2020/12/07 by Qi Li, Desika Narayanan, Paul Torrey +2 · 27 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy #Astrophysics #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #Cosmic dust #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Extinction (optical mineralogy) #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Galaxy #Milky Way #Physics #astro-ph.GA
paper · pdf · doi:10.1093/mnras/stab2196
published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 507(1), 548-559 (Oxford University Press) · 12 pages, 6 figures, MNRAS submitted
arxiv created 2020/12/07 · openalex publication_date 2021/07/29 · arxiv updated 2021/08/11 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06
ABSTRACT We develop a cosmological model for the evolution of dust grains in galaxies with a distribution of sizes in order to understand the origin of the Milky Way dust extinction curve. Our model considers the formation of active dust in evolved stars, growth by accretion and coagulation, and destruction processes via shattering, sputtering, and astration in the ISM of galaxies over cosmic time. Our main results follow. Galaxies in our cosmological model with masses comparable to the Milky Way’s at z ∼ 0 exhibit a diverse range of extinction laws, though with slopes and bump strengths comparable to the range observed in the Galaxy. The progenitors of the Milky Way have steeper slopes, and only flatten to slopes comparable to the Galaxy at z ∼ 1. This owes to increased grain growth rates at late times/in high-metallicity environments driving up the ratio of large to small grains, with a secondary dependence on the graphite-to-silicate ratio evolution. The UV bump strengths depend primarily on the graphite-to-silicate ratio, and remain broadly constant in MW-like galaxies between z = 3 and z = 0, though show slight variability. Our models span comparable regions of bump-slope space as sightlines in the Galaxy do, though there is a lack of clear relationship between the model slopes and bump strengths owing to variations among galaxies in the graphite-to-silicate ratio. Our model provides a novel framework to study the origins and variations of dust extinction curves in galaxies over cosmic time.