Aims. The goal of this paper is to analyse the behaviour of the gas-to-dust mass ratio (G/D) of local Universe galaxies over a wide metallicity range. We especially focus on the low-metallicity part of the G/D vs metallicity relation and investigate several explanations for the observed relation and scatter. Methods. We assembled a total of 126 galaxies, covering a 2 dex metallicity range and with 30% of the sample with 12 + log(O/H) ≤ 8.0. We homogeneously determined the dust masses with a semi-empirical dust model including submm constraints. The atomic and molecular gas masses have been compiled from the literature. We used two X CO scenarios to estimate the molecular gas mass: the Galactic conversion factor, X CO,MW , and a X CO that depends on the metallicity X CO,Z (∝Z −2 ). We modelled the observed trend of the G/D with metallicity using two simple power laws (slope of -1 and free) and a broken power law. Correlations with morphological type, stellar masses, star formation rates, and specific star formation rates are also discussed. We then compared the observed evolution of the G/D with predictions from several chemical evolution models and explored different physical explanations for the observed scatter in the G/D values. Results. We find that out of the five tested galactic parameters, metallicity is the main physical property of the galaxy driving the observed G/D. The G/D versus metallicity relation cannot be represented by a single power law with a slope of -1 over the whole metallicity range. The observed trend is steeper for metallicities lower than ∼8.0. A large scatter is observed in the G/D values for a given metallicity: in metallicity bins of ∼0.1 dex, the dispersion around the mean value is ∼0.37 dex. On average, the broken power law reproduces the observed G/D best compared to the two power laws (slope of -1 or free) and provides estimates of the G/D that are accurate to a factor of 1.6. The good agreement of observed values of the G/D and its scatter with respect to metallicity with the predicted values of the three tested chemical evolution models allows us to infer that the scatter in the relation is intrinsic to galactic properties, reflecting the different star formation histories, dust destruction efficiencies, dust grain size distributions, and chemical compositions across the sample. Conclusions. Our results show that the chemical evolution of low-metallicity galaxies, traced by their G/D, strongly depends on their local internal conditions and individual histories. The large scatter in the observed G/D at a given metallicity reflects the impact of various processes occurring during the evolution of a galaxy. Despite the numerous degeneracies affecting them, disentangling these various processes is now the next step.

Context. The far-infrared (FIR) lines are important tracers of the cooling and physical conditions of the interstellar medium (ISM) and are rapidly becoming workhorse diagnostics for galaxies throughout the universe. There are clear indications of a different behavior of these lines at low metallicity that needs to be explored. Aims. Our goal is to explain the main differences and trends observed in the FIR line emission of dwarf galaxies compared to more metal-rich galaxies, and how this translates in ISM properties. ] 57 µm fine-structure cooling lines in a sample of 48 low-metallicity star-forming galaxies of the guaranteed time key program Dwarf Galaxy Survey. We correlate PACS line ratios and line-to-L TIR ratios with L TIR , L TIR /L B , metallicity, and FIR color, and interpret the observed trends in terms of ISM conditions and phase filling factors with Cloudy radiative transfer models. Results. We find that the FIR lines together account for up to 3 percent of L TIR and that star-forming regions dominate the overall emission in dwarf galaxies. Compared to metal-rich galaxies, the ratios of Harboring compact phases of a low filling factor and a large volume filling factor of diffuse gas, the ISM of low-metallicity dwarf galaxies has a more porous structure than that of metal-rich galaxies. Methods

