No Arabic abstract
In this paper, we present spectrophotometric models for galaxies of different morphological type whose spectral energy distributions (SEDs) take into account the effect of dust in absorbing UV-optical light and re-emitting it in the infrared (IR). The models contain three main components: (i) the diffuse interstellar medium (ISM) composed of gas and dust, (ii) the large complexes of molecular clouds (MCs) in which new stars are formed and (iii) the stars of any age and chemical composition. The galaxy models stand on a robust model of chemical evolution taylored in such a way to match the gross properties of galaxies of different morphological type. A simple geometrical model is adopted for each type of galaxy. The total gas and star mass provided by the chemical model are distributed over the whole volume by means of suitable density profiles, one for each component and depending on the galaxy type (spheroidal, disk and disk plus bulge). The galaxy is then split in suitable volume elements to each of which the appropriate amounts of stars, MCs and ISM are assigned. We derive the SEDs of galaxies of different morphological type. First the the basic relations driving the interaction between the physical components of the galaxy are presented. Second, the main parameters are examined and their effects on the SED of three prototype galaxies (a disk, an elliptical and a starburster) are highlighted. The final part of the paper is devoted to assess the ability of our galaxy models in reproducing the SEDs of a few real galaxies of the Local Universe.
Improving upon the standard evolutionary population synthesis (EPS) technique, we present spectrophotometric models of galaxies whose morphology goes from spherical structures to discs, properly accounting for the effect of dust in the interstellar medium (ISM). These models enclose three main physical components: the diffuse ISM composed by gas and dust, the complexes of molecular clouds (MCs) where active star formation occurs and the stars of any age and chemical composition. These models are based on robust evolutionary chemical models that provide the total amount of gas and stars present at any age and that are adjusted in order to match the gross properties of galaxies of different morphological type. We have employed the results for the properties of the ISM presented in Piovan, Tantalo & Chiosi (2006a) and the single stellar populations calculated by Cassar`a et al. (2013) to derive the spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of galaxies going from pure bulge to discs passing through a number of composite systems with different combinations of the two components. The first part of the paper is devoted to recall the technical details of the method and the basic relations driving the interaction between the physical components of the galaxy. Then, the main parameters are examined and their effects on the spectral energy distribution of three prototype galaxies are highlighted. We conclude analyzing the capability of our galaxy models in reproducing the SEDs of real galaxies in the Local Universe and as a function of redshift.
In this paper, we report on a first estimate of the contribution of galaxies to the diffuse extragalactic background from the far-UV to the submm, based on semi--analytic models of galaxy formation and evolution. We conclude that the global multi--wavelength picture seems to be consistent provided a quite important fraction of star--formation be hidden in dust--enshrouded systems at intermediate and high--redshift. We show that, according to such models, galaxies cannot stand as important contributors to the background hydrogen-ionizing flux at high-redshift unless neutral hydrogen absorption sites are clumpy and uncorrelated with star forming regions.We briefly discuss the robustness of such a result.
(abridged) We present STARDUST, a new self-consistent modelling of the spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of galaxies from far-UV to radio wavelengths. In order to derive the SEDs in this broad spectral range, we first couple spectrophotometric and (closed-box) chemical evolutions to account for metallicity effects on the spectra of synthetic stellar populations. We then use a phenomenological fit for the metal-dependent extinction curve and a simple geometric distribution of the dust to compute the optical depth of galaxies and the corresponding obscuration curve. This enables us to calculate the fraction of stellar light reprocessed in the infrared range. In a final step, we define a dust model with various components and we fix the weights of these components in order to reproduce the IRAS correlation of IR colours with total IR luminosities. This allows us to compute far-IR SEDs that phenomenologically mimic observed trends. We are able to predict the spectral evolution of galaxies in a broad wavelength range, and we can reproduce the observed SEDs of local spirals, starbursts, luminous infrared galaxies (LIRGs) and ultra luminous infrared galaxies (ULIRGs). This modelling is so far kept as simple as possible and depends on a small number of free parameters, namely the initial mass function (IMF), star formation rate (SFR) time scale, gas density, and galaxy age, as well as on more refined assumptions on dust properties and the presence (or absence) of gas inflows/outflows.
The dust-HI correlation is used to characterize the emission properties of dust in the diffuse interstellar medium. We cross-correlate sky maps from Planck, WMAP, and DIRBE, at 17 frequencies from 23 to 3000 GHz, with the Parkes survey of the 21-cm line emission of neutral atomic hydrogen, over a contiguous area of 7500 deg$^2$ centred on the southern Galactic pole. Our analysis yields four specific results. (1) The dust temperature is observed to be anti-correlated with the dust emissivity and opacity. We interpret this result as evidence for dust evolution within the diffuse ISM. The mean dust opacity is measured to be $(7.1 pm 0.6) 10^{-27} cm^2/H times ( u/353, GHz)^{1.53pm0.03}$ for $100 < u <353$GHz. (2) We map the spectral index of dust emission at millimetre wavelengths, which is remarkably constant at $beta_{mm} = 1.51pm 0.13$. We compare it with the far infrared spectral index beta_FIR derived from greybody fits at higher frequencies, and find a systematic difference, $beta_{mm}-beta_{FIR} = -0.15$, which suggests that the dust SED flattens at $ u < 353,$GHz. (3) We present spectral fits of the microwave emission correlated with HI from 23 to 353 GHz, which separate dust and anomalous microwave emission. The flattening of the dust SED can be accounted for with an additional component with a blackbody spectrum, which accounts for $(26 pm 6)$% of the dust emission at 100 GHz and could represent magnetic dipole emission. Alternatively, it could account for an increasing contribution of carbon dust, or a flattening of the emissivity of amorphous silicates, at millimetre wavelengths. These interpretations make different predictions for the dust polarization SED. (4) We identify a Galactic contribution to the residuals of the dust-HI correlation, which we model with variations of the dust emissivity on angular scales smaller than that of our correlation analysis.
A recent data analysis of the far-infrared (FIR) map of the Galaxy and the Magellanic Clouds has shown that there is a tight correlation between two FIR colours: the 60 um-100 um and 100 um-140 um colours. This FIR colour relation called ``main correlation can be interpreted as indicative of a sequence of various interstellar radiation fields with a common FIR optical property of grains. In this paper, we constrain the FIR optical properties of grains by comparing the calculated FIR colours with the observational main correlation. We show that neither of the ``standard grain species (i.e. astronomical silicate and graphite grains) reproduces the main correlation. However, if the emissivity index at ~ 100--200 um is changed to ~ 1--1.5 (not ~ 2 as the above two species), the main correlation can be successfully explained. Thus, we propose that the FIR emissivity index is ~ 1--1.5 for the dust in the Galaxy and the Magellanic Clouds at ~ 100--200 um. We also consider the origin of the minor correlation called ``sub-correlation, which can be used to estimate the Galactic star formation rate.