We present a model for the diffuse interstellar dust that explains the observed wavelength-dependence of extinction, emission, linear and circular polarisation of light. The model is set-up with a small number of parameters. It consists of a mixture
of amorphous carbon and silicate grains with sizes from the molecular domain of 0.5 up to about 500nm. Dust grains with radii larger than 6nm are spheroids. Spheroidal dust particles have a factor 1.5 - 3 larger absorption cross section in the far IR than spherical grains of the same volume. Mass estimates derived from submillimeter observations that ignore this effect are overestimated by the same amount. In the presence of a magnetic field, spheroids may be partly aligned and polarise light. We find that polarisation spectra help to determine the upper particle radius of the otherwise rather unconstrained dust size distribution. Stochastically heated small grains of graphite, silicates and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are included. We tabulate parameters for PAH emission bands in various environments. They show a trend with the hardness of the radiation field that can be explained by the ionisation state or hydrogenation coverage of the molecules. For each dust component its relative weight is specified, so that absolute element abundances are not direct input parameters. The model is confronted with the average properties of the Milky Way, which seems to represent dust in the solar neighbourhood. It is then applied to four specific sight lines including the reflection nebula NGC2023. For these sight lines, we present linear and circular spectro-polarimetric observations obtained with FORS/VLT. Using prolate rather than oblate grains gives a better fit to observed spectra; the axial ratio of the spheroids is typically two and aligned silicates are the dominant contributor to the polarisation.
In Spitzer observations of Tauri stars and their disks, PAH features are detected in less than 10% of the objects, although the stellar photosphere is sufficiently hot to excite PAHs. To explain the deficiency, we discuss PAH destruction by photons a
ssuming that the star has beside its photospheric emission also a FUV, an EUV and an X-ray component with fractional luminosity of 1%, 0.1% and 0.025%, respectively. As PAH destruction process we consider unimolecular dissociation and present a simplified scheme to estimate the location from the star where the molecules become photo-stable. We find that soft photons with energies below ~20eV dissociate PAHs only up to short distances from the star (r < 1AU); whereas dissociation by hard photons (EUV and X-ray) is so efficient that it would destroy all PAHs (from regions in the disk where they could be excited). As a possible path for PAH survival we suggest turbulent motions in the disk. They can replenish PAHs or remove them from the reach of hard photons. For standard disk models, where the surface density changes like 1/r and the mid plane temperature like 1/r^{0.5}, the critical vertical velocity for PAH survival is proportional to r^{-3/4} and equals ~5m/s at 10AU which is in the range of expected velocities in the surface layer. The uncertainty in the parameters is large enough to explain both detection and non-detection of PAHs. Our approximate treatment also takes into account the presence of gas which, at the top of the disk, is ionized and at lower levels neutral.
Dust enshrouded activity can ideally be studied by mid-infrared (MIR) observations. In order to explore the AGN versus star forming origin of the nuclear MIR emission of galaxies, observations of high spatial resolution are required. Here we report o
n 11.3mic. observations with VISIR at the VLT, reaching 0.35 spatial resolution (FWHM). During the scientific verification of VISIR we have observed a sample of 36 nearby galaxies having a variety of optically classified nuclear activity: 17 black hole driven active galactic nuclei (AGN), 10 starbursts (SBs) and 9 quiet spirals. 16/17 AGN are detected and unresolved, 5/10 SBs are detected and resolved with structured emission up to a few arcsec, while for 5/10 SB and all 9 quiet nuclei low upper limits are provided. The morphology of the resolved SB nuclei follows that seen at radio frequencies. The compactness of AGN and the extent of the SB nuclei is consistent with predictions from radiative transfer models and with MIR spectra of lower spatial resolution. We explore the nuclear MIR surface brightness as a quantitative measure. While AGN and SB cannot be distinguished with MIR data from 4m class telescopes, our data provide evidence that, up to a distance of 100 Mpc, AGN and SB can well be separated by means of MIR surface brightness when using 8m class telescopes.
