Abstract
We explore the dependence of dust attenuation, as traced by the Balmer decrement, on galactic properties by using a large sample of Sloan Digital Sky Survey spectra. We use both partial correlation coefficients and random forest analysis to distinguish those galactic parameters that directly and primarily drive dust attenuation in galaxies, from parameters that are only indirectly correlated through secondary dependencies. We find that, once galactic inclination is controlled for, dust attenuation depends primarily on stellar mass, followed by metallicity and velocity dispersion. Once the dependence on these quantities is taken into account, there is no dependence on the star formation rate. While the dependence on stellar mass and metallicity was expected based on simple analytical equations for the interstellar medium, the dependence on velocity dispersion was not predicted, and we discuss possible scenarios to explain it. We identify a projection of this multidimensional parameters space which minimizes the dispersion in terms of the Balmer decrement and which encapsulates the primary and secondary dependences of the Balmer decrement into a single parameter defined as the reduced mass μ = log M + 3.67[O/H] + 2.96log (σv/100 km s-1). We show that the dependence of the Balmer decrement on this single parameter also holds at high redshift, suggesting that the processes regulating dust production and distribution do not change significantly through cosmic epochs at least out to z ∼2.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 8213-8233 |
Number of pages | 21 |
Journal | Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society |
Volume | 527 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jan 1 2024 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2023 The Author(s). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Royal Astronomical Society.
Funding
GM and RM acknowledge support by the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), by the ERC through Advanced Grant 695 671 ‘QUENCH’ and by the UKRI Frontier Research grant RISEandFALL. RM also acknowledges funding from a research professorship from the Royal Society.
Funders | Funder number |
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UK Research and Innovation Science and Technology Facilities Council | |
Science and Technology Facilities Council | |
Royal Society of Medicine | |
H2020 European Research Council | 695 671 |
H2020 European Research Council |
Keywords
- H ii regions
- ISM: structure
- radiative transfer
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Astronomy and Astrophysics
- Space and Planetary Science