Temperature-dependent Infrared Optical Constants of Olivine and Enstatite

Author(s)
Simon Zeidler, Harald Mutschke, Thomas Posch
Abstract

Since the Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) mission, it has become clear that dust in circumstellar disks and outflows consists partly of crystalline silicates of pyroxene and olivine type. An exact mineralogical analysis of the dust infrared emission spectra relies on laboratory spectra, which, however, have been mostly measured at room temperature so far. Given that infrared spectral features depend on the thermal excitation of the crystal's vibrational modes, laboratory spectra measured at various (low and high) temperatures, corresponding to the thermal conditions at different distances from the star, can improve the accuracy of such analyses considerably. We have measured the complex refractive index in a temperature range of 10-973 K for one mineral of each of those types of silicate, i.e., for an olivine and an enstatite of typical (terrestrial) composition. Thus, our data extend the temperature range of previous data to higher values and the compositional range to higher iron contents. We analyze the temperature dependence of oscillator frequencies and damping parameters governing the spectral characteristics of the bands and calculate absorption cross-sectional spectra that can be compared with astronomical emission spectra. We demonstrate the usefulness of our new data by comparing spectra calculated for a 100 K dust temperature with the ISO SWS spectrum of IRAS 09425-6040.

Organisation(s)
Department of Astrophysics
External organisation(s)
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena
Journal
The Astrophysical Journal
Volume
798
No. of pages
18
ISSN
0004-637X
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/798/2/125
Publication date
01-2015
Peer reviewed
Yes
Austrian Fields of Science 2012
103003 Astronomy, 103004 Astrophysics
Keywords
ASJC Scopus subject areas
Astronomy and Astrophysics, Space and Planetary Science
Portal url
https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/temperaturedependent-infrared-optical-constants-of-olivine-and-enstatite(24677ecd-6d63-4ed0-84d8-58455a2ca145).html