PDRs4All XXIII. JWST-MIRI template spectra of PAHs in the Orion Bar obtained with blind signal separation

Abstract

The aromatic infrared bands (AIBs) are observed in a wide variety of astrophysical sources, and now in unprecedented detail by the James Webb space telescope (JWST). These bands are generally attributed to the emission from polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAHs). Our aim is to extract mid-infrared AIB template spectra from JWST observations of the Orion Bar photo-dissociation region that can be used to derive PAH properties from observations of other objects. We used the JWST MIRI-MRS observations from the PDRs4All program. We first isolated the AIBs from the data using a multi-component fitting approach. We then applied a non-negative matrix factorization to the isolated AIB spectra and extracted two templates, named AIBirrad and AIBshield following previous work. The spatial distribution and spectral characteristics of these two spectra suggest that they originate from two chemical distinct populations. We interpret AIBirrad as emission originating from a PAH population strongly exposed to ultra-violet (UV) radiation and mainly composed of large, compact ionized PAHs. Conversely, AIBshield is interpreted as originating from a more shielded population of PAHs, which is less exposed to the UV by being more embedded in the cloud. This population consists of small, asymmetric and mainly neutral PAHs with bonded aliphatic side groups. These templates can serve to analyze PAH emission in a wide variety of objects observed with MIRI-MRS.

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BibTeX RIS

BibTeX

@misc{amiot2026pdrs4all,
  title = {{PDRs4All XXIII. JWST-MIRI template spectra of PAHs in the Orion Bar obtained with blind signal separation}},
  author = {P. Amiot and O. Berné and J. Roux-Morin and I. Schroetter and C. Boersma and A. Fuente and J. R. Goicoechea and E. Habart and A. Maragkoudakis and T. Onaka and E. Peeters and M. Robberto and A. G. G. M Tielens and D. Van De Putte and S. Vicente},
  howpublished = {arXiv},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.19881},
  eprint = {2610.19881},
  archivePrefix = {arXiv},
  url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.19881},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}

RIS

TY  - UNPB
TI  - PDRs4All XXIII. JWST-MIRI template spectra of PAHs in the Orion Bar obtained with blind signal separation
AU  - P. Amiot
AU  - O. Berné
AU  - J. Roux-Morin
AU  - I. Schroetter
AU  - C. Boersma
AU  - A. Fuente
AU  - J. R. Goicoechea
AU  - E. Habart
AU  - A. Maragkoudakis
AU  - T. Onaka
AU  - E. Peeters
AU  - M. Robberto
AU  - A. G. G. M Tielens
AU  - D. Van De Putte
AU  - S. Vicente
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/14
PB  - arXiv
DO  - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.19881
UR  - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.19881
AB  - The aromatic infrared bands (AIBs) are observed in a wide variety of astrophysical sources, and now in unprecedented detail by the James Webb space telescope (JWST). These bands are generally attributed to the emission from polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAHs). Our aim is to extract mid-infrared AIB template spectra from JWST observations of the Orion Bar photo-dissociation region that can be used to derive PAH properties from observations of other objects. We used the JWST MIRI-MRS observations from the PDRs4All program. We first isolated the AIBs from the data using a multi-component fitting approach. We then applied a non-negative matrix factorization to the isolated AIB spectra and extracted two templates, named AIBirrad and AIBshield following previous work. The spatial distribution and spectral characteristics of these two spectra suggest that they originate from two chemical distinct populations. We interpret AIBirrad as emission originating from a PAH population strongly exposed to ultra-violet (UV) radiation and mainly composed of large, compact ionized PAHs. Conversely, AIBshield is interpreted as originating from a more shielded population of PAHs, which is less exposed to the UV by being more embedded in the cloud. This population consists of small, asymmetric and mainly neutral PAHs with bonded aliphatic side groups. These templates can serve to analyze PAH emission in a wide variety of objects observed with MIRI-MRS.
ER  -

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