Related papers: Alignment of irregular grains by radiative torques…
Several mechanisms have been proposed to explain the alignment of grains with the interstellar magnetic field, including paramagnetic dissipation, radiative torques, and supersonic gas-grain streaming. These must compete with disaligning…
Paramagnetic alignment of thermally rotating oblate dust grains is studied analytically for finite ratios of grain to gas temperatures. For such ratios, the alignment of angular momentum J in respect to the grain axis of maximal inertia is…
We study the internal and external alignment of carbonaceous grains, including graphite and hydrogenated amorphous carbon (HAC), in the interstellar medium (ISM) within the RAdiative Torque (RAT) paradigm. For internal alignment (IA), we…
Magnetic fields ($\textbf{B}$) are an important factor that controls the star formation process. The leading method to observe $\textbf{B}$ is using polarized thermal emission from dust grains aligned with $\textbf{B}$. However, in dense…
The alignment of interstellar dust grains with magnetic fields provides a key method for measuring the strength and morphology of the fields. In turn, this provides a means to study the role of magnetic fields from diffuse gas to dense…
The optical and near-infrared (OIR) polarization of starlight is typically understood to arise from the dichroic extinction of that light by dust grains whose axes are aligned with respect to a local magnetic-field. The size distribution of…
We consider grains with superparamagnetic inclusions and report two new condensed matter effects that can enhance the internal relaxation of the energy of a wobbling grain, namely, superparamagnetic Barnett relaxation, as well as, an…
Interstellar polarization in the optical/infrared has long been known to be due to asymmetrical dust grains aligned with the magnetic field and can potentially provide a resource effective way to probe both the topology and strength of the…
Polarization of optical starlight and far-infrared thermal dust emission due to alignment of interstellar grains offers a powerful window to study magnetic fields in the various astrophysical environments, from the diffuse interstellar…
This paper gives a short summary of a mechanism of the enhanced paramagnetic relaxation that acts on rapidly rotating interstellar grains. We show that the Barnett magnetization that arises from grain rotation ensures that paramagnetic…
Polarimetry is one of the most informative techniques of studying magnetic fields in molecular clouds. How reliable the interpretation of the polarization maps in terms of magnetic fields is the issue that the grain alignment theory…
Polarization carries information about the magnetic fields in interstellar clouds. The observations of polarized dust emission are used to study the role of magnetic fields in the evolution of molecular clouds and the initial phases of…
Irregular dust grains are subject to radiative torques when irradiated by interstellar starlight. It is shown how these radiative torques may be calculated using the discrete dipole approximation. Calculations are carried out for one…
Dust grains drift through the interstellar medium (ISM) and are aligned with the magnetic field. Here we study the effect of grain alignment and grain motion on grain growth in molecular clouds (MCs). We first discuss the characteristic…
Context: The sizes of dust in the interstellar medium follows a distribution where most of the dust mass is in smaller grains. However, the re-distribution from larger grains towards smaller sizes especially by means of rotational…
Dust grains are important in various astrophysical processes and serve as indicators of interstellar medium structures, density, and mass. Understanding their physical properties and chemical composition is crucial in astrophysics. Dust…
Magnetic fields (B-fields) in galaxies have recently been traced using far-infrared and sub-mm polarimetric observations with SOFIA, JCMT, and ALMA. The main assumption is that dust grains are magnetically aligned with the local B-field in…
Variations in polarization efficiency (p/A) of interstellar grains as a function of environment place vital constraints on models for the mechanism of their alignment. We use polarimetry of background field stars to investigate alignment in…
We discuss the dynamics of dust grains subjected to uncompensated torques arising from H_2 formation. In particular, we discuss grain dynamics when a grain spins down and goes through a ``crossover''. As first pointed out by Spitzer &…
Modern understanding of dust astrophysics reveals that RAdiative Torques (RATs) arising from the radiation-dust interaction can induce two fundamental effects, including grain alignment and rotational disruption. Here we review the recent…