Overview
- The peer-reviewed study in The Astrophysical Journal, led by Donglin Wu, combines spatially resolved JWST and ALMA data to resolve decades of conflicting dust measurements.
- Modeling of the spectral energy distribution indicates a bimodal grain-size distribution dominated by nanometer-scale carbon grains with a secondary population near 0.1 micrometer.
- JWST revealed bright mid-infrared spiral dust arcs, while ALMA detected no corresponding millimeter emission, implying a scarcity of larger, millimeter-emitting grains.
- The authors propose radiative torque disruption and radiation-driven sublimation as likely processes that preferentially remove intermediate-sized grains, a hypothesis that remains under investigation.
- WR 112 ejects roughly three lunar masses of carbon dust per year, sharpening estimates of how massive binaries seed the galaxy and raising questions about grain survival and system-to-system variability.