Outflows of pre-main-sequence stars drive shocks into molecular material within 0.01 - 1 pc of the young stars. The shock-heated gas emits infrared, millimeter and submillimeter lines of many species including. Dust grains are important charge carriers and play a large role in coupling the magnetic field and flow of neutral gas. Some effects of the dust on the dynamics of oblique shocks began to emerge in the 1990s. However, detailed models of these shocks are required for the calculation of the grain sputtering contribution to gas phase abundances of species producing observed emissions. We are developing such models. Some of the molecular species introduced into the gas phase by sputtering in shocks or by thermally driven desorption in hot cores form on grain surfaces. Recently laboratory studies have begun to contribute to the understanding of surface reactions and thermally driven desorption important for the chemistry of star forming clouds. Dusty plasmas are prevalent in many evolved stars just as well as in star forming regions. Radiation pressure on dust plays a significant role in mass loss from some post-main-sequence stars. The mechanisms leading to the formation of carbonaceous dust in the stellar outflows are similar to those important for soot formation in flames. However, nucleation in oxygen-rich outflows is less well understood and remains a challenging research area. Dust is observed in supernova ejecta that have not passed through the reverse shocks that develop in the interaction of ejecta with ambient media. Dust is detected in high redshift galaxies that are sufficiently young that the only stars that could have produced the dust were so massive that they became supernovae. Consequently, the issue of the survival of dust in strong supernova shocks is of considerable interest.
There is increasing evidence that low mass stars with circumstellar disks can be born close to massive stars, in some cases within tenths of a pc. If the disks have lifetimes greater than those of the more massive stars, they are exposed to the radiation fields and gas flows from the late evolutionary phases and supernovae of the massive stars. The fast flows from supernovae are likely to give some stripping of mass from the disks, but do not typically lead to complete disruption of the disks. In the slow wind from a red supergiant star, there is the possibility of gravitational accretion of w…
Interstellar turbulence is expected to dissipate quickly in the absence of continuous energy input. I examine the energy available for driving the turbulence from six likely mechanisms: magnetorotational instability, gravitational instability, protostellar outflows, H II region expansion, stellar winds, and supernovae. I conclude that supernovae contribute far more energy than the other mechanisms, and so form the most likely drving mechanism.
The source of fluorine is not well understood, although core-collapse supernovae, Wolf-Rayet stars, and asymptotic giant branch stars have been suggested. A search for evidence of the nu process during Type II supernovae is presented. Absorption from interstellar F I is seen in spectra of HD 208440 and HD 209339A acquired with the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer. In order to extract the column density for F I from the line at 954 A, absorption from H2 has to be modeled and then removed. Our analysis indicates that for H2 column densities less than about 3 x 10^20 cm^-2, the amount of F …
The effective extinction law for supernovae surrounded by circumstellar dust is examined by Monte-Carlo simulations. Grains with light scattering properties as for interstellar dust in the Milky-Way (MW) or the Large Magellanic Clouds (LMC), but surrounding the explosion site would cause a semi-diffusive propagation of light up to the edge of the dust shell. Multiple scattering of photons predominantly attenuates photons with shorter wavelengths, thus steepening the effective extinction law as compared to the case of single scattering in the interstellar medium. Our simulations yield typical v…
We present the results of numerical studies of supernova remnant evolution and their effects on galactic and globular cluster evolution. We show that parameters such as the density and the metallicity of the environment significantly influence the evolution of the remnant, and thus change its effects on the global environment (e.g., globular clusters, galaxies) as a source of thermal and kinetic energy. We conducted our studies using a one-dimensional hydrodynamics code, in which we implemented a metallicity dependent cooling function. Global time-dependent quantities such as the total kinetic…
With the exception of the Big Bang, responsible for 1,2H, 3,4He, and 7Li, stars act as sources for the composition of the interstellar medium. Cosmic rays are related to the latter and very probably due to acceleration of the mixed interstellar medium by shock waves from supernova remnants. Thus, the understanding of the abundance evolution in the interstellar medium and especially the enrichment of heavy elements, as a function of space and time, is essential. It reflects the history of star formation and the lifetimes of the diverse contributing stellar objects. Therefore, the understanding …
As a first step to a more complete understanding of the local physical processes which determine star formation rates (SFRs) in the interstellar medium (ISM), we have performed controlled numerical experiments consisting of hydrodynamical simulations of a kilo-parsec scale, periodic, highly supersonic and "turbulent" three-dimensional flow. Using simple but physically motivated recipes for identifying star forming regions, we convert gas into stars which we follow self-consistently as they impact their surroundings through supernovae and stellar winds. We investigate how various processes (tur…
We present a large number of two and a half dimensional simulations of supernova remnants expanding into interstellar media having a range of densities, temperatures and magnetic field strengths. The volume of hot gas produced is strongly dependent on the inclusion of thermal conduction and magnetic fields. The four-volumes and three-areas of hot gas have been catalogued and their dependence on interstellar parameters documented. Simulated line widths of radioactive species ejected by supernovae have also been catalogued.
