Excess flux analysis of the 8.6 μm PAH band of HD 97048. Top panel: Gaussian fitting of the 8.6 μm PAH template, with a resulting standard deviation of σ_template ≈ 0.14 μm. The aperture of the PAH spectral window is defined as ±1.17 σ_template, and the continuum aperture is set to be two FWHMs down the red part of the spectrum (the chosen widths for each are plotted atop the panel). Bottom panel: Fluxes integrated over the continuum and PAH apertures, and the computed excess flux (blue, orange, and green curves, respectively) and their respective ±1σ uncertainties (see Appendix C), indicated by curve widths.