Here we introduce the interstellar dust modelling framework THEMIS (The Heterogeneous dust Evolution Model for Interstellar Solids), which takes a global view of dust and its evolution in response to ...the local conditions in interstellar media. This approach is built upon a core model that was developed to explain the dust extinction and emission in the diffuse interstellar medium. The model was then further developed to self-consistently include the effects of dust evolution in the transition to denser regions. The THEMIS approach is under continuous development and we are currently extending the framework to explore the implications of dust evolution in HII regions and the photon-dominated regions associated with star formation. We provide links to the THEMIS, DustEM and DustPedia websites where more information about the model, its input data and applications can be found.
Context. The evolution of amorphous hydrocarbon materials, a-C(:H), principally resulting from ultraviolet (UV) photon absorption-induced processing, are likely at the heart of the variations in the ...observed properties of dust in the interstellar medium. Aims. The consequences of the size-dependent and compositional variations in a-C(:H), from aliphatic-rich a-C:H to aromatic-rich a-C, are studied within the context of the interstellar dust extinction and emission. Methods. Newly-derived optical property data for a-C(:H) materials, combined with that for an amorphous forsterite-type silicate with iron nano-particle inclusions, a-SilFe, are used to explore dust evolution in the interstellar medium. Results. We present a new dust model that consists of a power-law distribution of small a-C grains and log-normal distributions of large a-SilFe and a-C(:H) grains. The model, which is firmly anchored by laboratory-data, is shown to quite naturally explain the variations in the infrared (IR) to far-ultraviolet (FUV) extinction, the 217 nm UV bump, the IR absorption and emission bands and the IR-mm dust emission. Conclusions. The major strengths of the new model are its inherent simplicity and built-in capacity to follow dust evolution in interstellar media. We show that mantle accretion in molecular clouds and UV photo-processing in photo-dominated regions are likely the major drivers of dust evolution.
Dust grains are classically thought to form in the winds of asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars. However, there is increasing evidence today for dust formation in supernovae (SNe). To establish the ...relative importance of these two classes of stellar sources of dust, it is important to know the fraction of freshly formed dust in SN ejecta that is able to survive the passage of the reverse shock and be injected in the interstellar medium. With this aim, we have developed a new code, GRASH_Rev, that allows following the dynamics of dust grains in the shocked SN ejecta and computing the time evolution of the mass, composition, and size distribution of the grains. We considered four well-studied SNe in the Milky Way and Large Magellanic Cloud: SN 1987A, CasA, the Crab nebula, and N49. These sources have been observed with both Spitzer and Herschel, and the multiwavelength data allow a better assessment the mass of warm and cold dust associated with the ejecta. For each SN, we first identified the best explosion model, using the mass and metallicity of the progenitor star, the mass of 56Ni, the explosion energy, and the circumstellar medium density inferred from the data. We then ran a recently developed dust formation model to compute the properties of freshly formed dust. Starting from these input models, GRASH_Rev self-consistently follows the dynamics of the grains, considering the effects of the forward and reverse shock, and allows predicting the time evolution of the dust mass, composition, and size distribution in the shocked and unshocked regions of the ejecta. All the simulated models aagree well with observations. Our study suggests that SN 1987A is too young for the reverse shock to have affected the dust mass. Hence the observed dust mass of 0.7−0.9 M⊙ in this source can be safely considered as indicative of the mass of freshly formed dust in SN ejecta. Conversely, in the other three SNe, the reverse shock has already destroyed between 10−40% of the initial dust mass. However, the largest dust mass destruction is predicted to occur between 103 and 105 yr after the explosions. Since the oldest SN in the sample has an estimated age of 4800 yr, current observations can only provide an upper limit to the mass of SN dust that will enrich the interstellar medium, the so-called effective dust yields. We find that only between 1−8% of the currently observed mass will survive, resulting in an average SN effective dust yield of (1.55 ± 1.48) × 10-2M⊙. This agrees well with the values adopted in chemical evolution models that consider the effect of the SN reverse shock. We discuss the astrophysical implications of our results for dust enrichment in local galaxies and at high redshift.
Halo dust detection around NGC 891 Bocchio, M.; Bianchi, S.; Hunt, L. K. ...
