Mapping the aliphatic hydrocarbon content of interstellar dust in the Galactic plane

Abstract

We implement a new observational method for mapping the aliphatic hydrocarbon content in the solid phase in our Galaxy, based on spectrophotometric imaging of the 3.4 $\mu$m absorption feature from interstellar dust. We previously demonstrated this method in a field including the Galactic Centre cluster. We applied the method to a new field in the Galactic centre where the 3.4 $\mu$m absorption feature has not been previously measured and we extended the measurements to a field in the Galactic plane to sample the diffuse local interstellar medium, where the 3.4 $\mu$m absorption feature has been previously measured. We have analysed 3.4 $\mu$m optical depth and aliphatic hydrocarbon column density maps for these fields. Optical depths are found to be reasonably uniform in each field, without large source-to-source variations. There is, however, a weak trend towards increasing optical depth in a direction towards $b=0^{\circ}$ in the Galactic centre. The mean value of column densities and abundances for aliphatic hydrocarbon were found to be about several $\rm \times 10^{18} \, cm^{-2}$ and several tens $\times 10^{-6}$, respectively for the new sightlines in the Galactic plane. We conclude that at least 10-20% of the carbon in the Galactic plane lies in aliphatic form.