Related papers: On the Disalignment of Interstellar Grains
We reveal a deep connection between alignment of dust grains by RAdiative torques (RATs) and MEchanical Torques (METs) and rotational disruption of grains introduced by Hoang et al. (2019). The disruption of grains happens if they have…
We study the dynamics of large dust grains >1 micron with orbits outside of the heliosphere (beyond 250 AU). Motion of the Solar System through the interstellar medium (ISM) at a velocity of 26 km/s subjects these particles to gas and…
We present a novel method to measure the strength of interstellar magnetic fields based on ultraviolet (UV) polarization of starlight, which is in part produced by weakly aligned, small interstellar grains. We begin with calculating degrees…
Dust polarization induced by aligned non-spherical grains acts as an important tool to trace the magnetic field (B-field) morphologies and strengths in molecular clouds and constrain grain properties and their alignment mechanisms. The…
(abridged) We aim to predict the most important parameters for grain-grain collision outcomes for models of interstellar grain population evolution on astrophysical scales: the threshold velocity above which colliding grains shatter, the…
Aims. It is quintessential for the analysis of the observed dust polarization signal to understand the rotational dynamics of interstellar dust grains. Additionally, high rotation velocities may rotationally disrupt the grains, which…
The alignment of interstellar dust grains is described by the joint distribution function for certain ``internal'' and ``external'' variables, where the former describe the orientation of a grain's axes with respect to its angular momentum,…
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…
Magnetic fields are ubiquitous in the universe and are thought to play an important role in various astrophysical processes. Polarization of thermal dust emission from dust grains aligned with the magnetic field is widely used to measure…
We study the alignment and rotational disruption of dust grains at the centre of our Galaxy using polarized thermal dust emission observed by SOFIA/HAWC+ and JCMT/SCUPOL at 53, 216, and 850 $\mu$m. We analyzed the relationship between the…
The quantization of energy levels in very nanoparticles suppresses dissipative processes that convert grain rotational kinetic energy into heat. For grains small enough to have GHz rotation rates, the suppression of dissipation can be…
Our current understanding of interstellar dust is summarized at an introductory level. Submicron-sized interstellar dust grains absorb and scatter light, and reradiate the absorbed energy in the infrared. The grain population spans a range…
A significant fraction of main sequence stars observed interferometrically in the near infrared have slightly extended components that have been attributed to very hot dust. To match the spectrum appears to require the presence of large…
Many debris disks seen in scattered light have shapes that imply their dust grains trace highly eccentric, apsidally aligned orbits. Apsidal alignment is surprising, especially for dust. Even when born from an apse-aligned ring of parent…
Thermal dust continuum polarimetry is a powerful indirect probe of magnetic field geometry in dense molecular clouds while at the same time providing information on the alignment of dust grains with the magnetic field. The leading theory of…
Grains exposed to anisotropic radiation fields are subjected to forces due to the asymmetric photon-stimulated ejection of particles. These forces act in addition to the ``radiation pressure'' due to absorption and scattering. Here we model…
Interstellar dust is an essential component of the interstellar medium (ISM) and plays critical roles in astrophysics. Achieving an accurate model of interstellar dust is therefore of great importance. Interstellar dust models are usually…
The linear polarization of thermal dust emission provides a powerful tool to probe interstellar and circumstellar magnetic fields, because aspherical grains tend to align themselves with magnetic field lines. While the Radiative Alignment…
The interaction of dust grains originating from the local interstellar cloud with the environment inside the heliosphere is investigated. As a consequence of this interaction the spatial distribution of interstellar dust grains changes with…
The properties of the processes of deformation of a packing of rigid grains are analysed when the exact distribution of the normal forces at contacts is known. Importance of grain rotation and of counter-rotation of adjacent grains is…