From grains to pebbles: the influence of size distribution and chemical composition on dust emission properties

TL;DR

This study investigates how dust grain size distribution and chemical composition influence their emission properties in dense interstellar media, revealing significant uncertainties in mass, size, and composition estimates from (sub)mm to cm observations.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive analysis of dust optical properties and SEDs, highlighting the limitations in inferring dust characteristics solely from spectral data.

Findings

Dust mass absorption coefficient varies with composition and size distribution.

(Sub)mm to cm SED shape alone cannot reliably determine grain composition.

Estimating grain sizes from spectral index can be misleading due to temperature effects.

Abstract

The size and composition of dust grains are critical in setting the dynamical, physical and chemical evolution of the media in which they are present. Thanks to facilities such as ALMA and in the future the SKA, their thermal emission in the (sub)mm to cm has become a convenient way to trace grain properties. Our aim is to understand the influence of the grain composition and size distribution on the shape of their SED in dense ISM regions such as molecular clouds, prestellar cores, YSOs and protoplanetary discs. Starting from the optical constants defined in the THEMIS model for amorphous hydrogenated carbon and silicate grains in addition to water ice, we define 6 material mixtures representative of the expected dust composition in dense ISM regions. The optical properties of 0.01 micron to 10 cm grains are then calculated with effective medium and Mie theories. The corresponding SEDs are calculated for isolated clouds either externally heated by the ISRF alone or in addition to an internal source. The 3 main outcomes of this study are as follows. First, the dust mass absorption coefficient strongly depends on both its composition and size distribution potentially leading to errors in dust mass estimates by factors up to 3 and 20, respectively. Second, it appears almost impossible to retrieve the grain composition from the (sub)mm to cm SED shape alone as its spectral index for lambda > 3 mm does not depend on composition. Third, using the true dust opacity spectral index to estimate grain sizes may lead to erroneous findings as the observed spectral index can be highly modified by the dust temperature distribution along the line-of-sight, which depends on the specific heating source and on the geometry of the studied region. Based on the interpretation of only the spectral shape of (sub)mm to cm SEDs, the determination of the dust masses, compositions and sizes are highly uncertain.