Toward understanding the 3.4 micron and 9.7 micron extinction feature variations from the local diffuse interstellar medium to the Galactic center

Abstract

Observationally, both the 3.4micron aliphatic hydrocarbon C--H stretching absorption feature and the 9.7micron amorphous silicate Si--O stretching absorption feature show considerable variations from the local diffuse interstellar medium (ISM) to Galactic center (GC): both the ratio of the visual extinction (A_V) to the 9.7micron Si--O optical depth (\tausil) and the ratio of A_V to the 3.4micron C--H optical depth (\tauahc) of the solar neighborhood local diffuse ISM are about twice as much as that of the GC. In this work, we try to explain these variations in terms of a porous dust model consisting of a mixture of amorphous silicate, carbonaceous organic refractory dust (as well as water ice for the GC dust).