Abstract
An analysis has been made of temperature fluctuations expected for various grain materials exposed to the interstellar radiation field. It is shown that in all but the densest clouds average grain temperatures in the 5–10 K range are of little statistical significance because of large fluctuations produced by absorbed photons from the interstellar radiation field. At higher average temperatures large fluctuations may still be present for certain grain materials and grain radii. The effect of these fluctuations on the simple problem of H atom recombination on grain surfaces is discussed.
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Duley, W.W. Fluctuations in interstellar grain temperatures. Astrophys Space Sci 23, 43–50 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00647650
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00647650