ABSTRACT
We have examined polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) excitation in a sample of 25 nearby face-on spiral galaxies using the ratio of mid-infrared PAH emission to dust mass. Within 11 of the ...galaxies, we found that the PAH excitation was straightforwardly linked to ultraviolet (UV) or mid-infrared star formation tracers, which, along with other results studying the relation of PAH emission to star formation, indicates that the PAHs are most strongly excited in dusty shells around the star-forming (SF) regions. Within another five galaxies, the PAH emission is enhanced around SF regions only at specific galactocentric radii. In six more galaxies, PAH excitation is more strongly correlated with the evolved stellar populations as traced by 3.6 μm emission. The results for the remaining three galaxies were ambiguous. The radial gradients of the PAH/dust ratios were generally not linked to log(O/H) gradients except when the log(O/H) gradients were relatively steep. Galaxies in which PAHs were excited by evolved stars had relatively high far-UV to mid-infrared ratios, implying that variations in the link between PAH excitation and different stellar populations are connected to changes in dust attenuation within galaxies. Alternately, differences in morphology could make it more likely that PAHs are excited by evolved stars, as five of the six galaxies where this occurs are late-type flocculent spiral galaxies. These heterogeneous results demonstrate the complexity of describing PAH excitation and have broad implications for using PAH emission as a star formation tracer as well as for modelling dust emission and radiative transfer.
We present Herschel observations of 62 early-type galaxies (ETGs), including 39 galaxies morphologically classified as S0+S0a and 23 galaxies classified as ellipticals using SPIRE at 250, 350, and ...500 mu m as part of the volume-limited Herschel Reference Survey (HRS). We detect dust emission in 24% of the ellipticals and 62% of the S0s. The mean temperature of the dust is left angle bracketT sub(d)right angle bracket = 23.9 + or - 0.8 K, warmer than that found for late-type galaxies in the Virgo Cluster. The mean dust mass for the entire detected early-type sample is logM sub(d) = 6.1 + or - 0.1 M with a mean dust-to-stellar-mass ratio of log(M sub(d)/Ml ow *) = -4.3 + or - 0.1. Including the non-detections, these parameters are logM sub(d) = 5.6 + or - 0.1 and log(M sub(d)/Ml ow *) = -5.1 + or - 0.1, respectively. The average dust-to-stellar-mass ratio for the early-type sample is fifty times lower, with larger dispersion, than the spiral galaxies observed as part of the HRS, and there is an order-of-magnitude decline in M sub(d)/Mlow * between the S0s and ellipticals. We use UV and optical photometry to show that virtually all the galaxies lie close to the red sequence yet the large number of detections of cool dust, the gas-to-dust ratios, and the ratios of far-infrared to radio emission all suggest that many ETGs contain a cool interstellar medium similar to that in late-type galaxies. We show that the sizes of the dust sources in S0s are much smaller than those in early-type spirals and the decrease in the dust-to-stellar-mass ratio from early-type spirals to S0s cannot simply be explained by an increase in the bulge-to-disk ratio. These results suggest that the disks in S0s contain much less dust (and presumably gas) than the disks of early-type spirals and this cannot be explained simply by current environmental effects, such as ram-pressure stripping. The wide range in the dust-to-stellar-mass ratio for ETGs and the lack of a correlation between dust mass and optical luminosity suggest that much of the dust in the ETGs detected by Herschel has been acquired as the result of interactions, although we show these are unlikely to have had a major effect on the stellar masses of the ETGs. The Herschel observations tentatively suggest that in the most massive systems, the mass of interstellar medium is unconnected to the evolution of the stellar populations in these galaxies.
We present new Herschel-SPIRE imaging spectroscopy (194-671 mu m) of the bright starburst galaxy M82. Covering the CO ladder from J = 4 arrow right 3 to J = 13 arrow right 12, spectra were obtained ...at multiple positions for a fully sampled ~3 x 3 arcmin map, including a longer exposure at the central position. We present measurements of super(12)CO, super(13)CO, CI, NII, HCN, and HCO+ in emission, along with OH+, H sub(2)O+, and HF in absorption and H sub(2)O in both emission and absorption, with discussion. We use a radiative transfer code and Bayesian likelihood analysis to model the temperature, density, column density, and filling factor of multiple components of molecular gas traced by super(12)CO and super(13)CO, adding further evidence to the high-J lines tracing a much warmer (~500 K), less massive component than the low-/lines. The addition of super(13)CO (and CI) is new and indicates that CI may be tracing different gas than super(12)CO. No temperature/density gradients can be inferred from the map, indicating that the single-pointing spectrum is descriptive of the bulk properties of the galaxy. At such a high temperature, cooling is dominated by molecular hydrogen. Photon-dominated region (PDR) models require higher densities than those indicated by our Bayesian likelihood analysis in order to explain the high-J line ratios, though cosmic-ray-enhanced PDR models can do a better job reproducing the emission at lower densities. Shocks and turbulent heating are likely required to explain the bright high-J emission.
