An Ultraviolet-to-Radio Broadband Spectral Atlas of Nearby Galaxies

Creators: Dale, D. A.; Gil de Paz, A.; Gordon, K. D.; Hanson, H. M.; Armus, L.; Bendo, G. J.; Bianchi, L.; Block, M.; Boissier, S.; Boselli, A.; Buckalew, B. A.; Buat, V.; Burgarella, D.; Calzetti, D.; Cannon, J. M.; Engelbracht, C. W.; Helou, G.; Hollenbach, D. J.; Jarrett, T. H.; Kennicutt, R. C.; Leitherer, C.; Li, A.; Madore, B. F.; Martin, D. C.; Meyer, M. J.; Murphy, E. J.; Regan, M. W.; Roussel, H.; Smith, J. D. T.; Sosey, M. L.; Thilker, D. A.; Walter, F.

Abstract

The ultraviolet-to-radio continuum spectral energy distributions are presented for all 75 galaxies in the Spitzer Infrared Nearby Galaxies Survey (SINGS). A principal component analysis of the sample shows that most of the sample's spectral variations stem from two underlying components, one representative of a galaxy with a low infrared-to-ultraviolet ratio and one representative of a galaxy with a high infrared-to-ultraviolet ratio. The influence of several parameters on the infrared-to-ultraviolet ratio is studied (e.g., optical morphology, disk inclination, far-infrared color, ultraviolet spectral slope, and star formation history). Consistent with our understanding of normal star-forming galaxies, the SINGS sample of galaxies in comparison to more actively star-forming galaxies exhibits a larger dispersion in the infrared-to-ultraviolet versus ultraviolet spectral slope correlation. Early-type galaxies, exhibiting low star formation rates and high optical surface brightnesses, have the most discrepant infrared-to-ultraviolet correlation. These results suggest that the star formation history may be the dominant regulator of the broadband spectral variations between galaxies. Finally, a new discovery shows that the 24 μm morphology can be a useful tool for parameterizing the global dust temperature and ultraviolet extinction in nearby galaxies. The dust emission in dwarf/irregular galaxies is clumpy and warm accompanied by low ultraviolet extinction, while in spiral galaxies there is typically a much larger diffuse component of cooler dust and average ultraviolet extinction. For galaxies with nuclear 24 μm emission, the dust temperature and ultraviolet extinction are relatively high compared to disk galaxies.

Additional Information

© 2007 The American Astronomical Society. Received 2006 September 25; accepted 2006 October 20. Support for this work, part of the Spitzer Space Telescope Legacy Science Program, was provided by NASA through contract 1224769 issued by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology under NASA contract 1407. A. G. d. P. is financed by the MAGPOP EU Marie Curie Research Training Network and the Spanish Programa Nacional de Astronomıa y Astrofısica under grant AYA2003-01676. We are thankful for the hard work put in by the instrument teams and the Spitzer Science Center. We gratefully acknowledge NASA's support for construction, operation, and science analysis for the GALEX mission, developed in cooperation with the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales of France and the Korean Ministry of Science and Technology. This research has made use of the NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database, which is operated by JPL/Caltech, under contract with NASA. This publication makes use of data products from the Two Micron All Sky Survey, which is a joint project of the University of Massachusetts and IPAC/Caltech, funded by NASA and the National Science Foundation.

Errata

Erratum: "An Ultraviolet-to-Radio Broadband Spectral Atlas of Nearby Galaxies" (ApJ, 655, 863 [2007]) D. A. Dale et al. 2008 ApJ 672 735 doi:10.1086/523847

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