2022MNRAS.514..342S

We present a charge distribution based model that computes the infrared spectrum of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) molecules using recent measurements or quantum chemical calculations of specific PAHs. The model is applied to a sample of well-studied photodissociation regions (PDRs) with well-determined physical conditions (the radiation field strength, G₀, electron density n_e, and the gas temperature, T_gas). Specifically, we modelled the emission of five PAHs ranging in size from 18 to 96 carbon atoms, over a range of physical conditions characterized by the ionization parameter γ= G₀ ×T_gasx^1/2/n_e. The anions emerge as the dominant charge carriers in low γ (<2 x 10²) environments, neutrals in the intermediate γ (10³ - 10⁴) environments, and cations in the high γ (>10⁵) environments. Furthermore, the PAH anions and cations exhibit similar spectral characteristics. The similarity in the cationic and anionic spectra translates into the interpretation of the 6.2/(11.0+11.2) band ratio, with high values of this ratio associated with large contributions from either cations or anions. The model's predicted values of 6.2/(11.0+11.2) and 3.3/6.2 compared well to the observations in the PDRs NGC 7023, NGC 2023, the horsehead nebula, the Orion bar, and the diffuse interstellar medium, demonstrating that changes in the charge state can account for the variations in the observed PAH emission. We also reassess the diagnostic potential of the 6.2/(11.0+11.2) versus 3.3/(11.0+11.2) ratios and show that without any prior knowledge about γ, the 3.3/(11.0+11.2) can predict the PAH size, but the 6.2/(11.0 + 11.2) cannot predict the γ of the astrophysical environment.