Abstract :
Despite having been discovered over 25 years ago, anomalous microwave emission (AME) has not yet been uniquely identified as originating from any known constituent of the ISM. While this component is very well-traced by thermal dust emission, it is far brighter at low frequencies than models of thermal dust emission predict. A leading candidate for AME is electric dipole radiation from a population of small, rapidly-spinning dust grains such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). We use archival data from the Diffuse Infrared Background Experiment (DIRBE) to map the PAH 3.3 um emission feature and analyze its correlation with AME in 98 compact sources identified by the Planck collaboration. We find that while FIR thermal dust emission continues to be a better tracer of AME in most of the considered regions, 17% of the AME sources are better correlated with emission from PAHs with some of these sources strongly preferring PAHs as a tracer. Further work is required to understand to what extent local interstellar conditions are affecting PAH emission mechanisms and to reveal the underlying carriers of AME.
