La detectabilidad del polvo interestelar asociado con cúmulos globulares a través de su espectro infrarrojo

PELLIZZA GONZÁLEZ, L. J.; FORTE, J. C.; CARPINTERO, D. D.

Rosario, Argentina

Congreso; 43a. Reunión de la Asociación Argentina de Astronomía; 1999

Asociación Argentina de Astronomía

We have studied the detectability of interstellar dust associated with globular clusters by means of its infrared spectrum. We used for this purpose numerical simulations of the dynamical behaviour of dust grains, beginning at their ejection by cluster stars. Our simulations use about 107 particles and incorporate the interaction of dust grains with the gravitational and radiation fields of the cluster, and with the intracluster and galactic halo gas. From these simulations we derived the evolution of the spatial distribution of intracluster dust, its equilibrium temperature and its infrared spectrum. We found that the fraction of dust that remains bound to the cluster is small, so that the discrepancy between theory and observations is diminished. We also found that the spatial distribution of dust is more extended than that of the stars. This means that the usual analyses of observational data underestimate the amount of intracluster dust, and that the dust should be detected in very long wavelengths, where there are few observations yet. We also studied the existence of short-lived structures in the distribution of intracluster dust and how they affect the observable properties of the cluster.