Optical properties of grains in molecular clouds and accretion disks

A baseline model of the composition and abundances of grains and gases in molecular cloud cores and accretion disks around young stars is defined by employing: a wide range of astronomical data and theory; the composition of primitive bodies in the solar system; and solar elemental abundances. It is proposed that in the coldest portions of these objects the major grain species include amorphous olivine, amorphous orthopyroxene, volatile and refractory organics, water ice, troilite, and metallic iron. Using a combination of laboratory measurements of optical constants and asymptotic theory, values of the real and imaginary indices of refraction of these grain species over a wavelength range that runs from the vacuum UV to the radio domain are derived. Auxiliary information for these grain species, such as their vaporization temperatures bulk densities, and their fractional abundances by mass. The above information on grain properties in molecular cloud cores and accretion disks is used to estimate the Rosseland mean opacity of the grains in both environments and the IR and microwave opacity of grains in accretion disks.