The evolution of amorphous hydrocarbons in the ISM: dust modelling from a new vantage point

TL;DR

This paper introduces a new, laboratory-data-anchored dust model for the interstellar medium that explains observed dust properties and evolution driven by mantle accretion and UV processing.

Contribution

It presents a novel dust model combining small a-C grains and larger a-SilFe and a-C(:H) grains, explaining dust variations in the ISM.

Findings

The model reproduces IR to FUV extinction variations.

It explains the 217 nm UV bump and IR emission features.

The model demonstrates dust evolution driven by mantle accretion and UV processing.

Abstract

Context. The evolution of amorphous hydrocarbon materials, a-C(:H), principally resulting from ultraviolet (UV) photon absorption- induced processing, are likely at the heart of the variations in the observed properties of dust in the interstellar medium. Aims. The consequences of the size-dependent and compositional variations in a-C(:H), from aliphatic-rich a-C:H to aromatic-rich a-C, are studied within the context of the interstellar dust extinction and emission. Methods. Newly-derived optical property data for a-C(:H) materials, combined with that for an amorphous forsterite-type silicate with iron nano-particle inclusions, a-SilFe, are used to explore dust evolution in the interstellar medium. Results. We present a new dust model that consists of a power-law distribution of small a-C grains and log-normal distributions of large a-SilFe and a-C(:H) grains. The model, which is firmly anchored by laboratory-data, is shown to quite naturally explain the variations in the infrared (IR) to far-ultraviolet (FUV) extinction, the 217 nm UV bump, the IR absorption and emission bands and the IR-mm dust emission. Conclusions. The major strengths of the new model are its inherent simplicity and built-in capacity to follow dust evolution in interstellar media. We show that mantle accretion in molecular clouds and UV photo-processing in photo-dominated regions are likely the major drivers of dust evolution.