Synthesized grain size distribution in the interstellar medium

Abstract

We examine a synthetic way of constructing the grain size distribution in the interstellar medium (ISM). First, we formulate a synthetic grain size distribution composed of three grain size distributions processed with the following mechanisms that govern the grain size distribution in the Milky Way: (i) grain growth by accretion and coagulation in dense clouds, (ii) supernova shock destruction by sputtering in diffuse ISM, and (iii) shattering driven by turbulence in diffuse ISM. Then, we examine if the observational grain size distribution in the Milky Way (called MRN) is successfully synthesized or not. We find that the three components actually synthesize the MRN grain size distribution in the sense that the deficiency of small grains by (i) and (ii) is compensated by the production of small grains by (iii). The fraction of each contribution to the total grain processing of (i), (ii), and (iii) (i.e., the relative importance of the three contributions to all grain processing mechanisms) is 30-50%, 20-40%, and 10-40%, respectively. We also show that the Milky Way extinction curve is reproduced with the synthetic grain size distributions. © The Society of Geomagnetism and Earth, Planetary and Space Sciences (SGEPSS); The Seismological Society of Japan; The Volcanological Society of Japan; The Geodetic Society of Japan; The Japanese Society for Planetary Sciences; TERRAPUB.