Response of Pickup Ions in the Very Local Interstellar Medium to Solar Variations: Implications for the Evolution of the IBEX Ribbon and Interstellar Helium
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E. J. Zirnstein↗
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15 yr of Interstellar Neutral Hydrogen Observed with the Interstellar Boundary Explorer
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André Galli↗
Sixteen years of Ulysses interstellar dust measurements in the solar system. I. Mass distribution and gas-to-dust mass ratio
In the early 1990s, contemporary interstellar dust penetrating deep into the heliosphere was identified with the in situ dust detector on board the Ulysses spacecraft. Between 1992 and the end of 2007 Ulysses monitored the interstellar dust stream. The interstellar grains act as tracers of the physical conditions in the local interstellar medium (ISM) surrounding our solar system. Earlier analyses of the Ulysses interstellar dust data measured between 1992 and 1998 implied the existence of a population of “big” interstellar grains (up to 10{sup −13} kg). The derived gas-to-dust-mass ratio was smaller than the one derived from astronomical observations, implying a concentration of interstellar dust in the very local ISM. In this paper we analyze the entire data set from 16 yr of Ulysses interstellar dust measurements in interplanetary space. This paper concentrates on the overall mass distribution of interstellar dust. An accompanying paper investigates time-variable phenomena in the Ulysses interstellar dust data, and in a third paper we present the results from dynamical modeling of the interstellar dust flow applied to Ulysses. We use the latest values for the interstellar hydrogen and helium densities, the interstellar helium flow speed of v{sub ISM∞}=23.2 km s{sup −1}, and the ratio of radiation pressure to gravity, β, calculated for astronomical silicates. We find a gas-to-dust mass ratio in the local interstellar cloud of R{sub g/d}=193{sub −57}{sup +85}, and a dust density of (2.1 ± 0.6) × 10{sup −24} kg m{sup −3}. For a higher inflow speed of 26 km s{sup −1}, the gas-to-dust mass ratio is 20% higher, and, accordingly, the dust density is lower by the same amount. The gas-to-dust mass ratio derived from our new analysis is compatible with the value most recently determined from astronomical observations. We confirm earlier results that the very local ISM contains “big” (i.e., ≈1 μm sized) interstellar grains. We find a dust density in the local ISM that is a factor of three lower than values implied by earlier analyses.
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
Determination of interstellar He parameters using five years of data from the IBEX: Beyond closed form approximations
Interstellar He represents a key sample of interstellar matter that, due to its high first ionization potential, survives the journey from beyond our solar system’s heliospheric boundaries to Earth. Ongoing analysis of interstellar neutral (ISN) He atoms by the Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) has resulted in a growing sophistication in our understanding of the local interstellar flow. A key feature of the IBEX observations near perihelion of the ISN trajectories is a narrow “tube” of approximately degenerate interstellar parameters. These degenerate solutions provide a tightly coupled relationship between the interstellar flow longitude and latitude, speed, and temperature. However, the IBEX analysis resulting in a specific solution for the inflow longitude, inflow speed, temperature, and inflow latitude was accompanied by a sizeable uncertainty along the parameter tube. Here, we use the three-step method to find the interstellar parameters: (1) the ISN He peak rate in ecliptic longitude uniquely determines a relation (as part of the tube in parameter space) between the longitude λ{sub ISN∞} and the speed V{sub ISN∞} of the He ISN flow at infinity; (2) the ISN He peak latitude (on the great circle swept out in each spin) is compared to simulations to derive unique values for λ{sub ISN∞} and V{sub ISN∞} along the parameter tube; and (3) the angular width of the He flow distributions as a function of latitude is used to derive the interstellar He temperature. For simulated peak latitudes, we use a relatively new analytical tool that traces He atoms from beyond the termination shock into the position of IBEX and incorporates the detailed response function of IBEX-Lo. By varying the interstellar parameters along the IBEX parameter tube, we find the specific parameters that minimize the chi-square difference between observations and simulations. The new computational tool for simulating neutral atoms through the integrated IBEX-Lo response function makes no assumptions or expansions with respect to the spin-axis pointing or frame of reference. Thus, we are able to move beyond closed-form approximations and utilize observations of interstellar He during the complete five year period from 2009 to 2013 when the primary component of interstellar He is most prominent. Chi-square minimization of simulations compared to observations results in a He ISN flow longitude of 75.°6 ± 1.°4, latitude of −5.°12 ± 0.°27, speed of 25.4 ± 1.1 km s{sup −1}, and temperature of 8000 ± 1300 K, where the uncertainties are related and apply along the IBEX parameter tube. This paper also provides documentation for a new release of ISN data and associated model runs.
