We combine new Herschel/SPIRE sub-millimeter observations with existing multiwavelength data to investigate the dust scaling relations of the Herschel Reference Survey, a magnitude-, volume-limited sample of ∼300 nearby galaxies in different environments. We show that the dust-to-stellar mass ratio anti-correlates with stellar mass, stellar mass surface density and NUV − r colour across the whole range of parameters covered by our sample. Moreover, the dust-to-stellar mass ratio decreases significantly when moving from late-to early-type galaxies. These scaling relations are similar to those observed for the Hi gas-fraction, supporting the idea that the cold dust is tightly coupled to the cold atomic gas component in the interstellar medium. We also find a weak increase of the dust-to-Hi mass ratio with stellar mass and colour but no trend is seen with stellar mass surface density. By comparing galaxies in different environments we show that, although these scaling relations are followed by both cluster and field galaxies, Hi-deficient systems have, at fixed stellar mass, stellar mass surface density and morphological type systematically lower dust-to-stellar mass and higher dust-to-Hi mass ratios than Hi-normal/field galaxies. This provides clear evidence that dust is removed from the star-forming disk of cluster galaxies but the effect of the environment is less strong than what is observed in the case of the Hi disk. Such effects naturally arise if the dust disk is less extended than the Hi and follows more closely the distribution of the molecular gas phase, i.e., if the dust-to-atomic gas ratio monotonically decreases with distance from the galactic center.

Aims. It is still not understood why star-forming galaxies deviate from the ultraviolet colour-attenuation relation of starburst galaxies. Previous work and models hint that the role of the shape of the attenuation curve and the age of stellar populations play an important role. In this paper we aim at understanding the fundamental reasons for this deviation. Methods. We have used the CIGALE spectral energy distribution fitting code to model the far ultraviolet to the far infrared emission of a set of 7 reasonably face-on spiral galaxies from the Herschel Reference Survey on a pixel-by-pixel basis. We explored the influence of a wide range of physical parameters to quantify their influence and impact on any accurate determination of the attenuation from the ultraviolet colour and to discover why normal galaxies do not follow the same relation as starburst galaxies. Results. We have found that the deviation from the starburst relation can be explained best by intrinsic ultraviolet colour differences between different regions in galaxies. Variations in the shape of the attenuation curve can also play a secondary role. Standard age estimators of the stellar populations, such as the D4000 index or the birthrate parameter, prove to be poor predictors of the intrinsic ultraviolet colour. These results are also retrieved on a sample of 58 spiral galaxies drawn from the Herschel Reference Survey sample when considering their integrated fluxes. Conclusions. When correcting the emission of normal star-forming galaxies for the attenuation, it is crucial to consider possible variations in both the intrinsic ultraviolet colour of the stellar populations and the shape of the attenuation curve.

We describe the Herschel Virgo Cluster Survey and the first data that cover the complete survey area (four 4 × 4 deg2 regions). We use these data to measure and compare the global far‐infrared properties of 78 optically bright galaxies that are selected at 500 μm and detected in all five far‐infrared bands. We show that our measurements and calibration are broadly consistent with previous data obtained by the IRAS, ISO, Spitzer and Planck. We use SPIRE and PACS photometry data to produce 100‐, 160‐, 250‐, 350‐ and 500‐μm cluster luminosity distributions. These luminosity distributions are not power laws, but ‘peaked’, with small numbers of both faint and bright galaxies. We measure a cluster 100–500 μm far‐infrared luminosity density of 1.6(7.0) ± 0.2 × 109 L⊙ Mpc−3. This compares to a cluster 0.4–2.5 μm optical luminosity density of 5.0(20.0) × 109 L⊙ Mpc−3, some 3.2(2.9) times larger than the far‐infrared. A ‘typical’ photon originates from an optical depth of 0.4 ± 0.1. Most of our sample galaxies are well fitted by a single modified blackbody (β= 2), leading to a mean dust mass of log  MDust= 7.31 M⊙ and temperature of 20.0 K. We also derive both stellar and atomic hydrogen masses from which we calculate mean values for the star‐to‐gas (atomic) and gas (atomic)‐to‐dust mass ratios of 15.1 and 58.2, respectively. Using our derived dust, atomic gas and stellar masses, we estimate cluster mass densities of 8.6(27.8) × 106, 4.6(13.9) × 108 and 7.8(29.7) × 109 M⊙ Mpc−3 for dust, atomic gas and stars, respectively. These values are higher than those derived for field galaxies by factors of 39(126), 6(18) and 34(129), respectively. In the above, the luminosity/mass densities are given using the whole sample with the values in brackets using just those galaxies that lie between 17 and 23 Mpc. We provide a data table of flux densities in all the Herschel bands for all 78 bright Virgo Cluster galaxies.

The Herschel Reference Survey (HRS) is a guaranteed time Herschel key project aimed at studying the physical properties of the interstellar medium in galaxies of the nearby universe. This volume limited, K-band selected sample is composed of galaxies spanning the whole range of morphological types (from ellipticals to late-type spirals) and environments (from the field to the centre of the Virgo Cluster). We present flux density measurements of the whole sample of 323 galaxies of the HRS in the three bands of the Spectral and Photometric Imaging Receiver (SPIRE), at 250 μm, 350 μm and 500 μm. Aperture photometry is performed on extended galaxies and point spread function (PSF) fitting on timeline data for unresolved objects; we carefully estimate errors and upper limits. The flux densities are found to be in good agreement with those of the HeViCS and KINGFISH key projects in all SPIRE bands, and of the Planck consortium at 350 μm and 550 μm, for the galaxies in common. This submillimetre catalogue of nearby galaxies is a benchmark for the study of the dust properties in the local universe, giving the zero redshift reference for any cosmological survey.

In high density environments, the gas content of galaxies is stripped, leading to a rapid quenching of their star formation activity. This dramatic environmental effect, which is not related to typical passive evolution, is generally not taken into account in the star formation histories (SFHs) usually assumed to perform spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting of these galaxies, yielding a poor fit of their stellar emission and, consequently, biased estimate of the star formation rate (SFR). In this work, we aim at reproducing this rapid quenching using a truncated delayed SFH that we implemented in the SED fitting code CIGALE. We show that the ratio between the instantaneous SFR and the SFR just before the quenching (r SFR ) is well constrained as long as rest-frame UV data are available. This SED modeling is applied to the Herschel Reference Survey (HRS) containing isolated galaxies and sources falling in the dense environment of the Virgo cluster. The latter are H-deficient because of ram pressure stripping. We show that the truncated delayed SFH successfully reproduces their SED, while typical SFH assumptions fail. A good correlation is found between r SFR and H−de f , the parameter that quantifies the gas deficiency of cluster galaxies, meaning that SED fitting results can be used to provide a tentative estimate of the gas deficiency of galaxies for which H observations are not available. The HRS galaxies are placed on the SFR-M * diagram showing that the H-deficient sources lie in the quiescent region, thus confirming previous studies. Using the r SFR parameter, we derive the SFR of these sources before quenching and show that they were previously on the main sequence relation. We show that the r SFR parameter is also recovered well for deeply obscured high redshift sources, as well as in the absence of IR data. SED fitting is thus a powerful tool for identifying galaxies that underwent a rapid star formation quenching.