Expected dust grain size distributions in galaxies detected by ALMA at $z>7$

TL;DR

This study models dust grain size distributions in high-redshift galaxies to identify dominant dust sources, proposing that extinction curves can distinguish between stellar ejecta and accretion-driven dust growth.

Contribution

It introduces a method to differentiate dust sources in early galaxies by analyzing predicted grain size distributions and extinction curves.

Findings

Large grains dominate if stellar ejecta are the main source.

Small grains are prevalent if dust growth by accretion is efficient.

Extinction curves are steeper in the accretion scenario.

Abstract

The dust properties in high-redshift galaxies provide clues to the origin of dust in the Universe. Although dust has been detected in galaxies at redshift $z>7$, it is difficult to constrain the dominant dust sources only from the total dust amount. Thus, we calculate the evolution of grain size distribution, expecting that different dust sources predict different grain size distributions. Using the star formation time-scale and the total baryonic mass constrained by the data in the literature, we calculate the evolution of grain size distribution. To explain the total dust masses in ALMA-detected $z>7$ galaxies, the following two solutions are possible: (i) high dust condensation efficiency in stellar ejecta, and (ii) efficient accretion (dust growth by accreting the gas-phase metals in the interstellar medium). We find that these two scenarios predict significantly different grain size distributions: in (i), the dust is dominated by large grains ($a\gtrsim 0.1~\mu$m, where $a$ is the grain radius), while in (ii), the small-grain ($a\lesssim 0.01~\mu$m) abundance is significantly enhanced by accretion. Accordingly, extinction curves are expected to be much steeper in (ii) than in (i). Thus, we conclude that extinction curves provide a viable way to distinguish the dominant dust sources in the early phase of galaxy evolution.