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
Processing Mechanisms for Interstellar Ices: Connections to the Solar System
The organic component of the interstellar medium, which has revealed itself through the ubiquitous 3.4 micrometers hydrocarbon absorption feature, is widespread throughout the disk of our galaxy and has been attributed to dust grains residing in the diffuse interstellar medium. The absorption band positions near 3.4 micrometers are characteristic of C-H stretching vibrations in the -CH3 and -CH2- groups of saturated aliphatic hydrocarbons associated with perturbing chemical groups. The production of complex molecules is thought to occur within dense molecular clouds when ice-mantled grains are processed by various energetic mechanisms. Studies of the processing of interstellar ices and the subsequent production of organic residues have relevance to studies of ices in the solar system, because primitive, icy solar system bodies such as those in the Kuiper belt are likely reservoirs of organic material, either preserved from the interstellar medium or produced in situ. Connections between the interstellar medium and the early solar nebula have long been a source of interest. A comparison of the interstellar organics and the Murchison meteorite illustrates the importance of probing the interstellar connection to the solar system, because although the carbonaceous meteorites are undoubtedly highly processed, they do retain specific interstellar signatures (such as diamonds, SiC grains, graphite and enriched D/H). The organic component, while not proven interstellar, has a remarkable similarity to the interstellar organics observed in over a dozen sightlines through our galaxy. This paper compares spectra from laboratory organics produced through the processing of interstellar ice analog materials with the high resolution infrared observations of the interstellar medium in order to investigate the mechanisms (such as ion bombardment, plasma processing, and UV photolysis) that may be producing the organics in the ISM.
Pendleton, Y. J.↗
LOCAL INTERSTELLAR MEDIUM: SIX YEARS OF DIRECT SAMPLING BY IBEX
The Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) has been directly observing neutral atoms from the local interstellar medium for the last six years (2009–2014). This paper ties together the 14 studies in this Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series Special Issue, which collectively describe the IBEX interstellar neutral results from this epoch and provide a number of other relevant theoretical and observational results. Interstellar neutrals interact with each other and with the ionized portion of the interstellar population in the “pristine” interstellar medium ahead of the heliosphere. Then, in the heliosphere's close vicinity, the interstellar medium begins to interact with escaping heliospheric neutrals. In this study, we compare the results from two major analysis approaches led by IBEX groups in New Hampshire and Warsaw. We also directly address the question of the distance upstream to the pristine interstellar medium and adjust both sets of results to a common distance of ∼1000 AU. The two analysis approaches are quite different, but yield fully consistent measurements of the interstellar He flow properties, further validating our findings. While detailed error bars are given for both approaches, we recommend that for most purposes, the community use “working values” of ∼25.4 km s{sup −1}, ∼75.°7 ecliptic inflow longitude, ∼ −5.°1 ecliptic inflow latitude, and ∼7500 K temperature at ∼1000 AU upstream. Finally, we briefly address future opportunities for even better interstellar neutral observations to be provided by the Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe mission, which was recommended as the next major Heliophysics mission by the NRC's 2013 Decadal Survey.
