Related papers: A new interpretation of Serkowski's polarization l…
The motion of diamagnetic dust particles in interstellar magnetic fields is studied numerically with several different sets of parameters. Two types of behavior are observed, depending on the value of the critical number $R$, which is a…
Recent observations in emission, extinction, and polarisation have at least partially invalidated most of the astronomical standard grain models for the diffuse ISM. Moreover, lab measurements on interstellar silicate analogues have shown…
Dust polarization, which comes from the alignment of aspherical grains to magnetic fields, has been widely employed to study the interstellar medium (ISM) dust properties. The wavelength dependence of the degree of optical polarization,…
We calculate the degree of linear polarization of radiation from stars having planets that may not be resolved spatially. We assume single scattering by water and silicate particulates in the planetary atmosphere. The dilution of the…
Silicates are an important component of interstellar dust and the structure of these grains -- amorphous versus crystalline -- is sensitive to the local physical conditions. We have studied the infrared spectra of a sample of ultra-luminous…
We present polarisation spectra of seven stars in the lines-of-sight towards the Sco OB1 association. Our spectra were obtained within the framework of the Large Interstellar Polarization Survey carried out with the FORS instrument of the…
Evolved late-type stars are frequently identified as photometric and spectroscopic variables, such as Mira-type or semi-regular variable objects. These stars can also be polarimetrically variable, an indicator of non-spherical geometry for…
We present a model for the diffuse interstellar dust that explains the observed wavelength-dependence of extinction, emission, linear and circular polarisation of light. The model is set-up with a small number of parameters. It consists of…
Two different silicate/water ice mixtures representing laboratory analogues of interstellar and circumstellar icy grains were produced in the laboratory. For the first time, optical constants, the real and imaginary parts of the complex…
The 9.7$\mu m$ and 18$\mu m$ interstellar spectral features, arising from the Si--O stretching and O--Si--O bending mode of amorphous silicate dust, are the strongest extinction feature in the infrared. Here we use the "pair method" to…
Aligned interstellar grains produce polarized extinction (observed at wavelengths from the far-ultraviolet to the mid-infrared), and polarized thermal emission (observed at far-infrared and submm wavelengths). The grains must be quite…
We interpret the interstellar extinction observed towards the Galactic Center (GC) in the wavelength range $\lambda = 1 - 20\,\mkm$. Its main feature is the flat extinction at $3 - 8\,\mkm$ whose explanation is still a problem for the…
It is well known that the dust properties of the diffuse interstellar medium exhibit variations towards different sight-lines on a large scale. We have investigated the variability of the dust characteristics on a small scale, and from…
Galactic dust emission is polarized at unexpectedly high levels, as revealed by Planck. The origin of the observed $\simeq 20\%$ polarization fractions can be identified by characterizing the properties of optical starlight polarization in…
The properties of polarization in scattered light by aligned ellipsoidal grains are investigated with the Fredholm integral equation method (FIM) and the T-matrix method (Tmat), and the results are applied to the observed circular…
We have carried out a quantitative trend analysis of the crystalline silicates observed in the ISO spectra of a sample of 14 stars with different evolutionary backgrounds. We have modeled the spectra using a simple dust radiative transfer…
We interpret the relation between the polarizing efficiency $P_{\max}/E(B-V)$ and the wavelength of the maximum polarization $\lambda_{\max}$ observed for 17 objects (including 243 stars) separated into two groups: "dark clouds" and "open…
We compiled the polarimetric data for a sample of lines of sight with known abundances of Mg, Si, and Fe. We correlated the degree of interstellar polarization $P$ and polarization efficiency (the ratio of $P$ to the colour excess $E(B-V)$…
The Planck survey provides unprecedented full-sky coverage of the submillimetre polarized emission from Galactic dust, bringing new constraints on the properties of dust. The dust grains that emit the radiation seen by Planck in the…
Distance estimates derived from spectroscopy or parallax have been unified by considering extinction by large grains. The addition of such a population of what is called Dark Dust to models of the diffuse interstellar medium is tested…