The interstellar dust emission spectrum: Going beyond the single-temperature grey body

International audienceContext. Most of the modelling of the interstellar dust infrared emission spectrum is done by assuming some variations around a single-temperature grey-body approximation. For example, the foreground modelling of Planck mission maps involves a single dust temperature, T, along a given line-of-sight with a single emissivity index, β. The two parameters are then fitted and therefore variable from one line-of-sight to the other.Aims. Our aim is to go beyond that modelling in an economical way.Methods. We model the dust spectrum with a temperature distribution around the mean value and show that only the second temperature moment matters. We advocate the use of the temperature logarithm as the proper variable.Results. If the interstellar medium is not too heterogeneous, there is a universal analytical spectrum, which is derived here, that goes beyond the grey-body assumption. We show how the cosmic microwave background radiatively interacts with the dust spectrum (a non-negligible corrective term at millimetre wavelengths). Finally, we construct a universal ladder of discrete temperatures, which gives a minimal and fast description of dust emission spectra as measured by photometric mapping instruments that lends itself to an almost linear fitting. This data modelling can include contributions from the cosmic infrared background fluctuations