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
ESO Diffuse Interstellar Bands Large Exploration Survey (EDIBLES) - Merging Observations and Laboratory Data
The Diffuse Interstellar Bands (DIBs) are a set of ~500 absorption bands that are detected in the spectra of stars with interstellar clouds in the line of sight. DIBs are found from the NUV to the NIR in the spectra of reddened stars spanning different interstellar environments in our local, and in other galaxies. DIB carriers are a significant part of the interstellar chemical inventory. They are stable and ubiquitous in a broad variety of environments and play a unique role in interstellar physics/chemistry. It has long been realized that the solving of the DIB problem requires a strong synergy between astronomical observations, laboratory astrophysics, and astrophysical modeling of line-of-sights. PAHs are among the molecular species that have been proposed as DIB carriers. We will present an assessment of the PAH-DIB model in view of the progress and the advances that have been achieved over the past years through a series of studies involving astronomical observations of DIBs, laboratory simulation of interstellar analogs for neutrals and ionized PAHs, theoretical calculations of PAH spectra and the modelization of diffuse and translucent interstellar clouds. We will present a summary of what has been learned from these complementary studies, the constraints that can now be derived for the PAHs as DIB carriers in the context of the PAH-DIB model and how these constraints can be applied to the EDIBLES project. The spectra of several neutral and ionized PAHs isolated in the gas phase at low temperature have been measured in the laboratory under experimental conditions that mimic interstellar conditions and are compared with an extensive set of astronomical spectra of reddened, early type stars. The comparisons of astronomical and laboratory data provide upper limits for the abundances of specific neutral PAH molecules and ions along specific lines-of-sight. Something that is not attainable from infrared observations alone. We present the characteristics of the laboratory facilities, MIS and COSmIC, that have been developed for this study and discuss the findings resulting from the comparison of the laboratory data with high resolution, high S/N ratio astronomical observations. MIS stands for Matrix Isolation Spectroscopy, a well-proven technique for isolating cold molecular species in inert solid environments. COSmIC stands for Cosmic Simulation Chamber. It combines a supersonic free jet expansion with discharge plasma and high-sensitivity cavity ringdown spectroscopy and time-of-flight mass spectrometry detection tools for the generation and the detection of cold, isolated gas-phase molecules and ions under experimental conditions that closely mimic interstellar conditions. The column densities of the individual neutral PAH molecules and ions probed in these surveys are derived from the comparison of these unique laboratory data with high resolution, high S/N ratio astronomical observations. The comparisons of astronomical and laboratory data lead to clear and unambiguous conclusions regarding the expected abundances for PAHs of various sizes and charge states in the interstellar environments probed in the surveys. Band profile comparisons between laboratory and astronomical spectra lead to information regarding the molecular structures and characteristics associated with the DIB carriers in the corresponding lines-of-sight. These quantitative surveys of neutral and ionized PAHs in the optical range open the way for unambiguous quantitative searches of PAHs and complex organics in a variety of interstellar and circumstellar environments.
astrophysics↗
Interstellar processes; Proceedings of the Symposium, Grand Teton National Park, WY, July 1-7, 1986
The conference presents papers on the Milky Way as a galaxy; observations of components of the interstellar medium; interstellar magnetic properties; interstellar processes on a galactic scale; dynamical processes in interstellar clouds; interstellar dust grains; interstellar chemical processes; and heating, cooling, and radiative processes. Attention is given to H2 in the Galaxy, hot interstellar gas in the Galactic disk and halo, interstellar magnetic fields, cloud formation and destruction, theoretical approaches to interstellar turbulence, and infrared absorption and emission characteristics of interstellar PAHs. Other topics include gas phase chemical processes in molecular clouds, the chemical evolution of galaxies, and the atomic and molecular physics of interstellar heating and cooling.
Hollenbach, David J.↗
Interstellar Dust Connections to Interplanetary Dust
The organic component of the interstellar medium, which has revealed itself through the ubiquitous 3.4 micrometer hydrocarbon absorption feature, is widespread throughout the disk of our galaxy and has been attributed to dust grains residing in the diffuse interstellar medium. The absorption band positions near 3.4 micrometers are characteristic of C-H stretching vibrations in the -CH3 and -CH2- groups of saturated aliphatic hydrocarbons associated with perturbing chemical groups. The production of complex molecules is thought to occur within dense molecular clouds when ice- mantled grains are processed by various energetic mechanisms. Studies of the processing of interstellar ices and the subsequent production of organic residues have relevance to studies of interplanetary dust, because primitive solar system bodies are likely reservoirs of organic material, either preserved from the interstellar medium or produced in situ. A comparison of the interstellar organics and the Murchison meteorite illustrates the importance of probing the interstellar connection to the solar system, because although the carbonaceous meteorites are undoubtedly highly processed, they do retain specific interstellar signatures (such as diamonds, SiC grains, graphite and enriched D/H). The organic component, while not proven interstellar, has a remarkable similarity to the interstellar organics observed in over a dozen sightlines through our galaxy. This paper compares spectra from laboratory organics produced through the processing of interstellar ice analog materials with the high resolution infrared observations of the interstellar medium in order to investigate the mechanisms (such as ion bombardment, plasma processing, and UV photolysis) that may be producing the organics in the ISM. Comparisons to interplanetary dust particles, comets, and meteorites are discussed.
