Related papers: Nano Dust in Space and Astrophysics
Probing the existence of hypothetical particles beyond the Standard model often deals with extreme parameters: large energies, tiny cross-sections, large time scales, etc. Sometimes laboratory experiments can test required regions of…
Protoplanetary disks are a byproduct of the star formation process. In the dense mid-plane of these disks, planetesimals and planets are expected to form. The first step in planet formation is the growth of dust particles from…
Future direct observations of extrasolar Earth-sized planets in the habitable zone could be hampered by a worrisome source of noise, starlight-reflecting exozodiacal dust. Mid-infrared surveys are currently underway to constrain the amount…
I give an overview of the effects of neutrino masses in cosmology, focussing on the role they play in the evolution of cosmological perturbations. I discuss how recent observations of the cosmic microwave background anisotropies and the…
Major scientific questions and research opportunities are described on 10 unprioritized plasma astrophysics topics: (1) magnetic reconnection, (2) collisionless shocks and particle acceleration, (3) waves and turbulence, (4) magnetic…
The identity of dark matter is one of the key outstanding problems in both particle and astrophysics. In this thesis, I describe a number of complementary searches for particle dark matter. I discuss how the impact of dark matter on stars…
Whether ice in cold cosmic environments is physically separated from the silicate dust or mixed with individual silicate moieties is not known. However, different grain models give very different compositions and temperatures of grains. The…
The DAMA/NaI experiment (about 100 kg highly radiopure NaI(Tl)) was proposed, designed and realised to effectively investigate in a model independent way the presence of a Dark Matter particle component in the galactic halo by exploiting…
The calcium-silicate-hydrate is used to model properties of cement on Earth. We study cementitious nanoparticles and propose these structures as components of cosmic dust grains. Quantum density functional theory methods are applied for the…
We revisit the evidence for a "dust cloud" observed by the Cassini spacecraft at Saturn in 2006. The data of four instruments are simultaneously compared to interpret the signatures of a coherent swarm of dust that would have remained near…
It has been 20 years since planning began for the 1995 United Nations International Conference on Near-Earth Objects. The conference proceedings established the scientific basis for an international organizational framework to support…
Astrophysics is gaining increased attention from the particle and nuclear physics communities, as budget cuts, delays, and cancellations limit opportunities for breakthrough research at accelerator laboratories. Observations of cosmic rays…
Galactic dust constitutes approximately half of the elements more massive than helium produced in stellar nucleosynthesis. Notwithstanding the formation of dust grains in the dense, cool atmospheres of late-type stars, there still remain…
The early stages of star formation are closely related to the ambient conditions in the interstellar medium. Important questions such as dust abundance, size distribution, temperature distribution, fraction of molecular gas, fraction of…
In cold, dense astrophysical environments dust grains are mixed with molecular ices. Chemistry in those dust/ice mixtures is determined by diffusion and reaction of molecules and radicals. However, investigations of diffusion of…
High-resolution mid-infrared observations of astrospheres show that many of them have filamentary (cirrus-like) structure. Using numerical models of dust dynamics in astrospheres, we suggest that their filamentary structure might be related…
Our present knowledge of neutrinos can be summarized in terms of the "standard neutrino scenario". Phenomenology of this scenario as well as attempts to uncover physics behind neutrino mass and mixing are described. Goals of future studies…
We propose a novel method to constrain the spatial extent of dust around galaxies through the measurement of dust temperature. Our method combines the dust emission of galaxies from far-infrared (FIR) image stacking analysis and the quasar…
In this contribution, we aim to summarise the efforts of the Italian SKA scientific community in conducting surveys of star-forming regions within our Galaxy, in the development of astrochemical research on protostellar envelopes and disks,…
1. Overview of neutrino astronomy: multidisciplinary science. 2. Cosmic accelerators: the highest energy cosmic rays. 3. Neutrino beam dumps: supermassive black holes and gamma ray bursts. 4. Neutrino telescopes: water and ice. 5. Indirect…