PHANGS-JWST first results : the dust filament network of NGC 628 and its relation to star formation activity
Abstract
PHANGS-JWST mid-infrared (MIR) imaging of nearby spiral galaxies has revealed ubiquitous filaments of dust emission in intricate detail. We present a pilot study to systematically map the dust filament network (DFN) at multiple scales between 25-400 pc in NGC 628. MIRI images at 7.7, 10, 11.3 and 21 μm of NGC 628 are used to generate maps of the filaments in emission, while PHANGS-HST B-band imaging yields maps of dust attenuation features. We quantify the correspondence between filaments traced by MIR thermal continuum / polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) emission and filaments detected via extinction / scattering of visible light; the fraction of MIR flux contained in the DFN; and the fraction of HII regions, young star clusters and associations within the DFN. We examine the dependence of these quantities with the physical scale at which the DFN is extracted. With our highest resolution DFN maps (25 pc filament width), we find that filaments in emission and attenuation are co-spatial in 40% of sight lines, often exhibiting detailed morphological agreement; that ~30% of the MIR flux is associated with the DFN; and that 75-80% of HII regions and 60% of star clusters younger than 5 Myr are contained within the DFN. However, the DFN at this scale is anti-correlated with looser associations of stars younger than 5 Myr identified using PHANGS-HST near-UV imaging. We discuss the impact of these findings for studies of star formation and the ISM, and the broad range of new investigations enabled with multi-scale maps of the DFN.
Citation
Thilker , D A , Lee , J C , Deger , S , Barnes , A T , Bigiel , F , Boquien , M , Cao , Y , Chevance , M , Dale , D A , Egorov , O V , Glover , S C O , Grasha , K , Henshaw , J D , Klessen , R S , Koch , E , Kruijssen , J M D , Leroy , A K , Lessing , R A , Meidt , S E , Pinna , F , Querejeta , M , Rosolowsky , E , Sandstrom , K M , Schinnerer , E , Smith , R J , Watkins , E J , Williams , T G , Anand , G S , Belfiore , F , Blanc , G A , Chandar , R , Congiu , E , Emsellem , E , Groves , B , Kreckel , K , Larson , K L , Liu , D , Pessa , I & Whitmore , B C 2023 , ' PHANGS-JWST first results : the dust filament network of NGC 628 and its relation to star formation activity ' , Astrophysical Journal Letters , vol. 944 , no. 2 , L13 . https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/acaeac
Publication
Astrophysical Journal Letters
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
2041-8205Type
Journal article
Description
Funding: J.M.D.K. gratefully acknowledges funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program via the ERC Starting Grant MUSTANG (grant agreement number 714907). T.G.W. and E.S. acknowledge funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Unionʼs Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (grant agreement No. 694343). F.B. would like to acknowledge funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Unionʼs Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (grant agreement No.726384/Empire). R.S.K. acknowledges financial support from the European Research Council via the ERC Synergy Grant “ECOGAL” (project ID 855130). S.D. is supported by funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Unionʼs Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (grant agreement no. 101018897 CosmicExplorer).Collections
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