Pendleton, Y. J.↗
Complex Organics from Laboratory Simulated Interstellar Ices
Many of the volatiles in interstellar dense clouds exist in ices surrounding dust grains. The low temperatures of these ices (T < 50 K) preclude most chemical reactions, but photolysis can drive reactions that produce a suite of new species, many of which are complex organics. We study the UV and proton radiation processing of interstellar ice analogs to explore links between interstellar chemistry, the organics in comets and meteorites, and the origin of life on Earth. The high D/H ratios in some interstellar species, and the knowledge that many of the organics in primitive meteorites are D-enriched, suggest that such links are plausible. Once identified, these species may serve as markers of interstellar heritage of cometary dust and meteorites. Of particular interest are our findings that UV photolysis of interstellar ice analogs produce molecules of importance in current living organisms, including quinones, amphiphiles, and amino acids. Quinones are essential in vital metabolic roles such as electron transport. Studies show that quinones should be made wherever polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are photolyzed in interstellar ices. In the case of anthracene-containing ices, we have observed the production of 9-anthrone and 9,10 anthraquinone, both of which have been observed in the Murchison meteorite. Amphiphiles are also made when mixed molecular ices are photolyzed. These amphiphiles self-assemble into fluorescent vesicles when placed in liquid water, as do Murchison extracts. Both have the ability to trap an ionic dye. Photolysis of plausible ices can also produce alanine, serine, and glycine as well as a number of small alcohols and amines. Flash heating of the room temperature residue generated by such experiments generates mass spectral distributions similar to those of IDPs. The detection of high D/H ratios in some interstellar molecular species, and the knowledge that many of the organics, such as hydroxy and amino acids, in primitive meteorites are D-enriched provides evidence for a connection between intact organic material in the interstellar medium and in meteorites. Thus, some of the oxidized aromatics, amphiphiles, amino acids, hydroxy acids, and other compounds found in meteorites may have had an interstellar ancestry and not solely a product of parent body aqueous alteration. Such compounds should also be targeted for searches of organics in cometary dust.
Dworkin, J. P.↗
High radiation pressure on interstellar dust computed by light-scattering simulation on fluffy agglomerates of magnesium-silicate grains with metallic-iron inclusions
Recent space missions have provided information on the physical and chemical properties of interstellar grains such as the ratio β of radiation pressure to gravity acting on the grains in addition to the composition, structure, and size distribution of the grains. Numerical simulation on the trajectories of interstellar grains captured by Stardust and returned to Earth constrained the β ratio for the Stardust samples of interstellar origin. However, recent accurate calculations of radiation pressure cross-sections for model dust grains have given conflicting stories in the β ratio of interstellar grains. The β ratio for model dust grains of so-called “astronomical silicate” in the femto-kilogram range lies below unity, in conflict with β∼1 for the Stardust interstellar grains. Here, I tackle this conundrum by re-evaluating the β ratio of interstellar grains on the assumption that the grains are aggregated particles grown by coagulation and composed of amorphous MgSiO{sub 3} with the inclusion of metallic iron. My model is entirely consistent with the depletion and the correlation of major rock-forming elements in the Local Interstellar Cloud surrounding the Sun and the mineralogical identification of interstellar grains in the Stardust and Cassini missions. I find that my model dust particles fulfill the constraints on the β ratio derived from not only the Stardust mission but also the Ulysses and Cassini missions. My results suggest that iron is not incorporated into silicates but exists as metal, contrary to the majority of interstellar dust models available to date.
