Gama/H-Atlas: The Dust Opacity–stellar Mass Surface Density Relation for Spiral Galaxies

Abstract

We report the discovery of a well-defined correlation between B-band face-on central optical depth due to dust, τ f B , and the stellar mass surface density, µ * , of nearby (z ≤ 0.13) spiral galaxies: log(τ f B ) = 1.12(±0.11) · log µ * M⊙kpc −2 − 8.6(±0.8). This relation was derived from a sample of spiral galaxies taken from the Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey, which were detected in the FIR/submm in the Herschel -ATLAS science demonstration phase field. Using a quantitative analysis of the NUV attenuation-inclination relation for complete samples of GAMA spirals categorized according to stellar mass surface density we demonstrate that this correlation can be used to statistically correct for dust attenuation purely on the basis of optical photometry and Sérsic-profile morphological fits. Considered together with previously established empirical relationships of stellar mass to metallicity and gas mass, the near linearity and high constant of proportionality of the τ f B − µ * relation disfavors a stellar origin for the bulk of refractory grains in spiral galaxies, instead being consistent with the existence of a ubiquitous and very rapid mechanism for the growth of dust in the ISM. We use the τ f B − µ * relation in conjunction with the radiation transfer model for spiral galaxies of Popescu & Tuffs (2011) to derive intrinsic scaling relations between specific star formation rate, stellar mass, and stellar surface density, in which attenuation of the UV light used for the measurement of star-formation rate is corrected on an object-to-object basis. A marked reduction in scatter in these relations is achieved which we demonstrate is due to correction of both the inclination-dependent and face-on components of attenuation. Our results are consistent with a general picture of spiral galaxies in which most of the submm emission originates from grains residing in translucent structures, exposed to UV in the diffuse interstellar radiation field.

The effects of dust on the photometric parameters of decomposed disks and bulges

“…We recommend that for more detailed studies of sizes, an analysis on an object-by-object case should be involved, in conjunction with determinations of disk opacities. We show that self-consistent determinations of both intrinsic disk and bulge sizes and dust opacities can be obtained using the library of model SEDs of Popescu et al (2011) or the method of Grootes et al (2013a), since these have been obtained with the same radiative transfer model that was used to derived the corrections presented in this paper. …”

“…The use of this approach allows for a self-consistent determination of both intrinsic parameters of galaxies derived from global measurements and structural parameters derived from images. For galaxies without measurements of integrated dust luminosities, the dust opacity can be derived solely from optical data, using the method of Grootes et al (2013a), which was calibrated by using the same radiative transfer model of Popescu et al (2011), again allowing for a self-consistent analysis of both integrated quantities and structural properties.…”

“…It is already known that spiral galaxies contain large amounts of dust (Stickel et al 2000(Stickel et al , 2004Tuffs et al 2002;Popescu et al 2002;Vlahakis et al 2005;Driver et al 2007;Dariush et al 2011;Rowlands et al 2012;Bourne et al 2012;Dale et al 2012;Grootes et al 2013a), and that this dust changes the appearance of disks and bulges from what would be predicted based solely on their intrinsic stellar distributions (e.g. Tuffs et al 2004;Möllenhoff et al 2006;Gadotti et al 2010;Pastrav et al 2013).…”

Cosmic Evolution of Dust in Galaxies: Methods and Preliminary Results

“…These observations are consistent with the large f dust variation derived in the present study. The possible temporal and spatial f dust variations would have some implications on some recent observational works, e.g., Eales et al (2012), which have tried to estimate the total amount of cold gas in galaxies by using the continuum dust emission, and Grootes et al (2013), which have revealed correlations between the (middle), and 0 (right). Each small black dot represents each gas particle in the three panels, and the large red square represents the mean f dust and f H 2 in each panel.…”

Dust production 680–850 million years after the Big Bang

“…(a) I calculated the stellar mass from the photometry (Riechers et al 2013) using the Grasil code. (b) I calculated the gas mass from the L CII luminosity (Venemans et al 2012) using the empirical calibration of Swinbank et al (2012): galaxies Grootes et al 2013), and distant galaxies (Dwek et al 2007;Michałowski et al 2010c,b;Hirashita & Kuo 2011;Mattsson 2011;Mattsson & Andersen 2012;Kuo & Hirashita 2012;Asano et al 2013;Calura et al 2014;Hjorth et al 2014;Rowlands et al 2014;Valiante et al 2014;Nozawa et al 2015). The grain growth timescale is relatively short (a few tens of Myr; Draine 1990Draine , 2009Hirashita 2000Hirashita , 2012Zhukovska et al 2008), which is consistent with very little variation in the metal-to-dust ratios in gamma-ray burst (GRB) and quasar absorbers, as this implies very rapid dust production soon after metal enrichment (Zafar & Watson 2013).…”