From Old to Young Stars
9-13 Jul 2018 Quy Nhon (Vietnam)
Conflicting Measurements of the Dust Emissivity Index in OMC 2/3
Sarah Sadavoy  1@  , Brian Mason, Amelia Stutz, Thomas Henning, Rachel Friesen, Tony Mroczkowski, Sara Stanchfield, James Di Francesco, Thomas Stanke@
1 : Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics  (CfA)  -  Website
Cambridge, MA 02138 -  United States

Previous studies of the OMC 2/3 star-forming filament give conflicting values for the dust emissivity index, beta, on ~ 0.1 pc scales. One study used observations at 1 mm and 3 mm to find beta < 1, indicative of millimeter-sized dust grains found in protoplanetary disks, whereas another study used data from 160 um to 2 mm to find beta ~ 1.7-1.8, which is consistent with micron-sized dust associated with the diffuse cloud material. This discrepancy in beta may be caused by (1) the dust emissivity index flattening at long wavelengths, which is predicted by experimentation but has never been observed or (2) contamination at longer wavelengths from non-thermal emission. To explore this discrepancy, we are undertaking a multi-wavelength study of the entire OMC 2/3 filament from the far-infrared to the radio using observations from Herschel, JCMT, ALMA, GBT, and the VLA. These data will reveal the true shape of the dust spectral energy distribution on < 0.1 pc scales and provide the most robust characterization of beta in this nearby, high-mass star-forming region.


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