Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Jan 2010
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010aas...21560634h&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #215, #606.34; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 36, p.1135
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Scientific paper
In star forming galaxies, dust plays a significant role is shaping the ultraviolet (UV) and infrared (IR) spectrum. Dust heavily attenuates UV radiation from hot young stars, and re-radiates the energy through equilibrium and non-equilibrium emissions. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), graphites and silicates contribute to different features in the spectral energy distribution; however, they are all highly opaque in the same spectral region - UV. Compared to old stars, young stars release much more of their total luminosity in UV, making them a good source of highly energetic UV photons that power dust emission. However, whether young or old stars provide most of these UV photons is an interesting question. By using the well observed SINGS galaxies and the new version of our dusty radiative transfer model, we found that young stars (in the order of 100 million years old) dominates dust heating in star forming galaxies, and old stars (13 billion years old) can only be attributed to less than 20% of the far-IR luminosity.
Gordon Karl Douglas
Hei Law Ka
Misselt Karl A.
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