Aims. In this work, we aim to provide a consistent analysis of the dust properties from metal-poor to metal-rich environments by linking them to fundamental galactic parameters. Methods. We consider ...two samples of galaxies: the Dwarf Galaxy Survey (DGS) and the Key Insights on Nearby Galaxies: a Far-Infrared Survey with Herschel (KINGFISH), totalling 109 galaxies, spanning almost 2 dex in metallicity. We collect infrared (IR) to submillimetre (submm) data for both samples and present the complete data set for the DGS sample. We model the observed spectral energy distributions (SED) with a physically-motivated dust model to access the dust properties: dust mass, total-IR luminosity, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) mass fraction, dust temperature distribution, and dust-to-stellar mass ratio. Results. Using a different SED model (modified black body), different dust composition (amorphous carbon in lieu of graphite), or a different wavelength coverage at submm wavelengths results in differences in the dust mass estimate of a factor two to three, showing that this parameter is subject to non-negligible systematic modelling uncertainties. We find half as much dust with the amorphous carbon dust composition. For eight galaxies in our sample, we find a rather small excess at 500 μm (≤1.5σ). We find that the dust SED of low-metallicity galaxies is broader and peaks at shorter wavelengths compared to more metal-rich systems, a sign of a clumpier medium in dwarf galaxies. The PAH mass fraction and dust temperature distribution are found to be driven mostly by the specific star formation rate, sSFR, with secondary effects from metallicity. The correlations between metallicity and dust mass or total-IR luminosity are direct consequences of the stellar mass-metallicity relation. The dust-to-stellar mass ratios of metal-rich sources follow the well-studied trend of decreasing ratio for decreasing sSFR. The relation is more complex for low-metallicity galaxies with high sSFR, and depends on the chemical evolutionary stage of the source (i.e. gas-to-dust mass ratio). Dust growth processes in the ISM play a key role in the dust mass build-up with respect to the stellar content at high sSFR and low metallicity. Conclusions. We conclude that the evolution of the dust properties from metal-poor to metal-rich galaxies derives from a complex interplay between star formation activity, stellar mass, and metallicity.
With the goal of investigating the degree to which the MIR emission traces the SFR, we analyze Spitzer 8 and 24 mu m data of star-forming regions in a sample of 33 nearby galaxies with available HST ...NICMOS images in the Pa alpha (1.8756 mu m) emission line. The galaxies are drawn from the SINGS sample and cover a range of morphologies and a factor similar to 10 in oxygen abundance. Published data on local low-metallicity starburst galaxies and LIRGs are also included in the analysis. Both the stellar continuum-subtracted 8 mu m emission and the 24 mu m emission correlate with the extinction-corrected Pa alpha line emission, although neither relationship is linear. Simple models of stellar populations and dust extinction and emission are able to reproduce the observed nonlinear trend of the 24 mu m emission versus number of ionizing photons, including the modest deficiency of 24 mu m emission in the low-metallicity regions, which results from a combination of decreasing dust opacity and dust temperature at low luminosities. Conversely, the trend of the 8 mu m emission as a function of the number of ionizing photons is not well reproduced by the same models. The 8 mu m emission is contributed, in larger measure than the 24 mu m emission, by dust heated by nonionizing stellar populations, in addition to the ionizing ones, in agreement with previous findings. Two SFR calibrations, one using the 24 mu m emission and the other using a combination of the 24 mu m and H alpha luminosities (Kennicutt and coworkers), are presented. No calibration is presented for the 8 mu m emission because of its significant dependence on both metallicity and environment. The calibrations presented here should be directly applicable to systems dominated by ongoing star formation.
We examined variations in the 160/250 and 250/350 μm surface brightness ratios within 24 nearby (<30 Mpc) face-on spiral galaxies
observed with the Herschel Space Observatory to identify the heating ...mechanisms for dust emitting at these wavelengths. The analysis consisted of both qualitative and quantitative comparisons of the 160/250 and 250/350 μm ratios to Hα and 24 μm emission, which trace the light from star-forming regions, and 3.6 μm emission, which traces the light from the older stellar populations of the galaxies. We find broad variations in the heating mechanisms for the dust. In one subset of galaxies, we found evidence that emission at ≤160 μm (and in rare cases potentially at ≤350 μm) originates from dust heated by star-forming regions. In another subset, we found that the emission at ≥250 μm (and sometimes at ≥160 μm) originates from dust heated by the older stellar population. In the rest of the sample, either the results are indeterminate or both of these stellar populations may contribute equally to the global dust heating. The observed variations in dust heating mechanisms do not necessarily match what has been predicted by dust emission and radiative transfer models, which could lead to overestimated dust temperatures, underestimated dust masses, false detections of variability in dust emissivity, and inaccurate star formation rate measurements.
We present Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array observations of 99.02 GHz free–free and H40α emission from the centre of the nearby starburst galaxy NGC 253. We calculate electron ...temperatures of 3700–4500 K for the photoionized gas, which agrees with previous measurements. We measure a photoionizing photon production rate of (3.2 ± 0.2) × 1053 s−1 and a star formation rate of 1.73 ± 0.12 M⊙ yr−1 within the central 20 × 10 arcsec, which fall within the broad range of measurements from previous millimetre and radio observations but which are better constrained. We also demonstrate that the dust opacities are ∼3 dex higher than inferred from previous near-infrared data, which illustrates the benefits of using millimetre star formation tracers in very dusty sources.
