Place: 4421 Sterling Hall, Coffee and cookies 3:30 pm, Talk 3:45 PM
Speaker: Tea Temim, NASA
Abstract: The presence of dust in galaxies has a profound effect on the physical, chemical, and thermal state of their interstellar media, but despite its significant role in many astrophysical processes, the nature, origin, and evolution of dust are still not well understood. Dust grains are formed in the ejecta of core collapse supernovae (SNe) and mass outflows of evolved stars, and then subsequently destroyed by SN shocks that expand into the surrounding interstellar medium. The amount of destruction determines whether the galaxy’s dust budget can be balanced by dust formation in stellar sources, or if an additional source is required. I will summarize the recent progress on the study of dust formation and processing in supernova remnants (SNRs), including observations of dust heated by pulsar winds that reveal important information about the properties of pristine SN-condensed grains. I will also discuss the balance between dust formation and destruction by SNe and its implications for dust evolution models and our understanding of the origin of interstellar dust in galaxies.