Bibcode
Wijesinghe, D. B.; da Cunha, E.; Hopkins, A. M.; Dunne, L.; Sharp, R.; Gunawardhana, M.; Brough, S.; Sadler, E. M.; Driver, S.; Baldry, I.; Bamford, S.; Liske, J.; Loveday, J.; Norberg, P.; Peacock, J.; Popescu, C. C.; Tuffs, R.; Andrae, E.; Auld, R.; Baes, M.; Bland-Hawthorn, J.; Buttiglione, S.; Cava, A.; Cameron, E.; Conselice, C. J.; Cooray, A.; Croom, S.; Dariush, A.; Dezotti, G.; Dye, S.; Eales, S.; Frenk, C.; Fritz, J.; Hill, D.; Hopwood, R.; Ibar, E.; Ivison, R.; Jarvis, M.; Jones, D. H.; van Kampen, E.; Kelvin, L.; Kuijken, K.; Maddox, S. J.; Madore, B.; Michałowski, M. J.; Nichol, B.; Parkinson, H.; Pascale, E.; Pimbblet, K. A.; Pohlen, M.; Prescott, M.; Rhodighiero, G.; Robotham, A. S. G.; Rigby, E. E.; Seibert, M.; Sergeant, S.; Smith, D. J. B.; Temi, P.; Sutherland, W.; Taylor, E.; Thomas, D.; van der Werf, P.
Bibliographical reference
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 415, Issue 2, pp. 1002-1012.
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8
2011
Citations
34
Refereed citations
33
Description
We use multiwavelength data from the Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA) and
Herschel-ATLAS (H-ATLAS) surveys to compare the relationship between
various dust obscuration measures in galaxies. We explore the
connections between the ultraviolet (UV) spectral slope, β, the
Balmer decrement and the far-infrared (FIR) to 150 nm far-ultraviolet
(FUV) luminosity ratio. We explore trends with galaxy mass, star
formation rate (SFR) and redshift in order to identify possible
systematics in these various measures. We reiterate the finding of other
authors that there is a large scatter between the Balmer decrement and
the β parameter, and that β may be poorly constrained when
derived from only two broad passbands in the UV. We also emphasize that
FUV-derived SFRs, corrected for dust obscuration using β, will be
overestimated unless a modified relation between β and the
attenuation factor is used. Even in the optimum case, the resulting SFRs
have a significant scatter, well over an order of magnitude. While there
is a stronger correlation between the IR-to-FUV luminosity ratio and
β parameter than with the Balmer decrement, neither of these
correlations are particularly tight, and dust corrections based on
β for high-redshift galaxy SFRs must be treated with caution. We
conclude with a description of the extent to which the different
obscuration measures are consistent with each other as well as the
effects of including other galactic properties on these correlations.
Related projects
Formation and Evolution of Galaxies: Observations in Infrared and other Wavelengths
This IAC research group carries out several extragalactic projects in different spectral ranges, using space as well as ground-based telescopes, to study the cosmological evolution of galaxies and the origin of nuclear activity in active galaxies. The group is a member of the international consortium which built the SPIRE instrument for the
Ismael
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