Other
Scientific paper
Mar 2003
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2003sptz.prop.1094m&link_type=abstract
Spitzer Proposal ID #1094
Other
Scientific paper
Dust is produced in the circumstellar environments of evolved stars and then ejected by a stellar wind into the surrounding interstellar medium (ISM). Here, it may reside for a long time (> 10^9 years) before it ends up in a molecular cloud where star formation takes place. When a star is formed, in many cases a dusty disk remains from which a planetary system may form as well. Both within the ISM and in the winds from cool stars, about half of the matter heavier than helium is contained within solid particles. Therefore, dust is an important tracer of the physical conditions in astrophysical environments. By measuring the composition of the dust grains we can study the formation and processing of the material, and thus derive a record of the physical circumstances. As we understand better the physics of dust in our own Galaxy, we will be better able to use infrared studies of other galaxies to learn about their history and use this knowledge to interpret dusty systems at high redshift. I will work on the formation and evolution of dust in the Galaxy and the Magellanic Clouds. From previous studies performed with IRAS, the Kuiper Airborne Observatory (KAO), and the Infrared Space Observatory (ISO), we have learned that the composition of interstellar dust is very different from that of circumstellar dust. I plan to pursue a vigorous observational program which uses the unique capabilities of SIRTF to quantitatively investigate the life cycle of dust in the Milky Way and the Magellanic Clouds. I propose to determine the composition of the dust in various astrophysical environments using the spectroscopy modes offered on SIRTF, in order to study the formation and processing of the identified dust species. For this purpose the spectrographic data will be compared to optical constants of astrophysically relevant minerals, derived from laboratory measurements.
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