Old and young stellar populations in DustPedia galaxies and their role in dust heating

Nersesian, Angelos; Xilouris, E. M.; Bianchi, S.; Galliano, F.; Jones, A. P.; Baes, M.; Casasola, V.; Cassarà, L. P.; Clark, Christopher; Davies, Jonathan Ivor; Decleir, Marjorie; Dobbels, Wouter; Looze, I. De; Vis, P. De; Fritz, J.; Galametz, M.; Madden, S.; Mosenkov, Aleksandr V.; Trčka, Ana; Verstocken, Sam; Viaene, S.; Lianou, S.

doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201935118

Cited by 119 publications

(262 citation statements)

References 116 publications

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“…Ho et al (1997) classified the nucleus as Hii/LINER. The present-day SFR is estimated to be around 6 M yr −1 (Nersesian et al 2019). M 100 has approximately 5×10 10 M of stars, 4×10 7 M of dust (Nersesian et al 2019), and 3 × 10 9 M of Hi gas (De Vis et al 2019).…”

Section: Galaxy Sample and Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Two massive prominent dust lanes along the nuclear bar can be seen in optical images (Teuben et al 1986), while the well developed spiral arms extend from the bar edges with the tendency to turn inwards at the outer edges of the galaxy (Lindblad et al 1996). According to Nersesian et al (2019), this massive galaxy contains more than 8 × 10 10 M of stars, 10 8 M of dust, and shows a SFR of 13 M yr −1 . Its Hi gas mass is measured to be 9.5 × 10 9 M (De Vis et al 2019) and its Hii gas mass 3 × 10 9 M (Zabel et al 2019).…”

Section: Galaxy Sample and Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In a similar fashion as in CIGALE, we added quadratically an extra 10% of the observed flux to the measured uncertainty, to account for systematic errors in the photometry and the models (Noll et al 2009). For the free parameters we provide the initial guess values retrieved from global SED fitting with CIGALE, performed by Nersesian et al (2019) for the DustPedia galaxies, as well as the best-fitting values retrieved from our simulations.…”

Section: Modelling Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, the contribution of the old, more evolved, stars to the dust heating can be non-negligible (e.g. Hinz et al 2004;Calzetti et al 2010;Bendo et al 2010Bendo et al , 2015Boquien et al 2011;Bendo et al 2012;Smith et al 2012;De Looze et al 2014;Viaene et al 2017;Leja et al 2019;Nersesian et al 2019) and therefore needs to be taken into account while estimating the star-formation rate (SFR) of a galaxy.…”

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High-resolution, 3D radiative transfer modelling

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Verstocken

Viaene

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Context. Dust in late-type galaxies in the local Universe is responsible for absorbing approximately one third of the energy emitted by stars. It is often assumed that dust heating is mainly attributable to the absorption of ultraviolet and optical photons emitted by the youngest (≤ 100 Myr) stars. Consequently, thermal re-emission by dust at far-infrared wavelengths is often linked to the starformation activity of a galaxy. However, several studies argue that the contribution to dust heating by much older stellar populations might be more significant than previously thought. Advances in radiation transfer simulations finally allow us to actually quantify the heating mechanisms of diffuse dust by the stellar radiation field. Aims. As one of the main goals in the DustPedia project, we have developed a framework to construct detailed 3D stellar and dust radiative transfer models for nearby galaxies. In this study, we analyse the contribution of the different stellar populations to the dust heating in four nearby face-on barred galaxies: NGC 1365, M 83, M 95, and M 100. We aim to quantify the fraction directly related to young stellar populations, both globally and on local scales, and to assess the influence of the bar on the heating fraction. Methods. From 2D images we derive the 3D distributions of stars and dust. To model the complex geometries, we used SKIRT, a state-of-the-art 3D Monte Carlo radiative transfer code designed to self-consistently simulate the absorption, scattering, and thermal re-emission by the dust for arbitrary 3D distributions. Results. We derive global attenuation laws for each galaxy and confirm that galaxies of high specific star-formation rate have shallower attenuation curves and weaker UV bumps. On average, 36.5% of the bolometric luminosity is absorbed by dust in our galaxy sample. We report a clear effect of the bar structure on the radial profiles of the dust-heating fraction by the young stellar populations, and the dust temperature. We find that the young stellar populations are the main contributors to the dust heating, donating, on average ∼ 59% of their luminosity to this purpose throughout the galaxy. This dust-heating fraction drops to ∼ 53% in the bar region and ∼ 38% in the bulge region where the old stars are the dominant contributors to the dust heating. We also find a strong link between the heating fraction by the young stellar populations and the specific star-formation rate.

