Gama/H-Atlas: The dust opacity-stellar mass surface density relation for spiral galaxies

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Date

2013

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

IOP Science

Abstract

We report the discovery of a well-defined correlation between B-band face-on central optical depth due to dust and the stellar mass surface density of nearby spiral galaxies. 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 SĀ“ersic-profile morphological fits.

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Keywords

Dust, Extinction, Galaxies, Fundamental parameters, ISM, Spiral

Citation

Grootes, M.W. et al. (2013). Gama/H-Atlas: The dust opacity-stellar mass surface density relation for spiral galaxies. The Astrophysical Journal , 766(1)