Evidence for dust evolution within the Taurus Complex from Spitzer images

Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics – Galaxy Astrophysics

Scientific paper

Rate now

  [ 0.00 ] – not rated yet Voters 0   Comments 0

Details

43 pages, 13 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ

Scientific paper

10.1088/0004-637X/701/2/1450

We present Spitzer images of the Taurus Complex (TC) and take advantage of the sensitivity and spatial resolution of the observations to characterize the diffuse IR emission across the cloud. This work highlights evidence of dust evolution within the translucent sections of the archetype reference for studies of quiescent molecular clouds. We combine Spitzer 160 um and IRAS 100 um observations to produce a dust temperature map and a far-IR dust opacity map at 5' resolution. The average dust temperature is about 14.5K with a dispersion of +/-1K across the cloud. The far-IR dust opacity is a factor 2 larger than the average value for the diffuse ISM. This opacity increase and the attenuation of the radiation field (RF) both contribute to account for the lower emission temperature of the large grains. The structure of the TC significantly changes in the mid-IR images that trace emission from PAHs and VSGs. We focus our analysis of the mid-IR emission to a range of ecliptic latitudes where the zodiacal light residuals are small. Within this cloud area, there are no 8 and 24 um counterparts to the brightest 160 um emission features. Conversely, the 8 and 24 um images reveal filamentary structure that is strikingly inconspicuous in the 160 um and extinction maps. The IR colors vary over sub-parsec distances across this filamentary structure. We compare the observed colors with model calculations quantifying the impact of the RF intensity and the abundance of stochastically heated particles on the dust SED. To match the range of observed colors, we have to invoke variations by a factor of a few of both the interstellar RF and the abundance of PAHs and VSGs. We conclude that within this filamentary structure a significant fraction of the dust mass cycles in and out the small size end of the dust size distribution.

No associations

LandOfFree

Say what you really think

Search LandOfFree.com for scientists and scientific papers. Rate them and share your experience with other people.

Rating

Evidence for dust evolution within the Taurus Complex from Spitzer images does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Evidence for dust evolution within the Taurus Complex from Spitzer images, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Evidence for dust evolution within the Taurus Complex from Spitzer images will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

     

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-306021

  Search
All data on this website is collected from public sources. Our data reflects the most accurate information available at the time of publication.