Dusty plasmas on galactic scales

Abstract

Interstellar dust is spread in galaxies over large scales, often far beyond the stellar disks. Several mechanisms can be responsible for carrying the dust both in the vertical and radial directions, producing in general different spatial dust distributions. In spite of the small mass fraction dust can be in some cases dynamically active, and its role in star formation process and dynamics of shock waves is still not completely understood. In this review I discuss briefly the issues connected with the large scale distribution of the interstellar dust, the impact of the dust on star formation and on dynamics of shock waves.