Detailed observations of a growing number of supernovae have determined a bloom of new peculiar events. In this paper we take a short tour through the SN diversity and discuss some important, physical issues related to it. Because of the role of SN Ia in determining the cosmological parameters, it is crucial to understand the physical origin of even subtle, observed differences. An important issue is also the reddening correction. We belive that the measure of interstellar lines on medium resolution spectra of SNe can be used to derive lower limits on the interstellar extinction. A few physica…
An accurate knowledge of the mineralogy (chemical composition and crystal structure) of the silicate dust in the interstellar medium (ISM) is crucial for understanding its origin in evolved stars, the physical and chemical processing in the ISM, and its subsequent incorporation into protostellar nebulae, protoplanetary disks and cometary nuclei where it is subjected to further processing. While an appreciable fraction of silicate dust in evolved stars, in protoplanetary disks around pre-main sequence stars, in debris disks around main sequence stars, and in cometary nuclei is found to be in cr…
We present the first results of a systematic search for Diffuse Interstellar Bands in a carefully selected sample of post-AGB stars observed with high resolution optical spectroscopy. These stars are shown to be ideal targets to study this old, intriguing astrophysical problem. Our results suggest that the carrier(s) of these bands may not be present in the circumstellar environments of these evolved stars. The implications of the results obtained on the identification of the still unknown carrier(s) are discussed.
We present single-epoch spectropolarimetry of the Type II supernovae (SNe II) 1997ds, 1998A, and 1999gi. SN 1997ds and SN 1998A were both observed during the early photospheric phase, while spectropolarimetry of SN 1999gi was obtained near the start of the transition to the nebular phase. Uncorrected for interstellar polarization (ISP), SN 1997ds is characterized by p_V = 0.85 +/- 0.02%, SN 1998A has p_V = 0.24 +/- 0.05%, and SN 1999gi is polarized at p_V = 5.72 +/- 0.01%. The low continuum polarization inferred for SN 1997ds and SN 1998A and the amplitude of polarization modulations across st…
Models of SN driven galactic winds for ellipticals are presented. We assume that ellipticals formed at high redshift and suffered an intense burst of star formation. The role of supernovae of type II and Ia in the chemical enrichment and in triggering galactic winds is studied. In particular, several recipes for SN feed-back together with detailed nucleosynthesis prescriptions are considered. It is shown that SNe of type II have a dominant role in enriching the interstellar medium of elliptical galaxies whereas type Ia SNe dominate the enrichment and the energetics of the intracluster medium.
