The 2200 Å bump and the interstellar extinction curve

The 2200 Å bump is a major figure of interstellar extinction. However, extinction curves with no bump exist and are, with no exception, linear from the near‐infrared down to 2500 Å at least, often over all the visible‐UV spectrum. The duality linear versus bump‐like extinction curves can be used to re‐investigate the relationship between the bump and the continuum of interstellar extinction, and answer questions as why do we observe two different kinds of extinction (linear or with a bump) in interstellar clouds? How are they related? How does the existence of two different extinction laws fits with the requirement that extinction curves depend exclusively on the reddening E (B – V) and on a single additional parameter? What is this free parameter? It will be found that (1) interstellar dust models, which suppose the existence of three different types of particles, each contributing to the extinction in a specific wavelength range, fail to account for the observations; (2) the 2200 Å bump is very unlikely to be absorption by some yet unidentified molecule; (3) the true law of interstellar extinction must be linear from the visible to the far‐UV, and is the same for all directions including other galaxies (as the Magellanic Clouds). In extinction curves with a bump the excess of starlight (or the lack of extinction) observed at wavelengths less than λ = 4000 Å arises from a large contribution of light scattered by hydrogen on the line of sight. Although counter‐intuitive this contribution is predicted by theory. The free parameter of interstellar extinction is related to distances between the observer, the cloud on the line of sight, and the star behind it (the parameter is likely to be the ratio of the distances from the cloud to the star and to the observer). The continuum of the extinction curve and the bump contain no information on the chemical composition of interstellar clouds. (© 2013 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

The extinction curve in the visible and the value of RV: Addendum to AN 333, 160

This paper corrects and completes a previous study of the shape of the extinction curve in the visible and the value of R_V. A continuous visible/infrared extinction law proportional to 1/λ^p with p close to 1 (± 0.4) is indistinguishable from a perfectly linear law (p = 1) in the visible within observational precision, but the shape of the curve in the infrared can be substantially modified. Values of p slightly larger than 1 would account for the increase of extinction (compared to the p = 1 law) reported for λ > 1 μ m and deeply affect the value of R_V. In the absence of gray extinction R_V must be 4.04 if p = 1. It becomes 3.14 for p = 1.25, 3.00 for p = 1.30, and 2.76 for p = 1.40. Values of p near 1.3 are also attributed to extinction by atmospheric aerosols, which indicates that both phenomena may be governed by similar particle size distributions. A power extinction law may harmonize visible and infrared data into a single, continuous, and universal interstellar extinction law (© 2012 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Reddening law and interstellar dust properties along Magellanic sight-lines

This study establishes that SMC, LMC and Milky Way extinction curves obey the same extinction law which depends on the 2200 Å bump size and one parameter, and generalizes the Cardelli, Clayton and Mathis (Cardelli et al., Astrophys. J. 345, 245, 1989) relationship. This suggests that extinction in all three galaxies is of the same nature. The role of linear reddening laws over all the visible/UV wavelength range, particularly important in the SMC but also present in the LMC and in the Milky Way, is also highlighted and discussed.     

Extinction curves expected in young galaxies

We investigate the extinction curves of young galaxies in which dust is supplied from Type II supernovae (SNe II) and/or pair instability supernovae (PISNe). We adopt Nozawa et al. (2003) for compositions and size distribution of grains formed in SNe II and PISNe. We find that the extinction curve is quite sensitive to internal metal mixing in supernovae (SNe). The extinction curves predicted from the mixed SNe are dominated by SiO₂ and are characterized by a steep rise from infrared to ultraviolet (UV). The dust from unmixed SNe shows a shallower extinction curve, because of the contribution from large-sized (∼0.1 μm) Si grains. However, the progenitor mass is important in unmixed SNe II: if the progenitor mass is smaller than  ∼20 M_⊙  , the extinction curve is flat in UV; otherwise, the extinction curve rises towards the short wavelength. The extinction curve observed in a high-redshift quasar  ( z = 6.2)  favours the dust production by unmixed SNe II. We also provide some useful observational quantities, so that our model might be compared with future high- z extinction curves.     