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
Grain destruction in shocks in the interstellar medium
Destruction of interstellar dust occurs predominantly in supernova shock waves in the warm neutral/ionized medium (density approximately = 0.25/cu cm, temperature approximately = 10(exp 4) K). Recent theoretical developments and laboratory data for sputtering processes and grain-grain collisional vaporization allows us to better evaluate the grain destruction rate in interstellar shocks in the warm medium. We find that, independent of composition, grain denstruction in supernova blast waves is dominated by nonthermal sputtering for shock velocities greater than 50 km/s and less than or equal to 150 km/s and thermal sputtering at higher shock velocities. We use a detailed scheme for the vaporization of grains colliding at high velocities (v(sub s) greater than or equal to 20 km/s) and show that the grain-grain collision destruction process is only dominant for shock velocities of less than or equal to 50-80 km/s and is less important than previously assumed. Nevertheless, the grain-grain destruction rates are of order 30%-90% of the sputtering rates at v(sub s) greater than 100 km/s and less than 200 km/s and are important in vaporizing the cores of grains. Detailed results for grain destruction as a function of grain size and composition are presented. We also present results for silicon carbide, iron, ice, and porous test particles. For carbonaceous grains we find that the fractional destruction is less than or equal to 0.29, and for silicate it is less than or equal to 0.45, for v(sub s) less than or equal to 200 km/s. We have calculated grain lifetimes, using the three-phase model of the interstellar medium, and find lifetimes of 4 x 10(exp 8) yr for carbonaceous grains and 2.2 x 10(exp 8) yr for silicate grains. Given that the typical stardust injection timescale of 2.5 x 10(exp 9) yr, we conclude that efficient mechanisms for grain growth in the interstellar medium must exist in order that a significant fraction of the refractory elements be incorporated in dust, as observed. Therefore, although our improved model has less vaporization of dust due to grain-grain collisions, sputtering still destroys dust efficiently and grain mantle growth in the interstellar medium is required, a conclusion reached in previous models of grain destruction in the interstellar medium. Carbonaceous mantles on silicate grains can protect the silicate cores from sputtering destruction in interstellar shock waves, provided that the protective mantles can efficiently reform in the interstellar medium. Also, if the grains are porous the postshock grain velocities are lower than for solid particles, and grain destruction is reduced. Porosity and mantling may increase the grain lifetime by factors of approximately 3 and approximately 3-4, respectively. The fraction of interstellar silicon in silicate stardust is therefore less than or equal to 0.25, but more silicon might be depleted in the form of a grain mantle.
Jones, A. P.↗
Interaction of the Local Interstellar Medium with the Heliosphere: Role of the Interior and Exterior Magnetic Fields
A complete model of the global interaction between the solar wind and the local interstellar medium must take account of interstellar neutral atoms, interstellar ionized gas, solar and galactic magnetic fields, galactic and anomalous cosmic rays. For now, however, in view of the many uncertainties about conditions in the interstellar medium, etc., all models must be regarded as highly idealized and incomplete. In the present review I concentrate on the role of magnetic fields of solar and interstellar origin. The former, the interior field, has negligible influence on the unshocked solar wind; the immediate post-shock solar wind is probably low-beta, so that the interior magnetic field is still unimportant, but this situation changes as the plasma flows through the heliosheath, and a ridge of strong magnetic field may form to separate materials of polar and equatorial origin. The exterior (interstellar) field is likely to play an important role in determining the global morphology of the system outside the termination shock. If the exterior field is strong enough, it can compress the heliosphere (although exterior neutral and/or ionized hydrogen may play the dominant role). Even if the interstellar magnetic field does not provide the dominant pressure, its orientation can substantially affect the configuration of the heliosphere, especially the location and orientation of the heliospheric discontinuities. The configurations can be quite different for the situations in which the field and flow are (a) aligned or (b) transverse. Obliquity of the field produces asymmetry in the geometry of the system; in particular the noses of heliopause and interstellar bow shock are shifted away from the interstellar flow direction, and in opposite directions, due to the asymmetric draping of the magnetic field.
