Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA): dust obscuration in galaxies and their recent star formation histories

Dinuka Wijesinghe; Andrew Hopkins; Robert Sharp; Madusha Gunawardhana; Sarah Brough; Elaine Sadler; Simon Driver; Ivan Baldry; Steven Bamford; J Liske; J Loveday; Peder Norberg; John Peacock; Cristina Popescu; R Tuffs; Jonathan Bland-Hawthorn; Ewan Cameron; Scott Croom; C Frenk; D Hill; David Jones; E van Kampen; L Kelvin; K Kuijken; Barry Madore; B Nichol; H Parkinson; Kevin Pimbblet; Matthew Prescott; A Robotham; M Seibert; E Simmat; W Sutherland; Edward Taylor; D Thomas

doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2010.17599.x

Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA): dust obscuration in galaxies and their recent star formation histories

Dinuka Wijesinghe, Andrew Hopkins, Robert Sharp, Madusha Gunawardhana, Sarah Brough, Elaine Sadler, Simon Driver, Ivan Baldry, Steven Bamford, J Liske, J Loveday, Peder Norberg, John Peacock, Cristina Popescu, R Tuffs, Jonathan Bland-Hawthorn, Ewan Cameron, Scott Croom, C Frenk, D HillDavid Jones, E van Kampen, L Kelvin, K Kuijken, Barry Madore, B Nichol, H Parkinson, Kevin Pimbblet, Matthew Prescott, A Robotham, M Seibert, E Simmat, W Sutherland, Edward Taylor, D Thomas

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Abstract

We present self-consistent star formation rates derived through pan-spectral analysis of galaxies drawn from the Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey. We determine the most appropriate form of dust obscuration correction via application of a range of extinction laws drawn from the literature as applied to HI?, [O ii] and UV luminosities. These corrections are applied to a sample of 31 508 galaxies from the GAMA survey at z <0.35. We consider several different obscuration curves, including those of Milky Way, Calzetti and Fischera and Dopita curves and their effects on the observed luminosities. At the core of this technique is the observed Balmer decrement, and we provide a prescription to apply optimal obscuration corrections using the Balmer decrement. We carry out an analysis of the star formation history (SFH) using stellar population synthesis tools to investigate the evolutionary history of our sample of galaxies as well as to understand the effects of variation in the initial mass function (IMF) and the effects this has on the evolutionary history of galaxies. We find that the Fischera and Dopita obscuration curve with an Rv value of 4.5 gives the best agreement between the different SFR indicators. The 2200 ?? feature needed to be removed from this curve to obtain complete consistency between all SFR indicators suggesting that this feature may not be common in the average integrated attenuation of galaxy emission. We also find that the UV dust obscuration is strongly dependent on the SFR.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	2291 - 2301
Number of pages	11
Journal	Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Volume	410
Issue number	4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2966.2010.17599.x
Publication status	Published - 2011

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10.1111/j.1365-2966.2010.17599.x

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Wijesinghe, D., Hopkins, A., Sharp, R., Gunawardhana, M., Brough, S., Sadler, E., Driver, S., Baldry, I., Bamford, S., Liske, J., Loveday, J., Norberg, P., Peacock, J., Popescu, C., Tuffs, R., Bland-Hawthorn, J., Cameron, E., Croom, S., Frenk, C., ... Thomas, D. (2011). Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA): dust obscuration in galaxies and their recent star formation histories. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 410(4), 2291 - 2301. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2966.2010.17599.x

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title = "Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA): dust obscuration in galaxies and their recent star formation histories",

abstract = "We present self-consistent star formation rates derived through pan-spectral analysis of galaxies drawn from the Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey. We determine the most appropriate form of dust obscuration correction via application of a range of extinction laws drawn from the literature as applied to HI?, [O ii] and UV luminosities. These corrections are applied to a sample of 31 508 galaxies from the GAMA survey at z <0.35. We consider several different obscuration curves, including those of Milky Way, Calzetti and Fischera and Dopita curves and their effects on the observed luminosities. At the core of this technique is the observed Balmer decrement, and we provide a prescription to apply optimal obscuration corrections using the Balmer decrement. We carry out an analysis of the star formation history (SFH) using stellar population synthesis tools to investigate the evolutionary history of our sample of galaxies as well as to understand the effects of variation in the initial mass function (IMF) and the effects this has on the evolutionary history of galaxies. We find that the Fischera and Dopita obscuration curve with an Rv value of 4.5 gives the best agreement between the different SFR indicators. The 2200 ?? feature needed to be removed from this curve to obtain complete consistency between all SFR indicators suggesting that this feature may not be common in the average integrated attenuation of galaxy emission. We also find that the UV dust obscuration is strongly dependent on the SFR.",

author = "Dinuka Wijesinghe and Andrew Hopkins and Robert Sharp and Madusha Gunawardhana and Sarah Brough and Elaine Sadler and Simon Driver and Ivan Baldry and Steven Bamford and J Liske and J Loveday and Peder Norberg and John Peacock and Cristina Popescu and R Tuffs and Jonathan Bland-Hawthorn and Ewan Cameron and Scott Croom and C Frenk and D Hill and David Jones and {van Kampen}, E and L Kelvin and K Kuijken and Barry Madore and B Nichol and H Parkinson and Kevin Pimbblet and Matthew Prescott and A Robotham and M Seibert and E Simmat and W Sutherland and Edward Taylor and D Thomas",