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Section: Galaxy Sample and Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Galaxy Sample and Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Modelling Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

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High-resolution, 3D radiative transfer modelling

Nersesian

Verstocken

Viaene

et al. 2020

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“…This work is a continuation and extension of the analysis of De Looze et al (2014), and also aims to set the strategy for a systematic radiative transfer modelling effort of a larger sample of nearby galaxies (e.g., Nersesian et al 2020;Viaene et al in prep.). Within the scope of DustPedia (Davies et al 2017), with consistency and reproducibility in mind, we have bundled the modelling tools into a software package that is specifically aimed at convenient future use, and designed to be able to tackle a larger sample of face-on galaxies.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

High-resolution, 3D radiative transfer modelling

Verstocken

Nersesian

Baes

et al. 2020

A&A

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Context. Interstellar dust absorbs stellar light very efficiently and thus shapes the energetic output of galaxies. Studying the impact of different stellar populations on the dust heating remains hard because it requires decoupling the relative geometry of stars and dust, and involves complex processes as scattering and non-local dust heating. Aims. We aim to constrain the relative distribution of dust and stellar populations in the spiral galaxy M 81 and create a realistic model of the radiation field that describes the observations. Investigating the dust-starlight interaction on local scales, we want to quantify the contribution of young and old stellar populations to the dust heating. We aim to standardise the setup and model selection of such inverse radiative transfer simulations so this can be used for comparable modelling of other nearby galaxies. Methods. We present a semi-automated radiative transfer modelling pipeline that implements the necessary steps such as the geometric model construction and the normalisation of the components through an optimisation routine. We use the Monte Carlo radiative transfer code SKIRT to calculate a self-consistent, panchromatic model of the interstellar radiation field. By looking at different stellar populations independently, we can quantify to what extent different stellar age populations contribute to the dust heating. Our method takes into account the effects of non-local heating. Results. We obtain a realistic 3D radiative transfer model of the face-on galaxy M 81. We find that only 50.2% of the dust heating can be attributed to young stellar populations ( 100 Myr). We confirm a tight correlation between the specific star formation rate and the heating fraction by young stellar populations, both in sky projection and in 3D, also found for radiative transfer models of M 31 and M 51. Conclusions. We conclude that the old stellar populations can be a major contributor to the heating of dust. In M 81, old stellar populations are the dominant heating agent in the central regions and they contribute to half of the absorbed radiation. Regions of higher star formation do not correspond to the highest dust temperatures. On the contrary, it is the dominant bulge which is most efficient in heating the dust. The approach we present here can immediately be applied to other galaxies. It does contain a number of caveats which are discussed in detail.

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High-resolution radiation transfer modelling of barred galaxies

et al. 2019

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Dust radiative transfer simulations provide us with the unique opportunity to study the heating mechanisms of dust by the stellar radiation field. From 2D observational images we derive the 3D distributions of stars and dust. Our aim is to analyze the contribution of the different stellar populations to the radiative dust heating processes in the nearby face-on barred galaxies NGC 1365, M 83 and M 95. We wish to decompose the FIR-submm SED and quantify the fraction directly related to star formation. To model the complex geometries mentioned above, we used SKIRT, a state-of-the-art, 3D Monte Carlo radiative transfer code designed to simulate the absorption, scattering and thermal re-emission of dust in a variety of environments. We find that the contribution of the evolved stars (8 Gyr) to the dust heating is non-negligible (∼35%) and can reach as high as 70%. We also find a tight correlation between the heating fraction by the unevolved stars (⩽ 100 Myr) and the specific star formation rate.

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Old and young stellar populations in DustPedia galaxies and their role in dust heating

Cited by 119 publications

References 116 publications

High-resolution, 3D radiative transfer modelling

High-resolution, 3D radiative transfer modelling

High-resolution, 3D radiative transfer modelling

High-resolution radiation transfer modelling of barred galaxies

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