The Dust Enrichment of Galaxies
Lead Research Organisation:
University College London
Department Name: Physics and Astronomy
Abstract
Interstellar dust plays a key role in the evolution of galaxies, particularly during the star formation process. During their AGB red giant phase of evolution, low and intermediate mass stars are known to be important contributors to the interstellar dust budgets of galaxies like our own. However, massive stars, and their core-collapse (CC) supernovae, could potentially make a significant contribution to the dust budgets of some galaxies, particularly during their earliest stages of evolution.The copious amounts of dust observed in many high-z galaxies are not believed to be produced by low and intermediate mass stars, since the galaxy ages of 1 Gyr or less are too short for significant numbers of AGB stars to be present. Massive stars, and their CC SNe, arising from the starbursts that power these galaxies, are the most plausible sources of their dust. This proposal seeks to renew a current PDRA grant for three years, from September 2009, in order to exploit significant time allocations that have been made for spaceborne studies with Herschel, Spitzer and the HST. These observations, coupled with optimal data reduction procedures and appropriate radiative transfer modelling, can enable a quantification of the contributions of high mass stars and of lower mass stars to the dust enrichment rates of different galaxy types.
Publications
Madden S
(2013)
An Overview of the Dwarf Galaxy Survey
in Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific
Molinari S.
(2010)
Hi-GAL: The Herschel Infrared Galactic Plane Survey
in PUBLICATIONS OF THE ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY OF THE PACIFIC
Molinari S
(2010)
Hi-GAL: The Herschel Infrared Galactic Plane Survey
in Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific
Boselli A.
(2010)
The Herschel Reference Survey
in PUBLICATIONS OF THE ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY OF THE PACIFIC
Barlow M
(2013)
Detection of a Noble Gas Molecular Ion, 36 ArH + , in the Crab Nebula
in Science
Matsuura M
(2011)
Herschel detects a massive dust reservoir in supernova 1987A.
in Science (New York, N.Y.)
Clayton G
(2011)
THE DUST PROPERTIES OF TWO HOT R CORONAE BOREALIS STARS AND A WOLF-RAYET CENTRAL STAR OF A PLANETARY NEBULA: IN SEARCH OF A POSSIBLE LINK
in The Astronomical Journal
Andrews J
(2011)
EVIDENCE FOR PRE-EXISTING DUST IN THE BRIGHT TYPE IIn SN 2010jl
in The Astronomical Journal
Molinari S
(2011)
A 100 pc ELLIPTICAL AND TWISTED RING OF COLD AND DENSE MOLECULAR CLOUDS REVEALED BY HERSCHEL AROUND THE GALACTIC CENTER
in The Astrophysical Journal
Andrews J
(2011)
PHOTOMETRIC AND SPECTROSCOPIC EVOLUTION OF THE IIP SN 2007it TO DAY 944
in The Astrophysical Journal
Sugerman B
(2012)
THIRTY YEARS OF SN 1980K: EVIDENCE FOR LIGHT ECHOES
in The Astrophysical Journal
Andrews J
(2010)
SN 2007od: A TYPE IIP SUPERNOVA WITH CIRCUMSTELLAR INTERACTION
in The Astrophysical Journal
Clayton G
(2011)
THE CIRCUMSTELLAR ENVIRONMENT OF R CORONAE BOREALIS: WHITE DWARF MERGER OR FINAL-HELIUM-SHELL FLASH?
in The Astrophysical Journal
Gallagher J
(2012)
OPTICAL AND INFRARED ANALYSIS OF TYPE II SN 2006bc
in The Astrophysical Journal
Volk K
(2011)
ERRATUM: "DISCOVERY AND ANALYSIS OF 21 µm FEATURE SOURCES IN THE MAGELLANIC CLOUDS" (2011, ApJ, 735, 127)
in The Astrophysical Journal
Otsuka M
(2012)
LATE-TIME LIGHT CURVES OF TYPE II SUPERNOVAE: PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF SUPERNOVAE AND THEIR ENVIRONMENT
in The Astrophysical Journal
Sloan G
(2012)
CARBON-RICH DUST PRODUCTION IN METAL-POOR GALAXIES IN THE LOCAL GROUP
in The Astrophysical Journal
Gordon K
(2009)
THE DUST-TO-GAS RATIO IN THE SMALL MAGELLANIC CLOUD TAIL
in The Astrophysical Journal
| Description | Used the European Space Agency's Herschel Space Observatory, as part of the UK-led SPIRE instrument consortium, to study the far-infrared properties of evolved stars and supernova remnants. |
| Exploitation Route | All reults have been published on arXiv (green open access) as well as in refereed journals. |
| Sectors | Aerospace Defence and Marine |
| Description | Discovered very large quantities of dust had been formed in the Cas A and SN1987A supernova remnants, conforming supernovae as key contributors to the cosmic dust content of galaxies. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2009 |
| Sector | Aerospace, Defence and Marine |
| Impact Types | Cultural |
| Description | MESS (Mass loss from Evolved StarS) - a Herschel GTKP |
| Organisation | Catholic University of Louvain |
| Department | Institute Of Astronomy |
| Country | Belgium |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | KULeuven and UCL were leaders of the MESS KPGT, which has resulted in 9 publications in 2010 and 2011, so far. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Leuven hold the Herschel PACS Guaranteed Time that was contributed to the MESS Herschel Guaranteed Time Key Project, while MJB leads the Herschel SPIRE team that contributed SPIRE Guaranted Time to this Key Project. |
| Impact | See `Herschel' entries in publication list. |
| Start Year | 2006 |
| Description | Ask me about the Big Bang, Paris |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Ask me about the Big Bang, Paris - no talk, just discussions with passers-by. Paris event covered in French print and television media. Now occurs regularly. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2010 |
| Description | Press release on Herschel PACS and SPIRE spectroscopy results, based on a Sep 2nd 2010 Nature paper |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Colour feature in the UK Metro newspaper (Friday September 10th 2010 issue) on our detection of water around the luminous carbon star CW Leo There are as yet no metrics for the impact of this sort of article. The Metro has a daily readership of 2 million across the UK. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2010 |
| Description | Public talk, University of London Observatory |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Public talk attended by 30 people. Repeat requests. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2008 |
| Description | Public talk, Your Universe, UCL |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | Public talks generally attended by 30-100 people. Questions and discussions followed in every case. Follow-up invitations |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2009,2010,2011 |
| Description | School talk, Camden |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | School visit attended by 25 children. Lengthy discussions, and questions followed by e-mail afterwards |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2010 |
| Description | Talk to Astronomical Society, Basingstoke. Talk to Astronomical Society, Crayford |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Public talks generally attended by 30-100 people. Questions and discussions followed in every case. Follow-up invitations |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2009,2010 |
| Description | Talk to UCL alumni, UCL |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Talk to UCL alumni. fund-raising. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2008 |