year = "2011",

doi = "10.1111/j.1365-2966.2010.17599.x",

language = "English",

volume = "410",

pages = "2291 -- 2301",

journal = "Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society",

issn = "0035-8711",

publisher = "Oxford University Press",

number = "4",

}

Wijesinghe, D, Hopkins, A, Sharp, R, Gunawardhana, M, Brough, S, Sadler, E, Driver, S, Baldry, I, Bamford, S, Liske, J, Loveday, J, Norberg, P, Peacock, J, Popescu, C, Tuffs, R, Bland-Hawthorn, J, Cameron, E, Croom, S, Frenk, C, Hill, D, Jones, D, van Kampen, E, Kelvin, L, Kuijken, K, Madore, B, Nichol, B, Parkinson, H, Pimbblet, K, Prescott, M, Robotham, A, Seibert, M, Simmat, E, Sutherland, W, Taylor, E & Thomas, D 2011, 'Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA): dust obscuration in galaxies and their recent star formation histories', Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, vol. 410, no. 4, pp. 2291 - 2301. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2966.2010.17599.x

TY - JOUR

T1 - Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA): dust obscuration in galaxies and their recent star formation histories

AU - Wijesinghe, Dinuka

AU - Hopkins, Andrew

AU - Sharp, Robert

AU - Gunawardhana, Madusha

AU - Brough, Sarah

AU - Sadler, Elaine

AU - Driver, Simon

AU - Baldry, Ivan

AU - Bamford, Steven

AU - Liske, J

AU - Loveday, J

AU - Norberg, Peder

AU - Peacock, John

AU - Popescu, Cristina

AU - Tuffs, R

AU - Bland-Hawthorn, Jonathan

AU - Cameron, Ewan

AU - Croom, Scott

AU - Frenk, C

AU - Hill, D

AU - Jones, David

AU - van Kampen, E

AU - Kelvin, L

AU - Kuijken, K

AU - Madore, Barry

AU - Nichol, B

AU - Parkinson, H

AU - Pimbblet, Kevin

AU - Prescott, Matthew

AU - Robotham, A

AU - Seibert, M

AU - Simmat, E

AU - Sutherland, W

AU - Taylor, Edward

AU - Thomas, D

PY - 2011

Y1 - 2011

N2 - We present self-consistent star formation rates derived through pan-spectral analysis of galaxies drawn from the Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey. We determine the most appropriate form of dust obscuration correction via application of a range of extinction laws drawn from the literature as applied to HI?, [O ii] and UV luminosities. These corrections are applied to a sample of 31 508 galaxies from the GAMA survey at z <0.35. We consider several different obscuration curves, including those of Milky Way, Calzetti and Fischera and Dopita curves and their effects on the observed luminosities. At the core of this technique is the observed Balmer decrement, and we provide a prescription to apply optimal obscuration corrections using the Balmer decrement. We carry out an analysis of the star formation history (SFH) using stellar population synthesis tools to investigate the evolutionary history of our sample of galaxies as well as to understand the effects of variation in the initial mass function (IMF) and the effects this has on the evolutionary history of galaxies. We find that the Fischera and Dopita obscuration curve with an Rv value of 4.5 gives the best agreement between the different SFR indicators. The 2200 ?? feature needed to be removed from this curve to obtain complete consistency between all SFR indicators suggesting that this feature may not be common in the average integrated attenuation of galaxy emission. We also find that the UV dust obscuration is strongly dependent on the SFR.

AB - We present self-consistent star formation rates derived through pan-spectral analysis of galaxies drawn from the Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey. We determine the most appropriate form of dust obscuration correction via application of a range of extinction laws drawn from the literature as applied to HI?, [O ii] and UV luminosities. These corrections are applied to a sample of 31 508 galaxies from the GAMA survey at z <0.35. We consider several different obscuration curves, including those of Milky Way, Calzetti and Fischera and Dopita curves and their effects on the observed luminosities. At the core of this technique is the observed Balmer decrement, and we provide a prescription to apply optimal obscuration corrections using the Balmer decrement. We carry out an analysis of the star formation history (SFH) using stellar population synthesis tools to investigate the evolutionary history of our sample of galaxies as well as to understand the effects of variation in the initial mass function (IMF) and the effects this has on the evolutionary history of galaxies. We find that the Fischera and Dopita obscuration curve with an Rv value of 4.5 gives the best agreement between the different SFR indicators. The 2200 ?? feature needed to be removed from this curve to obtain complete consistency between all SFR indicators suggesting that this feature may not be common in the average integrated attenuation of galaxy emission. We also find that the UV dust obscuration is strongly dependent on the SFR.

UR - http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com.ezproxy.lib.monash.edu.au/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2966.2010.17599.x/abstract

U2 - 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2010.17599.x

DO - 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2010.17599.x

M3 - Article

SN - 0035-8711

VL - 410

SP - 2291

EP - 2301

JO - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

JF - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

IS - 4

ER -

Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA): dust obscuration in galaxies and their recent star formation histories

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