Based on our high resolution, two-dimensional hydrodynamical simulations, we propose that large cavities may be formed by the nonlinear development of the combined thermal and gravitational instabilities, without need for stellar energy injection in a galaxy modeling the Large Magellanic Clouds (LMC). Our numerical model of the star formation allows us to follow the evolution of the blastwaves due to supernovae in the inhomogeous, multi-phase, and turbulent-like media self-consistently. Formation of kpc-scale inhomogeneity, such as cavities, observed HI map of the LMC, is suppressed by frequen…
It has been shown that the diversity of the aromatic emission features can be rationalized into different classes of objects, in which differences between circumstellar and interstellar matter are emphasised. We probe the links between the mid-IR emitters observed in planetary nebulae (PNe) and their counterparts in the interstellar medium in order to probe a scenario in which the latter have been formed in the circumstellar environment of evolved stars. The mid-IR (6-14 um) emission spectra of PNe and compact HII regions were analysed on the basis of previous work on photodissociation regions…
We calculate and discuss the chemical evolution of the isotopic silicon abundances in the interstellar medium at distances and times appropriate to the birth of the solar system. This has several objectives, some of which are related to anomalous silicon isotope ratios within presolar grains extracted from meteorites; namely: (1) What is the relative importance for silicon isotopic compositions in the bulk ISM of Type II supernovae, Type Ia supernovae, and AGB stars? (2) Are $^{29}$Si and $^{30}$Si primary or secondary nucleosynthesis products? (3) In what isotopic direction in a three-isotope…
We have found a new evolutionary path to Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) which has been overlooked in previous work. In this scenario, a carbon-oxygen white dwarf (C+O WD) is originated, not from an asymptotic giant branch star with a C+O core, but from a red-giant star with a helium core of $\sim 0.8-2.0 M_\odot$. The helium star, which is formed after the first common envelope evolution, evolves to form a C+O WD of $\sim 0.8-1.1 M_\odot$ with transferring a part of the helium envelope onto the secondary main-sequence star. This new evolutionary path, together with the optically thick wind from m…
We report the detection of a feature at 65um and a broad feature around 100um in the far-infrared spectra of the diffuse emission from two active star-forming regions, the Carina nebula and Sharpless 171. The features are seen in the spectra over a wide area of the observed regions, indicating that the carriers are fairly ubiquitous species in the interstellar medium. A similar 65um feature has been detected in evolved stars and attributed to diopside, a Ca-bearing crystalline silicate. The present observations indicate the first detection of a crystalline silicate in the interstellar medium i…
Supernovae descendent from massive stars explode in media that have been modified by their progenitors' mass loss and UV radiation. The supernova ejecta will first interact with the circumstellar material shed by the progenitors at late evolutionary stages, and then interact with the interstellar material. Circumstellar nebulae in supernova remnants can be diagnosed by their small expansion velocities and high [N II]/H$α$ ratios. The presence of circumstellar nebulae appears ubiquitous among known young supernova remnants. These nebulae can be compared to those around evolved massive stars to …
The network of interactions between hot gas, cool clouds, massive stars, and stellar remnants used in the chemodynamical modeling of the interstellar medium is investigated for the types of its solutions. In a physically consistent formulation for the energy transfer during condensation, oscillations due to a cyclic switching between condensation and evaporation never occur. A closed-box system evolves in a hierarchy of equilibria: thermal balance in the cloud gas, star-formation self-regulated due to heating of the clouds by massive stars, and the balance of condensation and evaporation. Exce…
This paper reviews our current understanding of interstellar dust models, what constitutes a viable dust model, what observational constraints are essential for deriving such model, and the current viable dust models. Interstellar dust exhibits spatial and temporal variations, and the paper reviews the ingredients in constructing models for the evolution of dust, stressing the current uncertainties in the yield of dust from supernovae and AGB stars. Finally, the paper briefly describes the effect of dust evolution on the spectral energy distribution of galaxies, and, using a very simple criter…