Extinction curves flattened by reverse shocks in supernovae

We investigate the extinction curves of young galaxies in which dust is supplied from Type II supernovae (SNe II) and/or pair instability supernovae (PISNe). Since at high redshift ( z > 5), low-mass stars cannot be dominant sources for dust grains, SNe II and PISNe, whose progenitors are massive stars with short lifetimes, should govern the dust production. Here, we theoretically investigate the extinction curves of dust produced by SNe II and PISNe, taking into account reverse shock destruction induced by collision with ambient interstellar medium. We find that the extinction curve is sensitive to the ambient gas density around a SN, since the efficiency of reverse shock destruction strongly depends on it. The destruction is particularly efficient for small-sized grains, leading to a flat extinction curve in the optical and ultraviolet wavelengths. Such a large ambient density as   n _H≳ 1 cm⁻³  produces too flat an extinction curve to be consistent with the observed extinction curve for SDSS J1048+4637 at z = 6.2. Although the extinction curve is highly sensitive to the ambient density, the hypothesis that the dust is predominantly formed by SNe at z ∼ 6 is still allowed by the current observational constraints. For further quantification, the ambient density should be obtained by some other methods. Finally, we also discuss the importance of our results for observations of high- z galaxies, stressing a possibility of flat extinction curves.     

Extinction techniques and impact on dust property determination

The near-infrared (NIR) extinction power-law index (β) and its uncertainty is derived from three different techniques based on star counts, colour excess and a combination of them. We have applied these methods to Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS) data to determine maps of β and NIR extinction of the small cloud IC 1396 W. The combination of star counts and colour excess results in the most reliable method to determine β. It is found that the use of the correct β map to transform colour excess values into extinction is fundamental for column density profile analysis of clouds. We describe how artificial photometric data, based on the model of stellar population synthesis of the Galaxy, can be used to estimate uncertainties and derive systematic effects of the extinction methods presented here. We find that all colour excess based extinction determination methods are subject to small but systematic offsets, which do not affect the star counting technique. These offsets occur since stars seen through a cloud do not represent the same population as stars in an extinction-free control field.     

Filling factors and scale heights of the diffuse ionized gas in the Milky Way

The combination of dispersion measures of pulsars, distances from the model of Cordes & Lazio (2002) and emission measures from the WHAM survey enabled a statistical study of electron densities and filling factors of the diffuse ionized gas (DIG) in the Milky Way. The emission measures were corrected for absorption and contributions from beyond the pulsar distance. For a sample of 157 pulsars at |b | > 5. and 60° < ℓ < 360°, located in mainly interarm regions within about 3 kpc from the Sun, we find that: (1) The average volume filling factor along the line of sight and the mean density in ionized clouds are inversely correlated: ( ) = (0.0184 ± 0.0011) ^{–1.07 ± 0.03} for the ranges 0.03 < < 2 cm^–3 and 0.8 > > 0.01. This relationship is very tight. The inverse correlation of and causes the well‐known constancy of the average electron density along the line of sight. As (z ) increases with distance from the Galactic plane |z |, the average size of the ionized clouds increases with |z |. (2) For |z| < 0.9 kpc the local density in clouds n _c(z ) and local filling factor f (z ) are inversely correlated because the local electron density n _e(z ) = f (z )n _c(z ) is constant. We suggest that f (z ) reaches a maximum value of >0.3 near |z | = 0.9 kpc, whereas n _c(z ) continues to decrease to higher |z |, thus causing the observed flattening in the distribution of dispersion measures perpendicular to the Galactic plane above this height. (3) For |z | < 0.9 kpc the local distributions n _c(z ), f (z ) and (z ) have the same scale height which is in the range 250 < h ≲ 500 pc. (4) The average degree of ionization of the warm atomic gas (z ) increases towards higher |z | similarly to (z ). Towards |z | = 1 kpc, (z ) = 0.24 ± 0.05 and (z ) = 0.24 ± 0.02. Near |z | = 1 kpc most of the warm, atomic hydrogen is ionized. (© 2006 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

The size distribution of dust grains in single clouds – II. The analysis of extinction using inhomogeneous grains

The extinction curves of single clouds, seen towards the stars HD 147165, 179406 and 202904, have been modelled using various mixtures containing both the bare and inhomogeneous (composite and/or multilayer) grains. It has been shown that the models composed of the bare graphite and silicate grains together with the multilayer grains containing silicates, organic refractory and water ice, are more useful in explaining extinction under the reduced cosmic abundances. The models based on Mathis' composite grains or on Greenberg & Li's core-mantle grains can also provide quite good fits of the extinction and the measured scattering parameters, but still require an excessive amount of carbon which results in too large a C/O ratio. The inhomogeneous grains essentially contribute to the extinction in practically the whole wavelength range of our extinction curves. As a rule, such grains have quite wide size distributions, centred at around 100 nm, although graphite grains are mainly of small sizes.     