Astronomy and astrophysics (Berlin),
02/2016, Letnik:
586
Journal Article
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Context. Observations of edge-on galaxies allow us to investigate the vertical extent and properties of dust, gas and stellar distributions. NGC 891 has been studied for decades and represents one of ...the best studied cases of an edge-on galaxy. Aims. We use deep Photoconductor Array Camera and Spectrometer (PACS) data together with Infrared Array Camera (IRAC), Multiband Imaging Photometer for Spitzer (MIPS) and Spectral and Photometric Imaging Receiver (SPIRE) data to study the vertical extent of dust emission around NGC 891. We also test for the presence of a more extended, thick dust component. Methods. By performing a convolution of an intrinsic vertical profile emission with each instrument point spread function (PSF) and comparing it with observations we derived the scale height of a thin and thick dust-disc component. Results. The emission is best fit with the sum of a thin and a thick dust component for all wavelengths considered. The scale height of both dust components shows a gradient goes from 70 μm to 250 μm. This could be due either to a drop in dust heating (and thus the dust’s temperature) with the distance from the plane, or to a sizable contribution (~15–80%) of an unresolved thin disc of hotter dust to the observed surface brightness at shorter wavelengths. The scale height of the thick dust component, using observations from 70 μm to 250 μm, has been estimated at (1.44 ± 0.12) kpc, which is consistent with previous estimates (i.e. extinction and scattering in optical bands and mid-infrared (MIR) emission). The amount of dust mass at distances greater than ~2 kpc from the midplane represents 2–3.3% of the total galactic dust mass, and the abundance of small grains relative to large grains is almost halved compared to levels in the midplane. Conclusions. The paucity of small grains high above the midplane might indicate that dust is hit by interstellar shocks or galactic fountains and entrained together with gas. The halo dust component is likely to be embedded in an atomic/molecular gas and heated by a thick stellar disc.
Aims. The goal of this paper is to analyse the behaviour of the gas-to-dust mass ratio (G/D) of local Universe galaxies over a wide metallicity range. We especially focus on the low-metallicity part ...of the G/D vs metallicity relation and investigate several explanations for the observed relation and scatter. Methods. We assembled a total of 126 galaxies, covering a 2 dex metallicity range and with 30% of the sample with 12 + log(O/H)≤ 8.0. We homogeneously determined the dust masses with a semi-empirical dust model including submm constraints. The atomic and molecular gas masses have been compiled from the literature. We used two XCO scenarios to estimate the molecular gas mass: the Galactic conversion factor, XCO,MW, and a XCO that depends on the metallicity XCO,Z (∝Z-2). We modelled the observed trend of the G/D with metallicity using two simple power laws (slope of –1 and free) and a broken power law. Correlations with morphological type, stellar masses, star formation rates, and specific star formation rates are also discussed. We then compared the observed evolution of the G/D with predictions from several chemical evolution models and explored different physical explanations for the observed scatter in the G/D values. Results. We find that out of the five tested galactic parameters, metallicity is the main physical property of the galaxy driving the observed G/D. The G/D versus metallicity relation cannot be represented by a single power law with a slope of –1 over the whole metallicity range. The observed trend is steeper for metallicities lower than ~8.0. A large scatter is observed in the G/D values for a given metallicity: in metallicity bins of ~0.1 dex, the dispersion around the mean value is ~0.37 dex. On average, the broken power law reproduces the observed G/D best compared to the two power laws (slope of –1 or free) and provides estimates of the G/D that are accurate to a factor of 1.6. The good agreement of observed values of the G/D and its scatter with respect to metallicity with the predicted values of the three tested chemical evolution models allows us to infer that the scatter in the relation is intrinsic to galactic properties, reflecting the different star formation histories, dust destruction efficiencies, dust grain size distributions, and chemical compositions across the sample. Conclusions. Our results show that the chemical evolution of low-metallicity galaxies, traced by their G/D, strongly depends on their local internal conditions and individual histories. The large scatter in the observed G/D at a given metallicity reflects the impact of various processes occurring during the evolution of a galaxy. Despite the numerous degeneracies affecting them, disentangling these various processes is now the next step.