Barnes, Aaron↗
The Inventory of Interstellar Materials Available for the Formation of the Solar System
Dr. Derek Sears, the editor of the journal Meteoritics and Planetary Science, has established a policy of having each issue of the journal contain an invited review of an area that he deems to be of special cur-rent importance. Typically 20 to 25 pages of the beginning of the journal are devoted to each review. He has asked me to prepare such a review summarizing what we know about the composition and structure of interstellar materials. The attached paper is the result. This is a good time for such a review since tremendous progress has been made in the field of interstellar dust in recent years through the use of telescopic observations, theoretical studies, laboratory studies of analogs, and the study of actual interstellar samples found in meteorites. It is increasing clear that the interstellar medium (ISM) contains an enormous diversity of materials created by a wide range of chemical and physical processes. This understanding is a far cry from the picture of interstellar materials held as recently as two decades ago, a picture which incorporated only a few generic types of grains and few molecules. In the paper I review our current knowledge of the more abundant materials thought to exist in the ISM. The review concentrates on matter in interstellar dense molecular clouds since it is the materials in these environments from which new stars and planetary systems are formed, although materials in circumstellar environments and in the diffuse ISM are also discussed. The paper focuses largely on solid materials since they contain a major fraction of the heavier elements in clouds and because solids are most likely to survive incorporation into new planetary systems in identifiable form. The paper concludes with discussion of some of the implications resulting from the identification of these interstellar materials. I also present some new thoughts, the most intriguing being that meteoritic 'microdiamonds' may be the same material that modelers of the interstellar extinction call graphite! If my suggestion is correct it will help resolve the dilemma associated with the current over-subscription of cosmic C and should lead to some new approaches to both extinction models and the study of meteoritic interstellar microdiamonds.
Sandford, Scott A.↗
Photodissociation Regions in the Interstellar Medium of Galaxies
The interstellar medium of galaxies is the reservoir out of which stars are born and into which stars inject newly created elements as they age. The physical properties of the interstellar medium are governed in part by the radiation emitted by these stars. Far-ultraviolet (6 eV less than h(nu) less than 13.6 eV) photons from massive stars dominate the heating and influence the chemistry of the neutral atomic gas and much of the molecular gas in galaxies. Predominantly neutral regions of the interstellar medium in which the heating and chemistry are regulated by far ultraviolet photons are termed Photo-Dissociation Regions (PDRs). These regions are the origin of most of the non-stellar infrared (IR) and the millimeter and submillimeter CO emission from galaxies. The importance of PDRs has become increasingly apparent with advances in IR and submillimeter astronomy. The IR emission from PDRs includes fine structure lines of C, C+, and O; rovibrational lines of H2, rotational lines of CO; broad middle features of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons; and a luminous underlying IR continuum from interstellar dust. The transition of H to H2 and C+ to CO occurs within PDRs. Comparison of observations with theoretical models of PDRs enables one to determine the density and temperature structure, the elemental abundances, the level of ionization, and the radiation field. PDR models have been applied to interstellar clouds near massive stars, planetary nebulae, red giant outflows, photoevaporating planetary disks around newly formed stars, diffuse clouds, the neutral intercloud medium, and molecular clouds in the interstellar radiation field-in summary, much of the interstellar medium in galaxies. Theoretical PDR models explain the observed correlations of the [CII] 158 microns with the COJ = 1-0 emission, the COJ = 1-0 luminosity with the interstellar molecular mass, and the [CII] 158 microns plus [OI] 63 microns luminosity with the IR continuum luminosity. On a more global scale, MR models predict the existence of two stable neutral phases of the interstellar medium, elucidate the formation and destruction of star-forming molecular clouds, and suggest radiation-induced feedback mechanisms that may regulate star formation rates and the column density of gas through giant molecular clouds.
