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PreprintCC BY 4.0arXiv

The abundance and emission of PAHs from the local to early Universe

  • Massimiliano Parente
  • Desika Narayanan
  • Paul Torrey
  • Gian Luigi Granato
  • Brandon S. Hensley
  • Jed McKinney
  • Alexandra Pope
  • Gergö Popping
  • Irene Shivaei
  • Laura Silva
  • J. D. T. Smith
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Abstract

We present the first large-volume cosmological simulation of galaxy evolution with a model for the abundance and luminous emission of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) across a wide range of cosmic time (0 < z ≲ 6). The simulation is built on a semi-analytic model (SAM) that includes a treatment of dust size distribution, with PAHs being identified with the smallest carbonaceous grains (< 15 A) residing in the diffuse ISM of galaxies. PAH emission is computed by post-processing the simulation output with the radiative transfer code GRASIL. In our model, where stars only inject large grains, the PAH abundance emerges from the growth and shattering of dust grains in the ISM, naturally reproducing the observed correlation between the PAH mass fraction (qPAH) and both metallicity and specific star formation rate (sSFR). We derive a relation to infer qPAH from LPAH, LIR, and sSFR, with a relatively small scatter (a factor of ≈ 1.3). Simulated PAH emission correlates well with key galaxy properties such as SFR and molecular gas content, and reproduces observational constraints. Taken together, these results support the viability of a top-down formation scenario for PAHs. We extend our model predictions to higher redshifts, which can be exploited for future missions such as PRIMA. This work is a significant step toward leveraging PAH observations as a tool for studying galaxy evolution.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@misc{parente2026abundance,
  title = {{The abundance and emission of PAHs from the local to early Universe}},
  author = {Massimiliano Parente and Desika Narayanan and Paul Torrey and Gian Luigi Granato and Brandon S. Hensley and Jed McKinney and Alexandra Pope and Gergö Popping and Irene Shivaei and Laura Silva and J. D. T. Smith},
  howpublished = {arXiv},
  year = {2026},
  month = sep,
  doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.35533},
  eprint = {2609.35533},
  archivePrefix = {arXiv},
  url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.35533},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY  - UNPB
TI  - The abundance and emission of PAHs from the local to early Universe
AU  - Massimiliano Parente
AU  - Desika Narayanan
AU  - Paul Torrey
AU  - Gian Luigi Granato
AU  - Brandon S. Hensley
AU  - Jed McKinney
AU  - Alexandra Pope
AU  - Gergö Popping
AU  - Irene Shivaei
AU  - Laura Silva
AU  - J. D. T. Smith
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/09/28
PB  - arXiv
DO  - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.35533
UR  - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.35533
AB  - We present the first large-volume cosmological simulation of galaxy evolution with a model for the abundance and luminous emission of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) across a wide range of cosmic time (0 < z ≲ 6). The simulation is built on a semi-analytic model (SAM) that includes a treatment of dust size distribution, with PAHs being identified with the smallest carbonaceous grains (< 15 A) residing in the diffuse ISM of galaxies. PAH emission is computed by post-processing the simulation output with the radiative transfer code GRASIL. In our model, where stars only inject large grains, the PAH abundance emerges from the growth and shattering of dust grains in the ISM, naturally reproducing the observed correlation between the PAH mass fraction (q_PAH) and both metallicity and specific star formation rate (sSFR). We derive a relation to infer q_PAH from L_PAH, L_IR, and sSFR, with a relatively small scatter (a factor of ≈ 1.3). Simulated PAH emission correlates well with key galaxy properties such as SFR and molecular gas content, and reproduces observational constraints. Taken together, these results support the viability of a top-down formation scenario for PAHs. We extend our model predictions to higher redshifts, which can be exploited for future missions such as PRIMA. This work is a significant step toward leveraging PAH observations as a tool for studying galaxy evolution.
ER  -