A review paper on cosmic dust

There is considerable controversy over the porosity of cosmic dust grains, and the astrophysical community is far from reaching a consensus. Clarification of this question, particularly an affirmative answer to the question “whether dust grains in astrophysical environments are porous?” would lead to re-evaluation of many previous results and approaches and would open new doors for future experimental, theoretical, and observational studies. However, dust porosity has never been discussed jointly from the observational, experimental, and theoretical points of view. The review closes this gap. It discusses considerable supporting evidence for high porosity of cosmic dust from laboratory experiments on cosmic dust analogues, dust evolution models, and analysis of astronomical observations and cometary dust particles. It covers the likely prevalence and consequences of dust porosity and provides a solid platform for a broad discussion on cosmic dust porosity aiming at better understanding of the properties and evolution of astrophysical environments.

Potapov A., McCoustra M., Tazaki R., Bergin E., Bromley S., Garrod R., Rimola A., “Is Cosmic Dust Porous?”, The Astronomy and Astrophysics Review, 2025, 33, 6, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00159-025-00164-5External link