AU - Pedrini, Alex
AU - Gutermuth, Robert A.
AU - Melinder, Jens
AU - Kotulla, Ralf
AU - Pérez, Gustavo
AU - Krumholz, Mark R.
AU - Bik, Arjan
AU - Östlin, Göran
AU - Johnson, Kelsey E.
AU - Bortolini, Giacomo
AU - Smith, Linda J.
AU - Tosi, Monica
AU - Maji, Subhransu
AU - Faustino Vieira, Helena
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2024. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society.
PY - 2024/8/9
Y1 - 2024/8/9
N2 - We present maps of ionized gas (traced by Paα and Brα) and 3.3 μm polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) emission in the nearby spiral galaxy NGC 628, derived from new JWST/NIRCam data from the Feedback in Emerging extrAgalactic Star clusTers (FEAST) survey. With this data, we investigate and calibrate the relation between 3.3 μm PAH emission and star formation rate (SFR) in and around emerging young star clusters (eYSCs) on a scale of ∼40 pc. We find a tight (correlation coefficient ρ ∼ 0.9) sublinear (power-law exponent α ∼ 0.75) relation between the 3.3 μm PAH luminosity surface density and SFR traced by Brα for compact, cospatial (within 0.″16 or ∼7 pc) peaks in Paα, Brα, and 3.3 μm (eYSC-I). The scatter in the relationship does not correlate well with variations in local interstellar medium metallicity, due to a radial metallicity gradient, but rather is likely due to stochastic sampling of the stellar initial mass function (IMF) and variations in the PAH heating and age of our sources. The deviation from a linear relation may be explained by PAH destruction in more intense ionizing environments, variations in age, and IMF stochasticity at intermediate to low luminosities. We test our results with various continuum subtraction techniques using combinations of NIRCam bands and find that they remain robust with only minor differences in the derived slope and intercept. An unexpected discrepancy is identified between the relations of hydrogen recombination lines (Paα versus Brα; Hα versus Brα).
AB - We present maps of ionized gas (traced by Paα and Brα) and 3.3 μm polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) emission in the nearby spiral galaxy NGC 628, derived from new JWST/NIRCam data from the Feedback in Emerging extrAgalactic Star clusTers (FEAST) survey. With this data, we investigate and calibrate the relation between 3.3 μm PAH emission and star formation rate (SFR) in and around emerging young star clusters (eYSCs) on a scale of ∼40 pc. We find a tight (correlation coefficient ρ ∼ 0.9) sublinear (power-law exponent α ∼ 0.75) relation between the 3.3 μm PAH luminosity surface density and SFR traced by Brα for compact, cospatial (within 0.″16 or ∼7 pc) peaks in Paα, Brα, and 3.3 μm (eYSC-I). The scatter in the relationship does not correlate well with variations in local interstellar medium metallicity, due to a radial metallicity gradient, but rather is likely due to stochastic sampling of the stellar initial mass function (IMF) and variations in the PAH heating and age of our sources. The deviation from a linear relation may be explained by PAH destruction in more intense ionizing environments, variations in age, and IMF stochasticity at intermediate to low luminosities. We test our results with various continuum subtraction techniques using combinations of NIRCam bands and find that they remain robust with only minor differences in the derived slope and intercept. An unexpected discrepancy is identified between the relations of hydrogen recombination lines (Paα versus Brα; Hα versus Brα).
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85201102920&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3847/1538-4357/ad54b4
DO - 10.3847/1538-4357/ad54b4
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85201102920
SN - 0004-637X
VL - 971
JO - Astrophysical Journal
JF - Astrophysical Journal
IS - 1
M1 - 115
ER -