Dust grain growth in the interstellar medium of 5 < z < 6.5 quasars
Abstract
Aims. We investigate whether stellar dust sources i.e. asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars and supernovae (SNe) can account for dust detected in 5 < z < 6.5 quasars (QSOs). Methods. We calculate the required dust yields per AGB star and per SN using the dust masses of QSOs inferred from their millimeter emission and stellar masses approximated as the difference between the dynamical and the H_2 gas masses of these objects. Results. We find that AGB stars are not efficient enough to form dust in the majority of the z > 5 QSOs, whereas SNe may be able to account for dust in some QSOs. However, they require very high dust yields even for a top-heavy initial mass function. Conclusions. This suggests additional non-stellar dust formation mechanism e.g. significant dust grain growth in the interstellar medium of at least three out of nine z > 5 QSOs. SNe (but not AGB stars) may deliver enough heavy elements to fuel this growth.
Additional Information
© 2010 ESO. Received 30 April 2010, Accepted 28 June 2010, Published online 27 October 2010. We thank Joanna Baradziej, Karina Caputi, Eli Dwek and our anonymous referee for help with improving this paper. The Dark Cosmology Centre is funded by the Danish National Research Foundation.Attached Files
Published - Michalowski2010p12311Astron_Astrophys.pdf
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Additional details
- Eprint ID
- 21718
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20110111-155057965
- Danish National Research Foundation
- Created
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2011-01-12Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
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2021-11-09Created from EPrint's last_modified field