2006/01/13 by Joseph C. Weingartner, B. T. Draine, David K. Barr · 5 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1086/504420
published as Astrophys.J. 645 (2006) 1188-1197 · 29 pages, 9 figures, submitted to ApJ
arxiv created 2006/01/13 · openalex publication_date 2006/07/07 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31
Photoelectric emission from dust plays an important role in grain charging and gas heating. To date, detailed models of these processes have focused primarily on grains exposed to soft radiation fields. We provide new estimates of the photoelectric yield for neutral and charged carbonaceous and silicate grains, for photon energies exceeding 20 eV. We include the ejection of electrons from both the band structure of the material and the inner shells of the constituent atoms, as well as Auger and secondary electron emission. We apply the model to estimate gas-heating rates in planetary nebulae and grain charges in quasar environments. For these applications, secondary emission can be neglected; the combined effect of inner shell and Auger emission is small, although not always negligible. Finally, we investigate the survivability of dust in quasar host galaxies. For unobscured lines of sight, dust can be destroyed out to distances ~1 kpc.