Most stars will experience episodes of substantial mass loss at some point in their lives. For very massive stars, mass loss dominates their evolution, although the mass loss rates are not known exactly, particularly once the star has left the main sequence. Direct observations of the stellar winds of massive stars can give information on the current mass-loss rates, while studies of the ring nebulae and HI shells that surround many Wolf-Rayet (WR) and luminous blue variable (LBV) stars provide information on the previous mass-loss history. The evolution of the most massive stars, (M > 25 sola…
We extend previous studies of the physics of interstellar cloud collisions by beginning investigation of the role of magnetic fields through 2D magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) numerical simulations. We study head-on collisions between equal mass, mildly supersonic diffuse clouds. We include a moderate magnetic field and two limiting field geometries, with the field lines parallel (aligned) and perpendicular (transverse) to the colliding cloud motion. We explore both adiabatic and radiative cases, as well as symmetric and asymmetric ones. We also compute collisions between clouds evolved through prio…
A model of supernovae feedback during disc galaxy formation is developed. The model incorporates infall of cooling gas from a halo and outflow of hot gas from a multiphase interstellar medium and a self-regulated model for star formation. Hot gas is created by thermal evaporation of cold gas clouds in supernovae remnants, and criteria are derived to estimate the characteristic temperature and density of the hot component and hence the net mass outflow rate. A number of refinements of the model are investigated, including a simple model of a galactic fountain, the response of the cold component…
We report on the detection with the Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) of a molecular band at 57.5 microns (174 cm^{-1}) in carbon-rich evolved stars and in Sgr B2. Taking into account the chemistry of these objects the most likelihood carrier is a carbon chain. We tentatively assign the band to the nu_5 bending mode of C_4 for which a wavenumber of 170-172.4 cm^{-1} has been derived in matrix experiments (Withey et al. 1991). An alternate carrier might be C_4H, although the frequency of its lowest energy vibrational bending mode, nu_7, is poorly known (130-226 cm^{-1}). If the carrier is C_4, t…
Recent numerical simulations of the interstellar medium driven by energy input from supernovae and stellar winds indicate that HI clouds can be formed by compression in shock waves and colliding turbulent streams without any help from thermal and gravitational instabilities. The filling factor of the hot phase in these models does not exceed 20-40% at the midplane. The hot gas is involved in a systematic vertical outflow at |z|<1-3 kpc, similar to that expected for galactic fountains, whereas the warm component may remain in hydrostatic equilibrium. The turbulent velocity is larger in the warm…
A stochastic model of the chemical enrichment of metal-poor systems by core-collapse (Type II) supernovae is presented, allowing for large-scale mixing of the enriched material by turbulent motions and cloud collisions in the interstellar medium. Infall of pristine material is taken into account by following the evolution of the gas density in the medium. Analytical expressions were derived for the number of stars enriched by a given number of supernovae, as well as for the amount of mass with which the ejected material from a supernova is mixed before being locked up in a subsequently formed …
(ABBREVIATED) Understanding the formation of stars in galaxies is central to much of modern astrophysics. In this review the relation between interstellar turbulence and star formation is discussed. Supersonic turbulence can provide support against gravitational collapse on global scales, while at the same time it produces localized density enhancements that allow for collapse on small scales. The efficiency and timescale of stellar birth in Galactic gas clouds strongly depend on the properties of the interstellar turbulent velocity field, with slow, inefficient, isolated star formation being …
This two-part review summarizes interstellar turbulence and its implications. The first part begins with diagnostics and energy sources. Turbulence theory is considered in detail, including the basic fluid equations, solenoidal and compressible modes, global inviscid quadratic invariants, scaling arguments, energy transfer and cascade, velocity probability distributions, and turbulent pressure. Theories of magnetohydrodynamic turbulence, including collisionless MHD turbulence, are discussed, emphasizing various proposals for energy spectra. A large variety of numerical simulations of interstel…
