Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics – Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2010-01-09
2010 ApJ 709 780
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics
To appear in the Astrophysical Journal
Scientific paper
Extinction in galaxies affects their observed properties. In scenarios describing the distribution of dust and stars in individual disk galaxies, the amplitude of the extinction can be modulated by the inclination of the galaxies. In this work we investigate the inclination dependency in composite spectra of star-forming disk galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 5. In a volume-limited sample within a redshift range 0.065-0.075 and a r-band Petrosian absolute magnitude range -19.5 to -22 which exhibits a flat distribution of inclination, the inclined relative to face-on extinction in the stellar continuum is found empirically to increase with inclination in the g, r, and i bands. Within the central 0.5 intrinsic half-light radius of the galaxies, the g-band relative extinction in the stellar continuum for the highly-inclined objects (axis ratio b/a = 0.1) is 1.2 mag, agreeing with previous studies. The extinction curve of the disk galaxies is given in the restframe wavelengths 3700-8000 angstrom, identified with major optical emission and absorption lines in diagnostics. The Balmer decrement remains constant with inclination, suggesting a different kind of dust configuration and/or reddening mechanism in the HII region from that in the stellar continuum. One factor is shown to be the presence of spatially non-uniform interstellar extinction, presumably caused by clumped dust in the vicinity of the HII region.
Budavari Tamas
Csabai István
Dobos László
Szalay Alex
Wyse Rosemary
No associations
LandOfFree
Extinction in Star-Forming Disk Galaxies from Inclination-Dependent Composite Spectra does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.
If you have personal experience with Extinction in Star-Forming Disk Galaxies from Inclination-Dependent Composite Spectra, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Extinction in Star-Forming Disk Galaxies from Inclination-Dependent Composite Spectra will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-580437