http://arxiv.org/abs/1404.5714
The diffuse cosmic background radiation in the GALEX far ultraviolet (FUV, 1300 – 1700 A) is deduced to originate only partially in the dust-scattered radiation of FUV-emitting stars: the source of a substantial fraction of the FUV background radiation remains a mystery. The radiation is remarkably uniform at both far northern and far southern Galactic latitudes, and it increases toward lower Galactic latitudes at all Galactic longitudes. We examine speculation that it might be due to interaction of the dark matter with the nuclei of the interstellar medium but we are unable to point to a plausible mechanism for an effective interaction. We also explore the possibility that we are seeing radiation from bright FUV-emitting stars scattering from a “second population” of interstellar grains – grains that are small compared with FUV wavelengths. Such grains are known to exist (Draine 2011) and they scatter with very high albedo, with an isotropic scattering pattern. However, comparison with the observed distribution (deduced from their 100 micron and 25 micron emission) of grains at high Galactic latitudes shows no correlation between the grains’ location and the observed FUV emission. Our modeling of the FUV scattering by small grains also shows that there must be remarkably few such “smaller” grains at high Galactic latitudes, both North and South; this likely means simply that there is very little interstellar dust of any kind at the Galactic poles, in agreement with Perry and Johnston (1982).
R. Henry, J. Murthy, J. Overduin, et. al.
Thu, 24 Apr 14
2/64
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