Can We Trust the Dust? Evidence of Dust Segregation in Molecular Clouds

Maps of estimated dust column density in molecular clouds are usually assumed to reliably trace the total gas column density structure. In this work we present results showing a clear discrepancy between the dust and the gas distribution in the Taurus molecular cloud complex. We compute the power spectrum of a 2MASS extinction map of the Taurus region and find it is much shallower than the power spectrum of a 13CO map of the same region previously analyzed. This discrepancy may be explained as the effect of grain growth on the grain extinction efficiency. However, this would require a wide range of maximum grain sizes, which is ruled out based on constraints from the extinction curve and the available grain models. We show that major effects due to CO formation and depletion are also ruled out. Our result may therefore suggest the existence of intrinsic spatial fluctuations of the dust to gas ratio, with amplitude increasing toward smaller scales. Preliminary results of numerical simulations of trajectories of inertial particles in turbulent flows illustrate how the process of clustering of dust grains by the cloud turbulence may lead to observable effects. However, these results cannot be directly applied to large scale supersonic and magnetized turbulence at present.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures included, ApJ, in pres

Le milieu interstellaire dense et la formation stellaire de l'infrarouge proche au submillimétrique

Sciences de la Terre et de l'Univer

How Documentalists Update SIMBAD

International audienceThe Strasbourg astronomical Data Center (CDS) was created in 1972 and has had a major role in astronomy for more than forty years. CDS develops a service called SIMBAD that provides basic data, cross-identifications, bibliography, and measurements for astronomical objects outside the solar system. It brings to the scientific community an added value to content which is updated daily by a team of documentalists working together in close collaboration with astronomers and IT specialists. We explain how the CDS staff updates SIMBAD with object citations in the main astronomical journals, as well as with astronomical data and measurements. We also explain how the identification is made between the objects found in the literature and those already existing in SIMBAD. We show the steps followed by the documentalist team to update the database using different tools developed at CDS, like the sky visualizer Aladin, and the large catalogues and survey database VizieR. As a direct result of this teamwork, SIMBAD integrates almost 10.000 bibliographic references per year. The service receives more than 400.000 queries per day

Unveiling Grain Growth in Very Dense Galactic Cores

Interstellar dust provides the building blocks of planets and the initial grain size distribution in the parent molecular cloud is key to understanding how planets form. Under typical diffuse ISM conditions, dust grains do not grow beyond ~0.5 micron. However, within dense molecular clouds, when shielded from the harsh interstellar radiation field, ice mantles form, allowing grain growth through coagulation. Theoretical models predict that grain growth deforms the silicate band profiles at 9.7 and 18 micron and flattens the extinction curve between 5 and 26 micron. We propose to observe, with MIRI spectroscopy, 9 independent lines of sight through 3 very dense cores, from 5 to 40 mag of Av. Our proposed measurements, made possible by the exquisite JWST sensitivity, will be a paradigm shift in the field: the simultaneous observations of the 9.7 and 18 micron silicate absorption features at such high Av, of the 5-26 micron extinction curve, and of several ice features, coupled with state-of-the-art modelling, will allow us to resolve for the first time intrinsic degeneracies in grain size, shape and porosity. This will make it possible to set unprecedented constraints on astrochemical models with wide applications to planet and star formation. We will also deliver to the community a mini atlas of spectroscopic MIR extinction curves for the observed regions, which will be the very first publicly available for high Av sightlines. This program complements the current JWST ERS portfolio, by helping to bridge a critical gap between star and planet formation, making it an ideal addition to the Cycle 1 observations which promise to deliver revolutionary science