We present Herschel/PACS 100 and 160 μm integrated photometry for the 323 galaxies in the Herschel Reference Survey (HRS), a K-band, volume-limited sample of galaxies in the local Universe. Once ...combined with the Herschel/SPIRE observations already available, these data make the HRS the largest representative sample of nearby galaxies with homogeneous coverage across the 100-500 μm wavelength range. In this paper, we take advantage of this unique data set to investigate the properties and shape of the far-infrared/submillimetre spectral energy distribution in nearby galaxies. We show that, in the stellar mass range covered by the HRS (8 log (M
*/M) 12), the far-infrared/submillimetre colours are inconsistent with a single modified blackbody having the same dust emissivity index β for all galaxies. In particular, either β decreases or multiple temperature components are needed, when moving from metal-rich/gas-poor to metal-poor/gas-rich galaxies. We thus investigate how the dust temperature and mass obtained from a single modified blackbody depend on the assumptions made on β. We show that, while the correlations between dust temperature, galaxy structure and star formation rate are strongly model dependent, the dust mass scaling relations are much more reliable, and variations of β only change the strength of the observed trends.
The Herschel Virgo Cluster Survey (HeViCS) is the deepest, confusion-limited survey of the Virgo Cluster at far-infrared (FIR) wavelengths. The entire survey at full depth covers ∼55 deg2 in five ...bands (100-500 μm), encompassing the areas around the central dominant elliptical galaxies (M87, M86 and M49) and extends as far as the NW cloud, the W cloud and the Southern extension. The survey extends beyond this region with lower sensitivity so that the total area covered is 84 deg2. In this paper we describe the data, the data acquisition techniques and present the detection rates of the optically selected Virgo Cluster Catalogue (VCC). We detect 254 (34 per cent) of 750 VCC galaxies found within the survey boundary in at least one band and 171 galaxies are detected in all five bands. For the remainder of the galaxies we have measured strict upper limits for their FIR emission. The population of detected galaxies contains early as well as late types although the latter dominate the detection statistics. We have modelled 168 galaxies, showing no evidence of a strong synchrotron component in their FIR spectra, using a single-temperature modified blackbody spectrum with a fixed emissivity index (β = 2). A study of the χ2 distribution indicates that this model is not appropriate in all cases, and this is supported by the FIR colours which indicate a spread in β = 1-2. Statistical comparison of the dust mass and temperature distributions from 140 galaxies with χ2
d.o.f. = 3 < 7.8 (95 per cent confidence level) shows that late types have typically colder, more massive dust reservoirs; the early-type dust masses have a mean of log〈M〉/M = 6.3 ± 0.3, while for late types log〈M〉/M = 7.1 ± 0.1. The late-type dust temperatures have a mean of 〈T〉 = 19.4 ± 0.2 K, while for the early types, 〈T〉 = 21.1 ± 0.8 K. Late-type galaxies in the cluster exhibit slightly lower dust masses than those in the field, but the cluster environment seems to have little effect on the bulk dust properties of early types. In future papers we will focus more on the scientific analysis of the catalogue (e.g. measuring FIR luminosity functions, dust mass functions and resolved gas and dust properties).
The Spitzer Infrared Nearby Galaxies Survey (SINGS) is carrying out a comprehensive multiwavelength survey on a sample of 75 nearby galaxies. The 1-850 km spectral energy distributions (SEDs) are ...presented using broadband imaging data from Spitzer, 2MASS, ISO, IRAS, and SCUBA. The infrared colors derived from the globally integrated Spitzer data are generally consistent with the previous generation of models that were developed using global data for normal star-forming galaxies, although significant deviations are observed. Spitzer's excellent sensitivity and resolution also allow a detailed investigation of the infrared SEDs for various locations within the three large, nearby galaxies NGC 3031 (M81), NGC 5194 (M51), and NGC 7331. A wide variety of spectral shapes is found within each galaxy, especially for NGC 3031, the closest of the three targets and thus the galaxy for which the smallest spatial scales can be explored. Strong correlations exist between the local star formation rate and the infrared colors f sub(u)(70 km)/f sub(u)(160 km) and f sub(u)(24 km)/f sub(u)(160 km), suggesting that the 24 and 70 km emission are useful tracers of the local star formation activity level. Preliminary evidence indicates that variations in the 24 km emission, and not variations in the emission from polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons at 8 km, drive the variations in the f sub(u)(8.0 km)/f sub(u)(24 km) colors within NGC 3031, NGC 5194, and NGC 7331. If the galaxy-to-galaxy variations in SEDs seen in our sample are representative of the range present at high redshift, then extrapolations of total infrared luminosities and star formation rates from the observed 24 km flux will be uncertain at the factor of 5 level (total range). The corresponding uncertainties using the redshifted 8.0 km flux (e.g., observed 24 km flux for a z = 2 source) are factors of 10-20. Considerable caution should be used when interpreting such extrapolated infrared luminosities.
PDF
