ISM Diagnostics: Dust

Abstract

AbstractInfrared (IR) observations provide significant information on the lifecycle of dust grains in the interstellar medium (ISM), which is crucial for the understanding of the evolution of matter in the universe. The IR spectral energy distribution (SED) of the dust emission tells us the relative abundance of sub-micron grains, very small grains, and carriers of the unidentified infrared (UIR) emission bands, since they emit the far-IR, the mid-IR, and the UIR bands from the near- to mid-IR, respectively. On the other hand, the UIR emission bands themselves offer a useful means to probe the physical conditions from which the band emission arises because each band is assigned to a specific C-H or C-C vibration mode and because its relative intensity should reflect the properties of the band carriers and the physical conditions of the environment. Here the two diagnostic methods using IR observations are briefly described together with examples of the observational results. Implications for the dust lifecycle are also discussed.