ORIGIN OF DUST AROUND V1309 SCO

Abstract

The origin of dust grains in the interstellar medium is still open problem. \cite{Nicholls2013} found the presence of a significant amount of dust around V1309 Sco which maybe originate from the merger of a contact binary. We investigate the origin of dust around V1309 Sco, and suggest that these dust grains are efficiently produced in the binary-merger ejecta. By means of \emph{AGBDUST} code, we estimate that $\sim 5.2\times10^{-4} M_\odot$ of dust grains are produced, and their radii are $\sim 10^{-5}$ cm. These dust grains mainly are composed of silicate and iron grains. Because the mass of the binary-merger ejecta is very small, the contribution of dust produced by binary-merger ejecta to the overall dust production in the interstellar medium is negligible. However, it is the most important that the discovery of a significant amount of dust around V1309 Sco offers a direct support for the idea---common-envelope ejecta provides an ideal environment for dust formation and growth. Therefore, we confirm that common-envelope ejecta can be important source of cosmic dust.