Quantifying the Heating Sources for Mid-infrared Dust Emissions in Galaxies: the Case of M81

With the newly available SPIRE images at 250 and 500μmfrom Herschel Space Observatory, we study quantitative correlations over a sub-kpc scale among three distinct emission components in the interstellar medium of the nearby spiral galaxy M81 (NGC3031): (a) I8 or I24, the surface brightness of the mid-infrared emission observed in the Spitzer IRAC 8 or MIPS 24μm band, with I8 and I24 being dominated by the emissions from Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) and very small grains (VSGs) of dust, respectively; (b) I500, that of the cold dust continuum emission in the Herschel SPIRE 500μm band, dominated by the emission from large dust grains heated by evolved stars, and (c) IHα, a nominal surface brightness of the Hα line emission, from gas ionized by newly formed massive stars. The results from our correlation study, free from any assumption on or modeling of dust emissivity law or dust temperatures, present solid evidence for significant heating of PAHs and VSGs by evolved stars. In the case of M81, about 67% (48%) of the 8μm (24μm) emission derives its heating from evolved stars, with the remainder attributed to radiation heating associated with ionizing stars. Subject headings: galaxies: individual: M81 — galaxies: ISM — galaxies: star formation — infrared: galaxies — infrared: ISM — ISM: lines and bands