Grain Destruction in Puppis A

Details Grain Destruction in Puppis A Grain Destruction in Puppis A

Mar 2008

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008sptz.prop50270d&link_type=abstract

Spitzer Proposal ID #50270

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Scientific paper

We propose to use the supernova remnant Puppis A as an interstellar laboratory for studying the effects of shocks on dust grains. Puppis A is a well-resolved, bright infrared source with strongly correlated IR/X-ray emissions that are shaped by strong interactions of the remnant shock with an environment that includes a CO a nd HI cloud complex. It contains a wide range of plasma conditions that would allow study of the effects of shocks on the processing and destruction of dust grains under a variety of conditions. A Spitzer study of Puppis A is further supported by the broad range of exquisite complementary observations at X-ray and UV wavelengths. All this makes Puppis A the ideal target for the study of shocks on dust. Determining the efficiency of the various grain destruction processes is of great astrophysical importance since they play a major role in our understanding of the sources and origin of interstellar dust. For example, the origin of the large amount of dust in high-redshift galaxies is a question of great astrophysical importance. Since AGB stars did not have time to evolve off the main sequence, supernovae are the only source of newly-formed dust in these young galaxies. If grains were not destroyed, supernovae may have been able to produce the observed amount of dust, assuming a condensation efficiency of about unity in their ejecta. However, if grain destruction is taken into account, then only accretion onto preexisting grain in molecular clouds can account for the observed mass of dust in the high-redshift (z > 6) universe. Determining the grain destruction efficiency is therefore a major issue in astrophysics, with local as well as cosmological implications. The proposed Spitzer observations of Puppis A are key for addressing this issue.

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