The chemistry of transient microstructure in the diffuse interstellar medium

Transient microstructure in the diffuse interstellar medium (ISM) has been observed towards Galactic and extragalactic sources for decades, usually in lines of atoms and ions, and, more recently, in molecular lines. Evidently, there is a molecular component to the transient microstructure. In this paper, we explore the chemistry that may arise in such microstructure. We use a photodissociation region (PDR) code to model the conditions of relatively high density, low temperature, very low visual extinction and very short elapsed time that are appropriate for these objects. We find that there is a well-defined region of parameter space where detectable abundances of molecular species might be found. The best matching models are those where the interstellar microstructure is young (<100 yr), small (∼100 au) and dense  (>10⁴ cm⁻³)  .     

The Gas to Dust Ratio in Three Star Forming Regionstwo

Gas to Dust Ratio (GDR) indicates the mass ratio of interstellar gas to dust. It is widely adopted that the GDR in our Galaxy is 100～150. We choose three typical star forming regions to study the GDR: the Orion molecular cloud — a massive star forming region, the Taurus molecular cloud — a low-mass star forming region, and the Polaris molecular cloud — a region with no or very few star formation activities. The mass of gas only takes account of the neutral gas, i.e. only the atomic and molecular hydrogen, because the amount of ionized gas is very small in a molecular cloud. The column density of atomic hydrogen is taken from the high-resolution and high-sensitivity all-sky survey EBHIS (Effelsberg-Bonn HI Survey). The CO J = 1 →0 line is used to trace the molecular hydrogen, since the spectral lines of molecular hydrogen which can be detected are rare. The intensity of CO J = 1 →0 line is taken from the Planck all-sky survey. The mass of dust is traced by the interstellar extinction based on the 2MASS (Two Micron All Sky Survey) photometric database in the direction of anti-Galactic center. Adopting a constant conversion coefficient from the integrated intensity of the CO line to the column density of molecular hydrogen, X_CO = 2.0 × 10²⁰ cm^?2 · (K · km/s)^?1, the gas to dust ratio N(H)/A_V is calculated, which is 25, 38, and 55 (in units of 10²⁰ cm^?2 · mag^?1) for the Orion, Taurus, and Polaris molecular clouds, respectively. These values are significantly higher than the previously obtained average value of the Galaxy. Adopting the WD01 interstellar dust model (when the V-band selective extinction ratio is R_V = 3.1), the derived GDRs are 160, 243, and 354 for the Orion, Taurus, and Polaris molecular clouds, respectively, which are apparently higher than 100～150, the commonly accepted GDR of the diffuse interstellar medium. The high N(H)/A_V values in the star forming regions may be explained by the growth of dust in the molecular clouds because of either the particle collision or accretion, which can lead to the reduction of extinction efficiency per unit mass in the V band, rather than the increase of the GDR itself.     

The interstellar magnetic field near the Galactic center

We review the current observational knowledge of the interstellar magnetic field within ∼150 pc ofthe Galactic center. We also discuss the various theoretical scenarios that have been put forward to explain the existing observations. Our critical overview leads to two important conclusions: (1) The interstellar magnetic field near the GC is approximately poloidal on average in the diffuse intercloud medium and approximately horizontal in dense interstellar clouds. (2) In the general intercloud medium, the field is relatively weak and probably close to equipartition with cosmic rays (B ∼ (6–20) μ G), but there exist a number of localized filaments where the field is much stronger (some filaments could possibly have B ≳ 1 mG). In dense interstellar clouds, the field is probably rather strong, with typical values ranging between a few 0.1 mG and a few mG (© 2010 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

The excitation and kinematical properties of H2 and [Fe ii] in the HH 46/47 bipolar outflow