Hollenbach, David J.↗
The Organic Component of Interstellar Dust
The distribution, chemical structure, and formation of organic matter in the interstellar medium are important to our understanding of the overall evolution of dust. The exchange of dust between the dense and diffuse interstellar medium, and the effects of processing on dust within dense clouds will affect the inventory of material available for incorporation into newly forming star and planetary systems. Observational ground-based studies have confirmed the widespread distribution of the 3.4 pm absorption band attributed to aliphatic hydrocarbons in the diffuse interstellar medium of our own galaxy, and in the dusty spectra of a few nearby galaxies, while space based observations from IS0 probed the signatures of corresponding mid-infrared features. Laboratory experiments which utilize both thermal processes and energetic processing by high energy photons and cosmic rays, produce candidate materials which offer close matches to the observed diffuse interstellar medium and extragalactic hydrocarbon absorption features. Through an analysis of the 4000 to 1000 cm (2.5 to 10 micrometers) region of the spectrum of diffuse interstellar medium (DISM) dust compared with the spectra of thirteen chemical entities produced in the laboratory which serve as analogs to the interstellar material, significant constraints have been placed on the applicability of proposed candidate materials to explain the interstellar features. The results indicate that the organic refractory material in the diffuse interstellar medium is predominantly hydrocarbon in nature, possessing little nitrogen or oxygen, with the carbon distributed between the aromatic and aliphatic forms. Long alkane chains H3C-(CH2),- with n much greater than 4 or 5 are not major constituents of this material. Comparisons to laboratory analogs indicate the DISM organic material resembles plasma processed pure hydrocarbon residues much more so than energetically processed ice residues. This result is consistent with a birthsite for the carrier of the 3.4 micrometers band in the outflow region of evolved carbon stars. Comparisons of dust from our own galaxy with that of distant galaxies suggests that the organic component of interstellar dust is widespread and may be an important universal reservoir of prebiotic organic carbon.
Pendleton, Yvonne↗
Interstellar Dust Models
A viable interstellar dust model - characterized by the composition, morphology, and size distribution of the dust grains and by the abundance of the different elements locked up in the dust - should fit all observational constraints arising primarily from the interactions of the dust with incident radiation or the ambient gas. As a minimum, these should include the average interstellar extinction, the infrared emission from the diffuse interstellar medium (ISM), and the observed interstellar abundances of the various refractory elements. The last constraint has been largely ignored, resulting in dust models that require more elements to be in the dust phase than available in the ISM. In this talk I will describe the most recent advances towards the construction of a comprehensive dust model made by Zubko, Dwek, and Arendt, who, for the first time, included the interstellar abundances as explicit constraints in the construction of interstellar dust models. The results showed the existence of many distinct models that satisfy the basic set of observational constraints, including bare spherical silicate and graphite particles, PAHs, as well as spherical composite particles containing silicate, organic refractories, water ice, and voids. Recently, a new interstellar dust constituent has emerged, consisting of metallic needles. These needles constitute a very small fraction of the interstellar dust abundance, and their existence is primarily manifested in the 4 to 8 micron wavelength region, where they dominate the interstellar extinction. Preliminary studies show that these models may be distinguished by their X-ray halos, which are produced primarily by small angle scattering off large dust particles along the line of sight to bright X-ray sources, and probe dust properties largely inaccessible at other wavelengths.
Dwek, Eli↗
Status of the Stardust ISPE and the Origin of Four Interstellar Dust Candidates
Some bulk properties of interstellar dust are known through infrared and X-ray observations of the interstellar medium. However, the properties of individual interstellar dust particles are largely unconstrained, so it is not known whether individual interstellar dust particles can be definitively distinguished from interplanetary dust particles in the Stardust Interstellar Dust Collector (SIDC) based only on chemical, mineralogical or isotopic analyses. It was therefore understood from the beginning of the Stardust Interstellar Preliminary Examination (ISPE) that identification of interstellar dust candidates would rest on three criteria - broad consistency with known extraterrestrial materials, inconsistency with an origin as secondary ejecta from impacts on the spacecraft, and consistency, in a statistical sense, of observed dynamical properties - that is, trajectory and capture speed - with an origin in the interstellar dust stream. Here we quantitatively test four interstellar dust candidates, reported previously [1], against these criteria.
Westphal, A. J.↗