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arXiv · 1904.10994

The Life Cycle of Dust

Abstract

Dust offers a unique probe of the interstellar medium (ISM) across multiple size, density, and temperature scales. Dust is detected in outflows of evolved stars, star-forming molecular clouds, planet-forming disks, and even in galaxies at the dawn of the Universe. These grains also have a profound effect on various astrophysical phenomena from thermal balance and extinction in galaxies to the building blocks for planets, and changes in dust grain properties will affect all of these phenomena. A full understanding of dust in all of its forms and stages requires a multi-disciplinary investigation of the dust life cycle. Such an investigation can be achieved with a statistical study of dust properties across stellar evolution, star and planet formation, and redshift. Current and future instrumentation will enable this investigation through fast and sensitive observations in dust continuum, polarization, and spectroscopy from near-infrared to millimeter wavelengths.

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Sarah Sadavoy, Mikako Matsuura, Lee Armus, Cara Battersby, Caitlin Casey, Christopher Clark, Asantha Cooray, Karine Demyk, Neal Evans, Karl Gordon, Frederic Galliano, Maryvonne Gerin, Benne Holwerda, Nia Imara, Doug Johnstone, Alvaro Labiano, David Leisawitz, Wanggi Lim, Leslie Looney, Margaret Meixner, Eric Murphy, Roberta Paladini, Julia Roman-Duval, Karin Sandstrom, John-David Smith, Ian Stephens, Nathalie Ysard. 2019-04-24. The Life Cycle of Dust. https://arxiv.org/abs/1904.10994

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