Long-slit spectra of the molecular outflow Herbig–Haro (HH) 46/47 have been taken in the J and K near-infrared bands. The observed H₂ line emission confirms the existence of a bright and extended redshifted counter-jet outflow south-west of HH 46. In contrast with the optical appearance of this object, we show that this outflow seems to be composed of two different emission regions characterized by distinct heliocentric velocities. This implies an acceleration of the counter-jet.
The observed [Fe  ii ] emission suggests an average extinction of 7–9 visual magnitudes for the region associated with the counter-jet.
Through position–velocity diagrams, we show the existence of different morphologies for the H₂ and [Fe  ii ] emission regions in the northern part of the HH 46/47 outflow. We have detected for the first time high-velocity (−250 km s⁻¹) [Fe  ii ] emission in the region bridging HH 46 to HH 47A. The two strong peaks detected can be identified with the optical positions B8 and HH 47B.
The H₂ excitation diagrams for the counter-jet shock suggest an excitation temperature for the gas of T _ex≈2600 K . The lack of emission from the higher energy H₂ lines, such as the 4–3 S(3) transition, suggests a thermal excitation scenario for the origin of the observed emission. Comparison of the H₂ line ratios with various shock models yielded useful constraints about the geometry and type of these shocks. Planar shocks can be ruled out whereas curved or bow shocks (both J- and C-type) can be parametrized to fit our data.     

Injection of molecules from the surfaces of grains into the gas phase chemistry of an expanding cloud

We present model results for the chemistry in an expanding cloud or clump in which molecules are injected into the gas phase from grain surfaces when the clump reaches a certain visual extinction A _v during the expansion. We consider separately injection at two different values of A _v, and include a representative large hydrocarbon, C₆H, and sulphur-bearing molecule, H₂SO₄, as well as H₂O and CO. We examine the abundances of certain molecules which have been observed in diffuse and translucent clouds, and compare the results obtained for these abundances with and without an injection during expansion. We also compare our results withpublished observations, and conclude that in most clouds an injection of molecules has occurred.     

The complex, variable near-infrared extinction towards the Nuclear Bulge

Using deep J -, H - and K _S-band observations, we have studied the near-infrared extinction of the Nuclear Bulge, and find significant, complex variations on small physical scales. We have applied a new variable near-infrared colour excess (V-NICE) method to measure the extinction; this method allows for variation in both the extinction law parameter α and the degree of absolute extinction on very small physical scales. We see significant variation in both these parameters on scales of 5 arcsec. In our observed fields, representing a random sample of sight lines to the Nuclear Bulge, we measure α to be  2.64 ± 0.52  , compared to the canonical 'universal' value of 2. Our measured levels of     are similar to previously measured results     ; however, the steeper extinction law results in higher values for   A_J (4.5 ≤ A_J ≤ 10  ) and   A_H (1.5 ≤ A_H ≤ 6.5  ). Only when the extinction law is allowed to vary on the smallest scales can we recover self-consistent measures of the absolute extinction at each wavelength, allowing accurate reddening corrections for field star photometry in the Nuclear Bulge. The steeper extinction law slope also suggests that previous conversions of near-infrared extinction to   A_V   may need to be reconsidered. Finally, we find that the measured values of extinction are significantly dependent on the filter transmission functions of the instrument used to obtain the data. This effect must be taken into account when combining or comparing data from different instruments.     

Far-ultraviolet extinction and diffuse interstellar bands

We relate the equivalent widths of the major diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs) near 5797 and 5780 Å with different colour excesses, normalized by E ( B − V ) , which characterize the growth of interstellar extinction in different wavelength ranges. It is demonstrated that the two DIBs correlate best with different parts of the extinction curve, and the ratio of these diffuse bands is best correlated with the far-ultraviolet (UV) rise. A number of peculiar lines of sight are also found, indicating that the carriers of some DIBs and the far-UV extinction can be separated in certain environments, e.g. towards the Per OB2 association.     

Shattering and coagulation of dust grains in interstellar turbulence

We investigate shattering and coagulation of dust grains in turbulent interstellar medium (ISM). The typical velocity of dust grain as a function of grain size has been calculated for various ISM phases based on a theory of grain dynamics in compressible magnetohydrodynamic turbulence. In this paper, we develop a scheme of grain shattering and coagulation and apply it to turbulent ISM by using the grain velocities predicted by the above turbulence theory. Since large grains tend to acquire large velocity dispersions as shown by earlier studies, large grains tend to be shattered. Large shattering effects are indeed seen in warm ionized medium within a few Myr for grains with radius   a ≳ 10⁻⁶  cm. We also show that shattering in warm neutral medium can limit the largest grain size in ISM  ( a ∼ 2 × 10⁻⁵ cm)  . On the other hand, coagulation tends to modify small grains since it only occurs when the grain velocity is small enough. Coagulation significantly modifies the grain size distribution in dense clouds (DC), where a large fraction of the grains with   a < 10⁻⁶ cm  coagulate in 10 Myr. In fact, the correlation among   R_V   , the carbon bump strength and the ultraviolet slope in the observed Milky Way extinction curves can be explained by the coagulation in DC. It is possible that the grain size distribution in the Milky Way is determined by a combination of all the above effects of shattering and coagulation. Considering that shattering and coagulation in turbulence are effective if dust-to-gas ratio is typically more than ∼1/10 of the Galactic value, the regulation mechanism of grain size distribution should be different between metal-poor and metal-rich environments.     

