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Molecular dynamics simulations were used to quantify mechanically-induced structural evolution in nanocrystalline Al with an average grain size of 5 nm. A polycrystalline sample was cyclically strained at different temperatures, while a…
Aligned grains provide one of the easiest ways to study magnetic fields in diffuse gas and molecular clouds. How reliable our conclusions about the inferred magnetic field depends critically on our understanding of the physics of grain…
Dust grains moving at hypersonic velocities of $v_{d}\gtrsim 100\rm km~s^{-1}$ through an ambient gas are known to be destroyed by nonthermal sputtering. Yet, previous studies of nonthermal sputtering disregarded the fact that dust grains…
The temperatures of interstellar dust grains are analyzed using stochastic simulations, taking into account the grain composition and size and the discreteness of the photon flux. [...] The distribution of grain temperatures is calculated…
Colloidal suspensions of ferromagnetic nano-particles, so-called ferrofluids, are shown to be suitable systems to demonstrate and investigate thermal ratchet behavior: By rectifying thermal fluctuations, angular momentum is transferred to a…
The recent detection of interstellar polarization in the solid CO feature near 4.67 micron shows that CO-mantled grains can be aligned in cold molecular clouds. These observations conflict with a theory of grain alignment which attributes…
Magnetic fields play a crucial role in various astrophysical processes, including star formation, accretion of matter, transport processes (e.g., transport of heat), and cosmic rays. One of the easiest ways to determine the magnetic field…
Interstellar dust grains can be spun up by radiative torques, and the resulting centrifugal force may be strong enough to disrupt large dust grains. We examine the effect of this rotational disruption on the evolution of grain size…
Granular materials undergo compaction under periodic temperature fluctuations, leading to various engineering and geological phenomena from landslides to silo compaction. Although thermal effects on granular materials have been extensively…
Thermal dust polarization is a powerful tool to probe magnetic fields ($\textbf{B}$) and grain properties. However, a systematic study of the dependence of dust polarization on grain properties in protostellar environments is not yet…
Aligned grains present a foreground for cosmic microwave emission studies. We review basic physical processes involved in grain alignment and discuss the niches for different alignment mechanisms. We show that mechanisms which were favored…
We study the fluctuation conductivity of superconducting granular metals at low temperatures and strong magnetic field destroying the Cooper pairs. Explicit calculations are performed for larger values of the coupling between the grains…
The origin of grain size distribution in the interstellar medium is one of the most fundamental problems in the interstellar physics. In the Milky Way, smaller grains are more abundant in number, but their origins are not necessarily…
We present high resolution ($1024^3$) simulations of super-/hyper-sonic isothermal hydrodynamic turbulence inside an interstellar molecular cloud (resolving scales of typically 20 -- 100 AU), including a multi-disperse population of dust…
Granular materials, composed of discrete solid grains, can be modeled as simple mechanical systems. However, these materials can undergo spontaneous slow deformation, or creep, even under small forces and while in apparent mechanical…
We develop a comprehensive quantitative description of the cross-section mechanism discovered several years ago by Lazarian. This is one of the processes that determine grain orientation in clouds of suprathermal cosmic dust. The…
We generalize the magnetically enhanced radiative torque (MRAT) alignment theory for general astrophysical environments described by a dimensionless parameter $U/(n_{1}T_{2})$ with $U$ local radiation strength, $n_{1}=n_{\rm H}/(10{\rm…
Dry granular materials consist of a vast ensemble of discrete solid particles, interacting through complex frictional forces at the contact points. The particles are so large that these systems are believed to be completely athermal. Here,…
Ice mantles on dust grains play a central role in astrochemistry. Water and complex organic molecules (COMs) are thought to first form on the ice mantles and subsequently are released into the gas phase due to star formation activity.…
Aligned non-spherical dust particles polarize starlight passing through the dust cloud. They also emit polarized far infrared and sub-mm radiation. Substantial progress in understanding of grain alignment theory makes the interpretation of…