Interstellar extinction and polarization -- A spheroidal dust grain approach perspective

Abstract

We extend and investigate the spheroidal model of interstellar dust grains used to simultaneously interpret the observed interstellar extinction and polarization curves. We compare our model with similar models recently suggested by other authors, study its properties and apply it to fit the normalized extinction $A(\lambda )/A_{\mathrm{V}}$ and the polarizing efficiency $P(\lambda )/A(\lambda )$ measured in the near IR to far UV region for several stars seen through one large cloud. We conclude that the model parameter $\Omega$ being the angle between the line of sight and the magnetic field direction can be more or less reliably determined from comparison of the theory and observations. This opens a way to study the spatial structure of interstellar magnetic fields by using multi-wavelength photometric and polarimetric observations.

11 pages, 4 figures and 4 tables, To appear in MNRAS (added)

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Cited by in corpus (12)

• From interstellar abundances to grain composition: the major dust constituents Mg, Si and Fe
• Interstellar extinction and interstellar polarization: old and new models
• Interstellar polarization and grain alignment: the role of iron and silicon
• Tracing the ISM magnetic field morphology: The potential of multi-wavelength polarization measurements
• The young protostellar disk in IRAS16293-2422 B is hot and shows signatures of gravitational instability
• Polarizing efficiency as a guide of grain growth and interstellar magnetic field properties
• Effects of grain growth on the interstellar polarization curve
• Systematic variations of interstellar linear polarization and growth of dust grains
• Mid-infrared extinction and fresh silicate dust towards the Galactic Center
• The Spheroidal Analog Method for Modeling Irregular Porous Aggregates
• Limitations of the modified blackbody fit method for determining molecular cloud properties
• Polarized microwave emission from space particles in the upper atmosphere of the Earth