类星体SDSSJ0916+2921的类银河系2175A 尘埃消光特征

光谱观测显示类星体SDSS J091613.60+292106.1 (简称J0916+2921, 系统红移zem=1.1418\pm 0.0018)中有特殊的2175A尘埃消光特征, 其强度显著大于银河系平均强度. 光谱同时探测到与尘埃成协的丰富气体吸收线, 确定吸收线系统红移为zbs = 1.1413 \pm 0.0002, 和类星体红移一致. 气态金属离子柱密度相对太阳丰度的比例为Al/Zn =-1.68 \pm 0.10, Cr/Zn=-0.49 \pm0.10, Fe/Zn = -0.81 pm 0.18. 尘埃耗散作用显著, 说明该系统中尘埃十分丰富, 与观测的强尘埃消光特征吻合. 类银河系的2175A尘埃消光特征在类星体光谱中多见于中间插入吸收线系统, 至今未明确认证内禀吸收线系统出现该特征, 类星体SDSS J0916+2921是目前仅有的数个候选者之一. 该类星体X射线辐射相较一般类星体更强, 后续可用作研究2175A}尘埃在强高能射线照射条件下的形成与离解平衡, 以揭示2175A尘埃的化学成分、物理性质和起源.     

Dust extinction and X-ray emission from the starburst galaxy NGC 1482

We present the results based on multiwavelength imaging observations of the prominent dust lane starburst galaxy NGC 1482 aimed to investigate the extinction properties of dust existing in the extreme environment. (B-V) colour-index map derived for the starburst galaxy NGC 1482 confirms two prominent dust lanes running along its optical major axis and are found to extend up to ∼11 kpc. In addition to the main lanes, several filamentary structures of dust originating from the central starburst are also evident. Though, the dust is surrounded by exotic environment, the average extinction curve derived for this target galaxy is compatible with the Galactic curve, with R_V = 3.05, and imply that the dust grains responsible for the optical extinction in the target galaxy are not really different than the canonical grains in the Milky Way. Our estimate of total dust content of NGC 1482 assuming screening effect of dust is ∼2.7 × 10⁵ M_⊙, and provide lower limit due to the fact that our method is not sensitive to the intermix component of dust. Comparison of the observed dust in the galaxy with that supplied by the SNe to the ISM, imply that this supply is not sufficient to account for the observed dust and hence point towards the origin of dust in this galaxy through a merger like event.Our multiband imaging analysis reveals a qualitative physical correspondence between the morphologies of the dust and Hα emission lines as well as diffuse X-ray emission in this galaxy. Spatially resolved spectral analysis of the hot gas along outflows exhibit a gradient in the temperature. Similar gradient was also noticed in the measured values of metallicity, indicating that the gas in the halo is not yet enriched. High resolution, 2-8 keV Chandra image reveals a pair of point sources in the nuclear region with their luminosities equal to 2.27 × 10³⁹ erg s⁻¹ and 9.34 × 10³⁹ erg s⁻¹, and are in excess of the Eddington-limit of 1.5 M_⊙ accreting source. Spectral analysis of these sources exhibit an absorbed-power law with the hydrogen column density higher than that derived from the optical measurements.     

Effects of shock processing on Serkowski polarization curves

This paper presents a semi-empirical model for variations of interstellar polarization curves based upon the Serkowski-Wilking law for optical and near-infrared wavebands. The model assumes that nonspherical dust grains producing interstellar polarization are core-mantle particles shaped like oblate spheroids. The physical picture is one in which large (a ₀ 0.1µm) particles in the dense cloud phase are deposited into the diffuse cloud medium and thereafter undergo mantle processing by galactic shocks and UV starlight. It is shown that polarization curves vary their widths mainly as a consequence of the nonthermal sputtering of mantles by low-velocity shocks. Mantle sputtering by shocks in low density clouds tends to broaden the curves, whereas mantle sputtering by shocks in denser clouds produce narrow curves. Hence, shock processing of grain mantles can explain the observed correlation between the width of polarization curves and the dust grain environment.