The European Space Agency has invested heavily in two cornerstones missions: Herschel and Planck. The legacy data from these missions provides an unprecedented opportunity to study cosmic dust in ...galaxies so that we can, for example, answer fundamental questions about the origin of the chemical elements, physical processes in the interstellar medium (ISM), its effect on stellar radiation, its relation to star formation and how this relates to the cosmic far-infrared background. In this paper we describe the DustPedia project, which enables us to develop tools and computer models that will help us relate observed cosmic dust emission to its physical properties (chemical composition, size distribution, and temperature), its origins (evolved stars, supernovae, and growth in the ISM), and the processes that destroy it (high-energy collisions and shock heated gas). To carry out this research, we combine the Herschel/Planck data with that from other sources of data, and provide observations at numerous wavelengths ( ≤ 41 ) across the spectral energy distribution, thus creating the DustPedia database. To maximize our spatial resolution and sensitivity to cosmic dust, we limit our analysis to 4231 local galaxies ( v < 3000 km s−1) selected via their near-infrared luminosity (stellar mass). To help us interpret this data, we developed a new physical model for dust (THEMIS), a new Bayesian method of fitting and interpreting spectral energy distributions (HerBIE) and a state-of-the-art Monte Carlo photon-tracing radiative transfer model (SKIRT). In this, the first of the DustPedia papers, we describe the project objectives, data sets used, and provide an insight into the new scientific methods we plan to implement.
Astrophysical images issued from different instruments and/or spectral bands often require to be processed together, either for fitting or comparison purposes. However each image is affected by an ...instrumental response, also known as point-spread function (PSF), that depends on the characteristics of the instrument as well as the wavelength and the observing strategy. Given the knowledge of the PSF in each band, a straightforward way of processing images is to homogenise them all to a target PSF using convolution kernels, so that they appear as if they had been acquired by the same instrument. We propose an algorithm that generates such PSF-matching kernels, based on Wiener filtering with a tunable regularisation parameter. This method ensures all anisotropic features in the PSFs to be taken into account. We compare our method to existing procedures using measured Herschel/PACS and SPIRE PSFs and simulated JWST/MIRI PSFs. Significant gains up to two orders of magnitude are obtained with respect to the use of kernels computed assuming Gaussian or circularised PSFs. A software to compute these kernels is available at https://github.com/aboucaud/pypher
The knowledge of the point spread function (PSF) of imaging instruments represents a fundamental requirement for astronomical observations. The Herschel PACS PSFs delivered by the instrument control ...centre are obtained from observations of the Vesta asteroid, which provides a characterisation of the central part and, therefore, excludes fainter features. In many cases, however, information on both the core and wings of the PSFs is needed. With this aim, we combine Vesta and Mars dedicated observations and obtain PACS PSFs with an unprecedented dynamic range (~106) at slow and fast scan speeds for the three photometric bands.
The Herschel Virgo Cluster Survey Bianchi, S; Giovanardi, C; Smith, M W L ...
Astronomy and astrophysics (Berlin),
1/2017, Letnik:
597
Journal Article
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We study the correlation between far-infrared/submm dust emission and atomic gas column density in order to derive the properties of the high Galactic latitude, low density, Milky Way cirrus in the ...foreground of the Virgo cluster of galaxies. Dust emission maps from 60 to 850 mu m are obtained from observations with the Spectral and Photometric Imaging Receiver (SPIRE) and carried out within the Herschel Virgo Cluster Survey (HeViCS); these are complemented by IRAS and Planck maps. Data from the Arecibo legacy Fast ALFA Survey is used to derive atomic gas column densities for two broad velocity components: low and intermediate velocity clouds. Dust emissivities are derived for each gas component and each far-infrared/submm band. For the low velocity clouds, we measure an average emissivity ? super(LVC) sub(nu)= (0.79 + or - 0.08) x 10 super(-20) MJysr super(-1)cm super(2) at 250 mu m. After fitting a modified blackbody to the available bands, we estimated a dust absorption cross section of tau super(LVC) sub(nu)/N sub(H i)= (0.49 + or - 0.13) x 10 super(-25) cm super(2) H super(-1) at 250 mu m (with dust temperature T= 20.4 + or - 1.5 K and spectral index beta = 1.53 + or - 0.17). The results are in excellent agreement with those obtained by Planck over a much larger coverage of the high Galactic latitude cirrus (50% of the sky versus 0.2% in our work). For dust associated with intermediate velocity gas, we confirm earlier Planck results and find a higher temperature and lower emissivity and cross section. After subtracting the modeled components, we find regions at scales smaller than 20? in which the residuals deviate significantly from the average scatter, which is dominated by cosmic infrared background. These large residuals are most likely due to local variations in the cirrus dust properties or to high-latitude molecular clouds with average N sub(H2)? 10 super(20) cm super(-2). We find no conclusive evidence for intracluster dust emission in Virgo.
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