No Arabic abstract
We present the near- and mid-infrared zodiacal light spectrum obtained with the AKARI Infra-Red Camera (IRC). A catalog of 278 spectra of the diffuse sky covering a wide range of Galactic and ecliptic latitudes was constructed. The wavelength range of this catalog is 1.8-5.3 {mu}m with wavelength resolution of lambda /Delta lambda ~20. Advanced reduction methods specialized for the slit spectroscopy of diffuse sky spectra are developed for constructing the spectral catalog. Based on the comparison analysis of the spectra collected in different seasons and ecliptic latitudes, we confirmed that the spectral shape of the scattered component and the thermal emission component of the zodiacal light in our wavelength range does not show any dependence on location and time, but relative brightness between them varies with location. We also confirmed that the color temperature of the zodiacal emission at 3-5 {mu}m is 300+/-10 K at any ecliptic latitude. This emission is expected to be originated from sub-micron dust particles in the interplanetary space.
The Extragalactic Background Light (EBL) as an integrated light from outside of our Galaxy includes information of the early universe and the Dark Ages. We analyzed the spectral data of the astrophysical diffuse emission obtained with the low-resolution spectroscopy mode on the AKARI Infra-Red Camera (IRC) in 1.8-5.3 um wavelength region. Although the previous EBL observation in this wavelength region is restricted to the observations by DIRBE and IRTS, this study adds a new independent result with negligible contamination of Galactic stars owing to higher sensitivity for point sources. Other two major foreground components, the zodiacal light (ZL) and the diffuse Galactic light (DGL), were subtracted by taking correlations with ZL brightness estimated by the DIRBE ZL model and with the 100 um dust thermal emission, respectively. The isotropic emission was obtained as EBL, which shows significant excess over integrated light of galaxies at <4 um. The obtained EBL is consistent with the previous measurements by IRTS and DIRBE.
We first obtained the spectrum of the diffuse Galactic light (DGL) at general interstellar space in 1.8-5.3 um wavelength region with the low-resolution prism spectroscopy mode of the AKARI Infra-Red Camera (IRC) NIR channel. The 3.3 um PAH band is detected in the DGL spectrum at Galactic latitude |b| < 15 deg, and its correlations with the Galactic dust and gas are confirmed. The correlation between the 3.3 um PAH band and the thermal emission from the Galactic dust is expressed not by a simple linear correlation but by a relation with extinction. Using this correlation, the spectral shape of DGL at optically thin region (5 deg < |b| < 15 deg) was derived as a template spectrum. Assuming that the spectral shape of this template spectrum is uniform at any position, DGL spectrum can be estimated by scaling this template spectrum using the correlation between the 3.3 um PAH band and the thermal emission from the Galactic dust.
Interplanetary dust (IPD) scatters solar radiation which results in the zodiacal light that dominates the celestial diffuse brightness at optical and near-infrared wavelengths. Both asteroid collisions and cometary ejections produce the IPD, but the relative contribution from these two sources is still unknown. The Low Resolution Spectrometer (LRS) onboard the Cosmic Infrared Background Experiment (CIBER) observed the astrophysical sky spectrum between 750 and 2100 nm over a wide range of ecliptic latitude. The resulting zodiacal light spectrum is redder than the solar spectrum, and shows a broad absorption feature, previously unreported, at approximately 900 nm, suggesting the existence of silicates in the IPD material. The spectral shape of the zodiacal light is isotropic at all ecliptic latitudes within the measurement error. The zodiacal light spectrum, including the extended wavelength range to 2500 nm using IRTS data, is qualitatively similar to the reflectance of S-type asteroids. This result can be explained by the proximity of S-type asteroidal dust to Earths orbit, and the relativily high albedo of asteridal dust compared with cometary dust.
Interplanetary dust (IPD) is thought to be recently supplied from asteroids and comets. Grain properties of the IPD can give us the information about the environment in the proto-solar system, and can be traced from the shapes of silicate features around 10 $mu$m seen in the zodiacal emission spectra. We analyzed mid-IR slit-spectroscopic data of the zodiacal emission in various sky directions obtained with the Infrared Camera on board AKARI satellite. After we subtracted the contamination due to instrumental artifacts, we have successfully obtained high S/N spectra and have determined detailed shapes of excess emission features in the 9 -- 12 $mu$m range in all the sky directions. According to a comparison between the feature shapes averaged over all directions and the absorption coefficients of candidate minerals, the IPD was found to typically include small silicate crystals, especially enstatite grains. We also found the variations in the feature shapes and the related grain properties among the different sky directions. From investigations of the correlation between feature shapes and the brightness contributions from dust bands, the IPD in dust bands seems to have the size frequency distribution biased toward large grains and show the indication of hydrated minerals. The spectra at higher ecliptic latitude showed a stronger excess, which indicates an increase in the fraction of small grains included in the line of sight at higher ecliptic latitudes. If we focus on the dependence of detailed feature shapes on ecliptic latitudes, the IPD at higher latitudes was found to have a lower olivine/pyroxene ratio for small amorphous grains. The variation of the mineral composition of the IPD in different sky directions may imply different properties of the IPD from different types of parent bodies, because the spatial distribution of the IPD depends on the type of the parent body.
Zodiacal emission is thermal emission from interplanetary dust. Its contribution to the sky brightness is non-negligible in the region near the ecliptic plane, even in the far-infrared (far-IR) wavelength regime. We analyse zodiacal emission observed by the AKARI far-IR all-sky survey, which covers 97% of the entire sky at arcminute-scale resolution in four photometric bands, with central wavelengths of 65, 90, 140, and 160 $mu$m. AKARI detected small-scale structures in the zodiacal dust cloud, including the asteroidal dust bands and the circumsolar ring, at far-IR wavelengths. Although the smooth component of the zodiacal emission structure in the far-IR sky can be reproduced well by models based on existing far-IR observations, previous zodiacal emission models have discrepancies in the small-scale structures compared with observations. We investigate the geometry of the small-scale dust-band structures in the AKARI far-IR all-sky maps and construct template maps of the asteroidal dust bands and the circumsolar ring components based on the AKARI far-IR maps. In the maps, $pm 1.4deg$, $pm 2.1deg$ and $pm 10deg$ asteroidal dust-band structures are detected in the 65 $mu$m and 90 $mu$m bands. A possible $pm 17deg$ band may also have been detected. No evident dust-band structures are identified in either the 140 $mu$m or the 160 $mu$m bands. By subtracting the dust-band templates constructed in this paper, we can achieve a similar level of flux calibration of the AKARI far-IR all-sky maps in the $|beta| < 40deg$ region to that in the region for $|beta| > 40deg$.