Other
Scientific paper
Jan 1995
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1995phdt.........2o&link_type=abstract
PhD Dissertation, Wisconsin Univ. Madison, WI United States
Other
Interstellar Matter, Interplanetary Dust, Particle Size Distribution, Vapor Phases, Interstellar Extinction, Abundance, Shock Wave Interaction, Refractories, Molecular Clouds, Gas Dynamics, Astronomical Models, Plasma Turbulence, Early Stars, Sputtering
Scientific paper
We have calculated grain size distributions for a model of the diffuse interstellar medium in order to account simultaneously for both the well-observed interstellar extinction law and also the gas phase abundances of refractory elements. We consider two phases T = 80 K) and a warm neutral medium (n(H) = 0.4 cm-3, T = 8000 K). Grains are shattered by shocks in the warm medium. In clouds they either coagulate together or shatter one another through turbulent grain-grain collisions. We consider variations in the mass fractions of the two phases, the turbulent velocities in clouds, grain-grain sticking efficiencies, circulation times between warm gas and clouds, the frequency of shocks and grain-grain shattering. We make the very conservative assumption that the input of gaseous refractory atoms is from early-type stars and sputtering of material that has been accreted in clouds but neglect grain destruction by thermal sputtering. Gas-phase atoms are assumed to accrete onto grains in clouds, where every atom hitting a grain sticks to it. Even with these assumptions, in our best cases we find the abundance of gas phase atoms is about twice observed values. Sputtering of grains by shocks, usually considered to be the main means of grain destruction, would serve to make the gas-phase abundance higher.
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