The Microwave Thermal Emission from the Zodiacal Dust Cloud Predicted with Contemporary Meteoroid Models

TL;DR

This paper compares different meteoroid models to predict the microwave thermal emission from interplanetary dust, highlighting significant differences and providing maps and spectra for observational use.

Contribution

It evaluates and contrasts contemporary meteoroid models for microwave emission prediction, aiding in CMB data analysis and future observation planning.

Findings

The Kelsall model predicts different microwave emission than meteoroid engineering models.

Predicted emission maps and spectra vary significantly across models.

Results assist in identifying interplanetary dust emission in CMB experiments.

Abstract

Predictions of the microwave thermal emission from the interplanetary dust cloud are made using several contemporary meteoroid models to construct the distributions of cross-section area of dust in space, and applying the Mie light-scattering theory to estimate the temperatures and emissivities of dust particles in broad size and heliocentric distance ranges. In particular, the model of the interplanetary dust cloud by Kelsall et al. (1998, ApJ 508: 44-73), the five populations of interplanetary meteoroids of Divine (1993, JGR 98(E9): 17,029-17,048) and the Interplanetary Meteoroid Engineering Model (IMEM) by Dikarev et al. (2004, EMP 95: 109-122) are used in combination with the optical properties of olivine, carbonaceous and iron spherical particles. The Kelsall model has been widely accepted by the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) community. We show, however, that it predicts the microwave emission from interplanetary dust remarkably different from the results of application of the meteoroid engineering models. We make maps and spectra of the microwave emission predicted by the three models assuming variant composition of dust particles. Predictions can be used to look for the emission from interplanetary dust in CMB experiments as well as to plan new observations.