Studies of Anomalous Microwave Emission (AME) with the SKA
Abstract
In this chapter, we will outline the scientific motivation for studying Anomalous Microwave Emission (AME) with the SKA. AME is thought to be due to electric dipole radiation from small spinning dust grains, although thermal fluctuations of magnetic dust grains may also contribute. Studies of this mysterious component would shed light on the emission mechanism, which then opens up a new window onto the interstellar medium (ISM). AME is emitted mostly in the frequency range --100\,GHz, and thus the SKA has the potential of measuring the low frequency side of the AME spectrum, particularly in band 5. Science targets include dense molecular clouds in the Milky Way, as well as extragalactic sources. We also discuss the possibility of detecting rotational line emission from Poly-cyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs), which could be the main carriers of AME. Detecting PAH lines of a given spacing would allow for a definitive identification of specific PAH species.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1412.5054,
title = {Studies of Anomalous Microwave Emission (AME) with the SKA},
author = {Clive Dickinson and Yacine Ali-Haimoud and Robert J. Beswick and Simon Casassus and Kieran Cleary and Bruce T. Draine and Ricardo Genova-Santos and Keith Grainge and Thiem C. Hoang and Alex Lazarian and Eric J. Murphy and Roberta Paladini and Michael W. Peel and Yvette Perrott and Jose-Alberto Rubino-Martin and Anna Scaife and Chris T. Tibbs and Laurent Verstraete and Matias Vidal and Robert A. Watson and Nathalie Ysard},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1412.5054},
year = {2014}
}
Comments
11 pages, 4 pages, to be published in Proceedings of Science: "Advancing Astrophysics with the Square Kilometre Array"