We present new Hα+ [NII] imaging data of late-type galaxies in the Herschel Reference Survey aimed at studying the star formation properties of a K-band-selected, volume-limited sample of nearby galaxies. The Hα+[NII] data are corrected for [NII] contamination and dust attenuation using different recipes based on the Balmer decrement and the 24 μm luminosities. We show that the Hα luminosities derived with different corrections give consistent results only whenever the uncertainty on the estimate of the Balmer decrement is σ[C(Hβ)] ≤ 0.1. We used these data to derive the star formation rate of the late-type galaxies of the sample and compare these estimates to those determined using independent monochromatic tracers (far-UV, radio continuum) or the output of spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting codes. This comparison suggests that the 24 μm based dust extinction correction for the Hα data might not be universal and that it should be used with caution in all objects with a low star formation activity, where dust heating can be dominated by the old stellar population. Furthermore, because of the sudden truncation of the star formation activity of cluster galaxies occurring after their interaction with the surrounding environment, the stationarity conditions required to transform monochromatic fluxes into star formation rates might not always be satisfied in tracers other than the Hα luminosity. In a similar way, the parametrisation of the star formation history generally used in SED fitting codes might not be adequate for these recently interacting systems. We then use the derived star formation rates to study the star formation rate luminosity distribution and the typical scaling relations of the late-type galaxies of the HRS. We observe a systematic decrease of the specific star formation rate with increasing stellar mass, stellar mass surface density, and metallicity. We also observe an increase of the asymmetry and smoothness parameters measured in the Hα-band with increasing specific star formation rate, probably induced by an increase of the contribution of giant HII regions to the Hα luminosity function in star-forming low-luminosity galaxies.

Although it accounts only for a small fraction of the baryonic mass, dust has a profound impact on the physical processes at play in galaxies. Thus, to understand the evolution of galaxies, it is essential not only to characterize dust properties per se, but also in relation to global galaxy properties. To do so, we derive the dust properties of galaxies in a volume limited, K-band selected sample, the Herschel Reference Survey (HRS). We gather infrared photometric data from 8 µm to 500 µm from Spitzer, WISE, IRAS, and Herschel for all of the HRS galaxies. Draine & Li (2007, ApJ, 663, 866) models are fit to the data from which the stellar contribution has been carefully removed. We find that our photometric coverage is sufficient to constrain all of the parameters of the Draine & Li models and that a strong constraint on the 20−60 µm range is mandatory to estimate the relative contribution of the photo-dissociation regions to the infrared spectral energy distribution (SED). The SED models tend to systematically underestimate the observed 500 µm flux densities, especially for low-mass systems. We provide the output parameters for all of the galaxies, i.e., the minimum intensity of the interstellar radiation field, the fraction of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH), the relative contribution of PDR and evolved stellar population to the dust heating, the dust mass, and the infrared luminosity. For a subsample of gas-rich galaxies, we analyze the relations between these parameters and the main integrated properties of galaxies, such as stellar mass, star formation rate, infrared luminosity, metallicity, Hα and H-band surface brightness, and the far-ultraviolet attenuation. A good correlation between the fraction of PAH and the metallicity is found, implying a weakening of the PAH emission in galaxies with low metallicities and, thus, low stellar masses. The intensity of the diffuse interstellar radiation field and the H-band and Hα surface brightnesses are correlated, suggesting that the diffuse dust component is heated by both the young stars in star-forming regions and the diffuse evolved population. We use these results to provide a new set of infrared templates calibrated with Herschel observations on nearby galaxies and a mean SED template to provide the z = 0 reference for cosmological studies. For the same purpose, we place our sample on the S FR−M * diagram. The templates are compared to the most popular infrared SED libraries, enlightening a large discrepancy between all of them in the 20−100 µm range.

We investigate the relationship between stellar mass, metallicity and gas content for a magnitude-and volume-limited sample of 260 nearby late-type galaxies in different environments, from isolated galaxies to Virgo cluster members. We derive oxygen abundance estimates using new integrated, drift-scan optical spectroscopy and the base metallicity calibrations of Kewley & Ellison (2008, ApJ, 681, 1183. Combining these measurements with ultraviolet to near-infrared photometry and Hi 21 cm line observations, we examine the relations between stellar mass, metallicity, gas mass fraction and star formation rate. We find that, at fixed stellar mass, galaxies with lower gas fractions typically also possess higher oxygen abundances. We also observe a relationship between gas fraction and metal content, whereby gas-poor galaxies are typically more metal-rich, and demonstrate that the removal of gas from the outskirts of spirals may increase the observed average metallicity by ∼0.1 dex. Although some cluster galaxies are gas-deficient objects, statistically the stellar-mass metallicity relation is nearly invariant to the environment, in agreement with recent studies. These results indicate that internal evolutionary processes, rather than environmental effects, play a key role in shaping the stellar mass-metallicity relation. In addition, we present metallicity estimates based on observations of 478 nearby galaxies.