Infrared Emission from the Composite Grains: Effects of Inclusions and Porosities on the 10 and 18 $\mu m$ Features

TL;DR

This study investigates how inclusions and porosities in silicate grains affect their infrared emission features, especially at 10 and 18 micrometers, by modeling and comparing with observed data from circumstellar dust around stars.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed model of composite silicate grains with inclusions and porosities, analyzing their infrared emission features and comparing different computational approaches.

Findings

Silicate feature at 10μm shifts with graphite inclusion volume fraction.

Porosity does not cause a shift in the emission features.

DDA and EMA methods yield different absorption efficiency results.

Abstract

In this paper we study the effects of inclusions and porosities on the emission properties of silicate grains and compare the model curves with the observed infrared emission from circumstellar dust. We calculate the absorption efficiency of the composite grain, made up of a host silicate oblate spheroid and inclusions of ice/graphite/or voids, in the spectral region 5.0-25.0$\mu m$. The absorption efficiencies of the composite spheroidal oblate grains for three axial ratios are computed using the discrete dipole approximation (DDA). We study the absorption as a function of the volume fraction of the inclusions and porosity. In particular, we study the variation in the $10\mu m$ and $18\mu m$ emission features with the volume fraction of the inclusions and porosities. We then calculate the infrared fluxes for these composite grains at several dust temperatures (T=200-350K) and compare the model curves with the average observed IRAS-LRS curve, obtained for circumstellar dust shells around oxygen rich M-type stars. The model curves are also compared with two other individual stars. The results on the composite grains clearly indicate that the silicate feature at 10$\mu m$ shifts with the volume fraction of graphite inclusions. The feature does not shift with the porosity. Both the features do not show any broadening with the inclusions or porosity. The absorption efficiencies of the composite grains calculated using DDA and Effective Medium Approximation (EMA) do not agree. The composite grain models presented in this study need to be compared with the observed IR emission from the circumstellar dust around a few more stars.