TY - JOUR
T1 - Measuring the Dust Attenuation Curves of SINGS/KINGFISH Galaxies Using Swift/UVOT Photometry
AU - Belles, Alexander
AU - Decleir, Marjorie
AU - Bowman, William P.
AU - Hagen, Lea M.Z.
AU - Gronwall, Caryl
AU - Siegel, Michael H.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society.
PY - 2023/8/1
Y1 - 2023/8/1
N2 - We present Swift/Ultraviolet Optical Telescope (UVOT) integrated light photometry of the Spitzer Infrared Nearby Galaxies Survey (SINGS) and the Key Insights on Nearby Galaxies: A Far-Infrared Survey with Herschel (KINGFISH) samples of nearby galaxies. Combining the Swift/UVOT data with archival photometry, we investigate a variety of dust attenuation curves derived using MCSED, a flexible spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting code. We fit the panchromatic data using three different star formation history (SFH) parameterizations: a decaying exponential, a double power law, and a piecewise function with breaks at physically motivated ages. We find that the average attenuation law of the sample changes slightly based on the SFH assumed. Specifically, the exponential SFH leads to the shallowest attenuation curves. Using simulated data, we also find the exponential SFH fails to outperform the more complex SFHs. Finally, we find a systematic offset in the derived bump strength between SED fits with and without UVOT data, where the inclusion of UVOT data leads to smaller bump strengths, highlighting the importance of the UVOT data. This discrepancy is not seen in fits to mock photometry. Understanding dust attenuation in the local universe is key to understanding high-redshift objects where rest-frame far-infrared data are unavailable.
AB - We present Swift/Ultraviolet Optical Telescope (UVOT) integrated light photometry of the Spitzer Infrared Nearby Galaxies Survey (SINGS) and the Key Insights on Nearby Galaxies: A Far-Infrared Survey with Herschel (KINGFISH) samples of nearby galaxies. Combining the Swift/UVOT data with archival photometry, we investigate a variety of dust attenuation curves derived using MCSED, a flexible spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting code. We fit the panchromatic data using three different star formation history (SFH) parameterizations: a decaying exponential, a double power law, and a piecewise function with breaks at physically motivated ages. We find that the average attenuation law of the sample changes slightly based on the SFH assumed. Specifically, the exponential SFH leads to the shallowest attenuation curves. Using simulated data, we also find the exponential SFH fails to outperform the more complex SFHs. Finally, we find a systematic offset in the derived bump strength between SED fits with and without UVOT data, where the inclusion of UVOT data leads to smaller bump strengths, highlighting the importance of the UVOT data. This discrepancy is not seen in fits to mock photometry. Understanding dust attenuation in the local universe is key to understanding high-redshift objects where rest-frame far-infrared data are unavailable.
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U2 - 10.3847/1538-4357/acd332
DO - 10.3847/1538-4357/acd332
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85167340465
SN - 0004-637X
VL - 953
JO - Astrophysical Journal
JF - Astrophysical Journal
IS - 1
M1 - 54
ER -