The most energetic part of the electromagnetic spectrum bears the purest clues to the synthesis of atomic nuclei in the universe. The decay of radioactive species, synthesized in stellar environments and ejected into the interstellar medium, gives rise to specific gamma ray lines. The observations gathered up to now show evidence for radioactivities throughout the galactic disk, in young supernova remnants (Cas A, Vela), and in nearby extragalactic supernovae (SN 1987A, SN 1991T and SN1998bu), in the form of specific gamma ray lines resulting, respectively, from the radioactive decay of 26Al, …
The extent to which the ISM in galaxies is well mixed is not yet settled. Measured metal abundances in the diffuse neutral gas of star--forming gas--rich dwarf galaxies are deficient with respect to that of the ionized gas. The reasons, if real, are not clear and need to be based on firm grounds. Far-UV spectroscopy of giant HII regions such as NGC604 in the spiral galaxy M33 using FUSE allows us to investigate possible systematic errors in the metallicity derivation. We still find underabundances of nitrogen, oxygen, argon, and iron in the neutral phase by a factor of~6. This could either be …
This review provides an introduction to presolar grains - preserved stardust from the interstellar molecular cloud from which our solar system formed - found in primitive meteorites. We describe the search for the presolar components, the currently known presolar mineral populations, and the chemical and isotopic characteristics of the grains and dust-forming stars to identify the grains' most probable stellar sources. Keywords: presolar grains, interstellar dust, asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars, novae, supernovae, nucleosynthesis, isotopic ratios, meteorites
The Hydra $N$-body hydrodynamics code has been modified to model, from the end of the Sedov phase, the effects of supernovae on the surrounding medium. The motivation is to investigate the feedback of energy into the interstellar/intergalactic medium. We compare our results for supernova remnants (SNRs) in a uniform medium to previous detailed work on the late evolution of SNRs. The code is found to reproduce the bulk characteristics of SNRs well. Results on the effects of a single central SNR on Plummer clouds are presented. The feedback of kinetic energy and the percentage mass loss can be p…
In 1986 Alex Dalgarno published a paper entitled "Is Interstellar Chemistry Useful?" By the middle 1970s, and perhaps even earlier, Alex had hoped that astronomical molecules would prove to: possess significant diagnostic utility; control many of the environments in which they exist; stimulate a wide variety of physicists and chemists who are at least as fascinated by the mechanisms forming and removing the molecules as by astronomy. His own research efforts have contributed greatly to the realization of that hope. This paper contains a few examples of: how molecules are used to diagnose large…
In this paper we discuss the propagation of dust through the interstellar medium (ISM), and describe the destructive effects of stellar winds, jets, and supernova shock waves on interstellar dust. We review the probability that grains formed in stellar outflows or supernovae survive processing in and propagation through the ISM, and incorporate themselves relatively unprocessed into meteoritic bodies in the solar system. We show that very large (radii >= 5 micron) and very small grains (radii <= 100 Angstrom) with sizes similar to the pre-solar SiC and diamond grains extracted from meteorites,…
We explore the effects on nucleosynthesis in Type II supernovae of various parameters (mass cut, neutron excess, explosion energy, progenitor mass) in order to explain the observed trends of the iron-peak element abundance ratios ([Cr/Fe], [Mn/Fe], [Co/Fe] and [Ni/Fe]) in halo stars as a function of metallicity for the range $ -4 \le$ [Fe/H] $\le -2.5$. [Cr/Fe] and [Mn/Fe] decrease with decreasing [Fe/H], while [Co/Fe] behaves the opposite way and increases. We show that such a behavior can be explained by a variation of mass cuts in Type II supernovae as a function of progenitor mass, which p…
We summarize and analyze the available observational data on the progenitor and the enviroment of V838 Mon. From the available photometric data for the progenitor of V838 Mon we exclude the possibility that the object before eruption was an evolved red giant star (AGB or RGB star). We find that most likely it was a main sequence or pre-main sequence star of ~ 5-10 M_sun. From the light echo structure and evolution we conclude that the reflecting dust is of interstellar nature rather than blown by V838 Mon in the past. We discuss the IRAS and CO data for interstellar medium observed near the po…
A large amount (about three solar masses) of cold (18 K) dust in the prototypical type II supernova remnant Cassiopeia A was recently reported. It was concluded that dust production in type II supernovae can explain how the large quantities (10^8 solar masses) of dust observed in the most distant quasars could have been produced within only 700 million years after the Big Bang. Foreground clouds of interstellar material, however, complicate the interpretation of the earlier submillimetre observations of Cas A. Here we report far-infrared and molecular line observations that demonstrate that mo…
