Statistical Analysis of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons as a Tracer of Anomalous Microwave Emission Using DIRBE Data

Journal article, 2025

We use archival data from the Diffuse Infrared Background Experiment (DIRBE) to map the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) 3.3 μm emission feature and analyze its correlation with anomalous microwave emission (AME) in 98 compact sources identified by the Planck collaboration. We find that while far-IR thermal dust emission continues to be a better tracer of AME in most of the considered regions, 17% of the AME sources are better correlated with emission from small PAHs as traced by DIRBE. Furthermore, of the 27 sources that were identified as highly significant AME detections in the Planck analysis, 37% prefer PAHs as an AME tracer. Further work is required to understand to what extent local interstellar conditions are affecting PAH emission mechanisms and to reveal the underlying carriers of AME.