Dust From Supernovae: Formation, Resilience To Sputtering And Explosion, And Diffusion In The Interstellar Medium

The evidence of significant reddening in high redshift galaxies calls for the production of dust in massive stars and its effective dissemination into the interstellar medium. However, observations and theoretical predictions disagree on the timing of dust formation and its resilience in the harsh environment of an exploding star. We propose to perform a comprehensive study of the nucleation, growth, agglomeration, and possible crystallization of dust formed in supernova ejecta. The study will be based on both analytical calculations and numerical simulations, and a dedicated code for studying the resilience of grains to grain-grain and grain-particle collisions will be developed, based on the physics of granular materials. Differently to previous efforts, we will perform ab initio calculations of the threshold energies for grain polymerization and crystallization, inhomogeneous conglomerates of different grain species, and study the morphology of grains grown by conglomeration of smaller particles as well as the onset of collisions and UV irradiation. This project will deliver robust prediction of the dust yields from stellar explosion into the interstellar medium, including grain species, fluffiness, crystalline structure, and size distribution.