Dusting the Universe

The interstellar medium is pervaded by dust. Dust absorbs and scatters the UV and optical light and re-emits in the IR, hence modifying our view of galaxies. Other than the obscuring effects, dust grains play important roles in star formation and in the physics and chemistry of the ISM, such as heating and cooling processes, gas dynamics, charge transfer, and H2 molecule formation. Yet, our knowledge about dust formation, grain properties, and their abundances in the universe is very limited.

The advent of modern infrared and sub-mm facilities has revolutionized studies of dust in a wide range of astrophysical environments. Simultaneously, there have been many theoretical advances in understanding the composition, physical nature, and evolution of dust. It is thus timely to bring together the observational and theoretical communities to share what we know about dust in the universe over a wide range of cosmic time and discuss efficient strategies to exploit the science capabilities of our powerful current and future facilities, such as SOFIA, ALMA, LMT, JWST, and OST.

Topics to be covered:

• Dust chemical composition, grain structure and size distribution
• Dust formation and destruction mechanisms
• Modelling dust emission and attenuation in galaxies near and far: dust mass, dust temperature, dust and stars geometry
• Dust, gas, metallicity, and star formation: scaling relations between global properties
• Dust emission and absorption features as tools to learn about the source of radiation: stellar populations and AGN

SETI Institute scientist Jeonghee Rho will give talk entitled Dust and Molecule Formation and Evolution in Supernova Ejecta

Note: Registration is required to participate in this event

https://www.noao.edu/meetings/dust2019/agenda.php