We investigate the destruction of dust grains by sputtering in the high-velocity interstellar shocks driven by supernovae (SNe) in the early universe to reveal the dependence of the time-scale of dust destruction on the gas density $n_{{\rm H}, 0}$ in the interstellar medium (ISM) as well as on the progenitor mass $M_{\rm pr}$ and explosion energy $E_{\rm 51}$ of SN. The sputtering yields for the combinations of dust and ion species of interest to us are evaluated by applying the so-called universal relation with a slight modification. The dynamics of dust grains and their destruction by sputt…
An overview is presented of the main properties of the interstellar medium. Evidence is summarized that the interstellar medium is highly turbulent, driven on different length scales by various energetic processes. Large-scale turbulence determines the formation of structures like filaments and shells in the diffuse interstellar medium. It also regulates the formation of dense, cold molecular clouds. Molecular clouds are now believed to be transient objects that form on timescales of order 1e7 yrs in regions where HI gas is compressed and cools. Supersonic turbulence in the compressed HI slab …
We have obtained the full 1-200 um spectrum of the low luminosity (36 Lsun) Class I protostar Elias 29 in the Rho Ophiuchi molecular cloud. It provides a unique opportunity to study the origin and evolution of interstellar ice and the interrelationship of interstellar ice and hot core gases around low mass protostars. We see abundant hot CO and H2O gas, as well as the absorption bands of CO, CO2, H2O and ``6.85 um'' ices. We compare the abundances and physical conditions of the gas and ices toward Elias 29 with the conditions around several well studied luminous, high mass protostars. The high…
The COMPTEL observations of the diffuse galactic 1.809 MeV emission attributed to the radioactive decay of 26Al have confirmed the diffuse nature of this interstellar emission line. One of the most significant features of the reconstructed intensity pattern is a flux enhancement in the direction of the Cygnus region. This region is fairly young and contains a wealth of massive stars, most of them grouped in the Cygnus OB associations. Multi-frequency model fitting strongly supports the hypothesis of massive stars and their descendent supernovae being the dominant sources of interstellar 26Al a…
Sensitive measurements of the interstellar gas-phase oxygen abundance have revealed a slight oxygen deficiency ($\sim$ 15%) toward stars within 500 pc of the Sun as compared to more distant sightlines. Recent $FUSE$ observations of the interstellar gas-phase nitrogen abundance indicate larger variations, but no trends with distance were reported due to the significant measurement uncertainties for many sightlines. By considering only the highest quality ($\geq$ 5 $σ$) N/O abundance measurements, we find an intriguing trend in the interstellar N/O ratio with distance. Toward the seven stars wit…
We consider evolution of interstellar clouds in Local Group dwarf spheroidal galaxies (dSphs) in the context of their observed star formation histories. The Local Group dSphs generally experienced initial bursts of star formations in their formation epochs ($\sim 15$ Gyr ago), when hot gas originating from the supernovae can make the cold interstellar clouds evaporate. We find that the maximum size of evaporating cloud is 10 pc. Thus, clouds larger than 10 pc can survive during the initial star formation. These surviving clouds can contribute to the second star formation to produce ``intermedi…
(abridged): To derive a coherent physical framework for the excitation of spiral structure in galaxies, one must consider the co-existence of two different dynamical components: a gas-dominated Population I disk (OB associations, HII regions, cold interstellar HI gas) and an evolved stellar Population II component. The Hubble classification scheme has as its focus, the morphology of the Population I component only. In the near-infrared, the morphology of evolved stellar disks indicates a simple classification scheme: the dominant Fourier m-mode in the dust penetrated regime, and the associated…
We review the evidence for cosmic ray acceleration in the superbubble/hot phase of the interstellar medium, and discuss the implications for the composition of cosmic rays and the structure and evolution of the interstellar medium. We show that the bulk of the galactic supernovae, their expanding remnants, together with their metal-rich grain and gas ejecta, and their cosmic ray accelerating shocks, are all confined within the interiors of superbubbles, generated by the multiple supernova explosions of massive stars formed in giant OB associations. This superbubble/hot phase of the ISM provide…