The effects of exciton-vibrational coupling and point defects on the absorption and emission of distyrylbenzene nanoaggregates are treated theoretically. Two aggregate types based on a two-dimensional array of cyclic tetramers (pinwheels) are considered: type A aggregates, composed of chiral pinwheels, and type B aggregates, composed of achiral pinwheels. The low-energy vibronic features in the experimental excitation spectrum arise from vibrationally dressed K = (0,0) excitons, while the more intense blue shifted H-band is due to nearly free K = (0,0) excitons. The K = (0,0) features are polarized primarily along the herringbone plane normal. The lowest Davydov component is polarized in the herringbone plane and is due to the lowest energy K = (pi,pi) exciton. This state is also responsible for the aggregate emission. The 0-upsilon peaks for v >0 are mainly due to indirect transitions to the ground electronic state containing v phonons, with wave vector sum equal to (pi,pi). These peaks are largely independent of defect fraction and are polarized primarily along the herringbone plane normal. In stark contrast, the 0-0 emission critically depends on the concentration of point defects and is polarized entirely in the herringbone plane. This wavelength dependent emission polarization is in full agreement with experimental observations. Type A aggregates are weakly emissive, with the 0-0 emission peak vanishing in defect-free aggregates and increasing with defect concentration. The reverse holds for type B aggregates: the 0-0 intensity scales with the number of molecules in the aggregate and decreases with defect concentration. Sufficiently large type B aggregates are superradiant, and may be used to enhance the quantum yield in optical devices such as light-emitting diodes. (C) 2001 American Institute of Physics.