| Description |
Despite the increasing evidence that the anomalous emission is a new physical mechanism acting in the diffuse interstellar medium, the nature and distribution of this component remains elusive. The currently most favored models attribute the observed microwave excess to rotating very small dust grains (PAHs and VSGs). Nonetheless, the infrared properties of the sources which, to date, are known to exhibit this type of emission are very poorly known mostly due to the limited angular resolution and frequency coverage of DIRBE and IRAS data. We propose HERSCHEL PACS and SPIRE mapping of three Galactic anomalous emission sources (LDN 1780, LDN 675 and LDN 1111). This data, when combined with ancillary NIR and mid-IR data of comparable angular resolution (mainly from Spitzer), and coupled with available dust models, will allow to set tight constraints on the radiation field in the emitting sources as well as in their immediate surroundings. Such constraints, in turn, will allow to estimate the abundances of PAHs, VSGs and BGs, hence to shed light on the potential link between these dust populations and the observed microwave excess. |
