Shattering by turbulence as a production source of very small grains

The origin of grain size distribution in the interstellar medium is one of the most fundamental problems in the interstellar physics. In the Milky Way, smaller grains are more abundant in number, but their origins are not necessarily specified and quantified. One of the most efficient drivers of small grain production is interstellar turbulence, in which dust grains can acquire relative velocities large enough to be shattered. Applying the framework of shattering developed in previous papers, we show that small (a\la 0.01~\micron) grains reach the abundance level observed in the Milky Way in $\sim 10^8$ yr (i.e. within the grain lifetime) by shattering in warm neutral medium. We also show that if part of grains experience additional shattering in warm ionized medium, carbonaceous grains with a\sim 0.01~\micron are redistributed into smaller sizes. This could explain the relative enhancement of very small carbonaceous grains with $a\sim 3$--100 \AA. Our theory also explains the ubiquitous association between large grains and very small grains naturally. Some tests for our theory are proposed in terms of the metallicity dependence.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS Letter

Impact of grain size distributions on the dust enrichment in high-redshift quasars

In high-redshift ($z>5$) quasars, a large amount of dust (\textstyle\sim 10^{8} \mathrm{M}_{\sun}) has been observed. In order to explain the large dust content, we focus on a possibility that grain growth by the accretion of heavy elements is the dominant dust source. We adopt a chemical evolution model applicable to nearby galaxies but utilize parameters adequate to high-$z$ quasars. It is assumed that metals and dust are predominantly ejected by Type II supernovae (SNe). We have found that grain growth strongly depends on the grain size distribution. If we simply use the size distribution of grains ejected from SNe, grain growth is inefficient because of the lack of small grains (i.e.\ small surface-to-volume ratio of the dust grains). However, if we take small grain production by interstellar shattering into consideration, grain growth is efficient enough to account for the rich dust abundance in high-$z$ quasars. Our results not only confirm that grain growth is necessary to explain the large amount of dust in high-$z$ quasars, but also demonstrate that grain size distributions have a critical impact on grain growth

Synthesized grain size distribution in the interstellar medium

We examine a synthetic way of constructing the grain size distribution in the interstellar medium (ISM). First we formulate a synthetic grain size distribution composed of three grain size distributions processed with the following mechanisms that govern the grain size distribution in the Milky Way: (i) grain growth by accretion and coagulation in dense clouds, (ii) supernova shock destruction by sputtering in diffuse ISM, and (iii) shattering driven by turbulence in diffuse ISM. Then, we examine if the observational grain size distribution in the Milky Way (called MRN) is successfully synthesized or not. We find that the three components actually synthesize the MRN grain size distribution in the sense that the deficiency of small grains by (i) and (ii) is compensated by the production of small grains by (iii). The fraction of each {contribution} to the total grain processing of (i), (ii), and (iii) (i.e., the relative importance of the three {contributions} to all grain processing mechanisms) is 30-50%, 20-40%, and 10-40%, respectively. We also show that the Milky Way extinction curve is reproduced with the synthetic grain size distributions.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in Earth, Planets, and Spac

Evolution of dust grain size distribution by shattering in the interstellar medium: robustness and uncertainty

Shattering of dust grains in the interstellar medium is a viable mechanism of small grain production in galaxies. We examine the robustness or uncertainty in the theoretical predictions of shattering. We identify $P_1$ (the critical pressure above which the deformation destroys the original lattice structures) as the most important quantity in determining the timescale of small grain production, and confirm that the same $P_1/t$ ($t$ is the duration of shattering) gives the same grain size distribution [$n(a)$, where $a$ is the grain radius] after shattering within a factor of 3. The uncertainty in the fraction of shocked material that is eventually ejected as fragments causes uncertainties in $n(a)$ by a factor of 1.3 and 1.6 for silicate and carbonaceous dust, respectively. The size distribution of shattered fragments have minor effects as long as the power index of the fragment size distribution is less than ~ 3.5, since the slope of grain size distribution $n(a)$ continuously change by shattering and becomes consistent with $n(a)\propto a^{-3.5}$. The grain velocities as a function of grain radius can have an imprint in the grain size distribution especially for carbonaceous dust. We also show that the formulation of shattering can be simplified without losing sufficient precision.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figures, Accepted for publication in Earth, Planets, and Space (Special Issue: Cosmic Dust V