Galaxy And Mass Assembly: a new approach to quantifying dust in galaxies

B. Farley; Ummee Tania Ahmed; Andrew Hopkins; Michael Cowley; Andrew Battisti; Sarah Casura; Yjan Gordon; Benne Willem Holwerda; Steven Phillipps; Clayton Robertson; T. Zafar

doi:10.1017/pasa.2025.10028

Galaxy And Mass Assembly: a new approach to quantifying dust in galaxies

B. Farley^*, Ummee Tania Ahmed, Andrew Hopkins, Michael Cowley, Andrew Battisti, Sarah Casura, Yjan Gordon, Benne Willem Holwerda, Steven Phillipps, Clayton Robertson, T. Zafar

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

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Abstract

We introduce a new approach to quantifying dust in galaxies by combining information from the Balmer decrement (BD) and the dust mass (M_d). While there is no explicit correlation between these two properties, they jointly probe different aspects of the dust present in galaxies. We explore two new parameters that link BD with M_d by using star formation rate sensitive luminosities at several wavelengths (ultraviolet, Hα, and far-infrared). This analysis shows that combining the BD and M_d in these ways provides new metrics that are sensitive to the degree of optically thick dust affecting the short wavelength emission. We show how these new 'dust geometry' parameters vary as a function of galaxy mass, star formation rate, and specific star formation rate. We demonstrate that they are sensitive probes of the dust geometry in galaxies, and that they support the "maximal foreground screen"model for dust in starburst galaxies.

Original language	English
Article number	e067
Pages (from-to)	1-15
Number of pages	15
Journal	Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia
Volume	42
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1017/pasa.2025.10028
Publication status	Published - 2025

Bibliographical note

© The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Astronomical Society of Australia. Version archived for private and non-commercial use with the permission of the author/s and according to publisher conditions. For further rights please contact the publisher.

Keywords

dust geometry
dust obscuration
star-forming galaxies
Dust obscuration

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10.1017/pasa.2025.10028Licence: CC BY

Publisher version (open access)Final published version, 2.29 MBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

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title = "Galaxy And Mass Assembly: a new approach to quantifying dust in galaxies",

abstract = "We introduce a new approach to quantifying dust in galaxies by combining information from the Balmer decrement (BD) and the dust mass (Md). While there is no explicit correlation between these two properties, they jointly probe different aspects of the dust present in galaxies. We explore two new parameters that link BD with Md by using star formation rate sensitive luminosities at several wavelengths (ultraviolet, Hα, and far-infrared). This analysis shows that combining the BD and Md in these ways provides new metrics that are sensitive to the degree of optically thick dust affecting the short wavelength emission. We show how these new 'dust geometry' parameters vary as a function of galaxy mass, star formation rate, and specific star formation rate. We demonstrate that they are sensitive probes of the dust geometry in galaxies, and that they support the {"}maximal foreground screen{"}model for dust in starburst galaxies.",

keywords = "dust geometry, dust obscuration, star-forming galaxies, Dust obscuration",

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year = "2025",

doi = "10.1017/pasa.2025.10028",

language = "English",

volume = "42",

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TY - JOUR

T1 - Galaxy And Mass Assembly

T2 - a new approach to quantifying dust in galaxies

AU - Farley, B.

AU - Ahmed, Ummee Tania

AU - Hopkins, Andrew

AU - Cowley, Michael

AU - Battisti, Andrew

AU - Casura, Sarah

AU - Gordon, Yjan

AU - Holwerda, Benne Willem

AU - Phillipps, Steven

AU - Robertson, Clayton

AU - Zafar, T.

N1 - © The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Astronomical Society of Australia. Version archived for private and non-commercial use with the permission of the author/s and according to publisher conditions. For further rights please contact the publisher.

PY - 2025

Y1 - 2025

N2 - We introduce a new approach to quantifying dust in galaxies by combining information from the Balmer decrement (BD) and the dust mass (Md). While there is no explicit correlation between these two properties, they jointly probe different aspects of the dust present in galaxies. We explore two new parameters that link BD with Md by using star formation rate sensitive luminosities at several wavelengths (ultraviolet, Hα, and far-infrared). This analysis shows that combining the BD and Md in these ways provides new metrics that are sensitive to the degree of optically thick dust affecting the short wavelength emission. We show how these new 'dust geometry' parameters vary as a function of galaxy mass, star formation rate, and specific star formation rate. We demonstrate that they are sensitive probes of the dust geometry in galaxies, and that they support the "maximal foreground screen"model for dust in starburst galaxies.

AB - We introduce a new approach to quantifying dust in galaxies by combining information from the Balmer decrement (BD) and the dust mass (Md). While there is no explicit correlation between these two properties, they jointly probe different aspects of the dust present in galaxies. We explore two new parameters that link BD with Md by using star formation rate sensitive luminosities at several wavelengths (ultraviolet, Hα, and far-infrared). This analysis shows that combining the BD and Md in these ways provides new metrics that are sensitive to the degree of optically thick dust affecting the short wavelength emission. We show how these new 'dust geometry' parameters vary as a function of galaxy mass, star formation rate, and specific star formation rate. We demonstrate that they are sensitive probes of the dust geometry in galaxies, and that they support the "maximal foreground screen"model for dust in starburst galaxies.

KW - dust geometry

KW - dust obscuration

KW - star-forming galaxies

KW - Dust obscuration

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105006602620

U2 - 10.1017/pasa.2025.10028

DO - 10.1017/pasa.2025.10028

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:105006602620

SN - 1323-3580

VL - 42

SP - 1

EP - 15

JO - Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia

JF - Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia

M1 - e067

ER -

Galaxy And Mass Assembly: a new approach to quantifying dust in galaxies

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

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