Observational Constraints on the Physical Properties of Interstellar Dust in the Post-Planck Era

TL;DR

This paper synthesizes multi-wavelength astronomical observations, especially polarized dust emission from Planck data, to constrain the physical properties and composition of interstellar dust in the diffuse Galactic medium.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive set of observational constraints, including polarization and abundance data, to inform and test models of interstellar dust properties.

Findings

Polarized dust emission measurements from Planck are crucial constraints.

Wavelength-dependent extinction and polarization data inform dust composition models.

Derived solid phase abundances help refine dust models.

Abstract

We present a synthesis of the astronomical observations constraining the wavelength-dependent extinction, emission, and polarization from interstellar dust from UV to microwave wavelengths on diffuse Galactic sightlines. Representative solid phase abundances for those sightlines are also derived. Given the sensitive new observations of polarized dust emission provided by the Planck satellite, we place particular emphasis on dust polarimetry, including continuum polarized extinction, polarization in the carbonaceous and silicate spectroscopic features, the wavelength-dependent polarization fraction of the dust emission, and the connection between optical polarized extinction and far-infrared polarized emission. Together, these constitute a set of constraints that should be reproduced by models of dust in the diffuse interstellar medium.