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Title: CAN DUST EMISSION BE USED TO ESTIMATE THE MASS OF THE INTERSTELLAR MEDIUM IN GALAXIES-A PILOT PROJECT WITH THE HERSCHEL REFERENCE SURVEY

Abstract

The standard method for estimating the mass of the interstellar medium (ISM) in a galaxy is to use the 21 cm line to trace the atomic gas and the CO 1-0 line to trace the molecular gas. In this paper, we investigate the alternative technique of using the continuum dust emission to estimate the mass of gas in all phases of the ISM. Using Herschel observations of 10 galaxies from the Herschel Reference Survey and the Herschel Virgo Cluster Survey, we show that the emission detected by Herschel is mostly from dust that has a temperature and emissivity index similar to that of dust in the local ISM in our galaxy, with the temperature generally increasing toward the center of each galaxy. We calibrate the dust method using the CO and 21 cm observations to provide an independent estimate of the mass of hydrogen in each galaxy, solving the problem of the uncertain ''X-factor'' for the CO observations by minimizing the dispersion in the ratio of the masses estimated using the two methods. With the calibration for the dust method and the estimate of the X-factor produced in this way, the dispersion in the ratio of the two gas massesmore » is 25%. The calibration we obtain for the dust method is similar to those obtained from Herschel observations of M31 and from Planck observations of the Milky Way. We discuss the practical problems in using this method.« less

Authors:
; ; ; ; ;  [1]; ; ; ;  [2];  [3];  [4]; ;  [5];  [6];  [7];  [8];  [9];  [10];  [11] more »; « less
  1. School of Physics and Astronomy, Cardiff University, Queens Buildings, The Parade, Cardiff CF24 3AA (United Kingdom)
  2. Sterrenkundig Observatorium, Universiteit Gent, Krijgslaan 281 S9, B-9000 Gent (Belgium)
  3. UK ALMA Regional Centre Node, Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL (United Kingdom)
  4. INAF-Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri, Largo E. Fermi 5, I-50125 Firenze (Italy)
  5. Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseilles, UMR6110 CNRS, 38 rue F. Joliot-Curie, F-1338 Marseilles (France)
  6. Astrophysics Group, Imperial College, Blackett Lab, Prince Consort Road, London SW7 2AZ (United Kingdom)
  7. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697 (United States)
  8. European Southern Observatory, Karl-Schwarzschild-Strasse 2 D-85748, Garching bei Munchen (Germany)
  9. Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0HA (United Kingdom)
  10. Kavli Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Peking University, Beijing 100871 (China)
  11. Laboratoire AIM, CEA/DSM-CNRS-Universite Paris Diderot, Irfu/Service d'Astrophysique, F-91191 Gif sur Yvette (France)
Publication Date:
OSTI Identifier:
22139943
Resource Type:
Journal Article
Journal Name:
Astrophysical Journal
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 761; Journal Issue: 2; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); Journal ID: ISSN 0004-637X
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
79 ASTROPHYSICS, COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY; ASTROPHYSICS; CALIBRATION; CARBON MONOXIDE; COSMIC DUST; EMISSIVITY; HYDROGEN; INTERSTELLAR SPACE; MASS; MILKY WAY; PHOTON EMISSION; RADIOASTRONOMY; RADIOWAVE RADIATION

Citation Formats

Eales, Stephen, Smith, Matthew W. L., Auld, Robbie, Davies, Jon, Gear, Walter, Gomez, Haley, Baes, Maarten, De Looze, Ilse, Gentile, Gianfranco, Fritz, Jacopo, Bendo, George J., Bianchi, Simone, Boselli, Alessandro, Ciesla, Laure, Clements, David, Cooray, Asantha, Cortese, Luca, Galametz, Maud, Hughes, Tom, Madden, Suzanne, and others, and. CAN DUST EMISSION BE USED TO ESTIMATE THE MASS OF THE INTERSTELLAR MEDIUM IN GALAXIES-A PILOT PROJECT WITH THE HERSCHEL REFERENCE SURVEY. United States: N. p., 2012. Web. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/761/2/168.
Eales, Stephen, Smith, Matthew W. L., Auld, Robbie, Davies, Jon, Gear, Walter, Gomez, Haley, Baes, Maarten, De Looze, Ilse, Gentile, Gianfranco, Fritz, Jacopo, Bendo, George J., Bianchi, Simone, Boselli, Alessandro, Ciesla, Laure, Clements, David, Cooray, Asantha, Cortese, Luca, Galametz, Maud, Hughes, Tom, Madden, Suzanne, & others, and. CAN DUST EMISSION BE USED TO ESTIMATE THE MASS OF THE INTERSTELLAR MEDIUM IN GALAXIES-A PILOT PROJECT WITH THE HERSCHEL REFERENCE SURVEY. United States. https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/761/2/168
Eales, Stephen, Smith, Matthew W. L., Auld, Robbie, Davies, Jon, Gear, Walter, Gomez, Haley, Baes, Maarten, De Looze, Ilse, Gentile, Gianfranco, Fritz, Jacopo, Bendo, George J., Bianchi, Simone, Boselli, Alessandro, Ciesla, Laure, Clements, David, Cooray, Asantha, Cortese, Luca, Galametz, Maud, Hughes, Tom, Madden, Suzanne, and others, and. 2012. "CAN DUST EMISSION BE USED TO ESTIMATE THE MASS OF THE INTERSTELLAR MEDIUM IN GALAXIES-A PILOT PROJECT WITH THE HERSCHEL REFERENCE SURVEY". United States. https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/761/2/168.
@article{osti_22139943,
title = {CAN DUST EMISSION BE USED TO ESTIMATE THE MASS OF THE INTERSTELLAR MEDIUM IN GALAXIES-A PILOT PROJECT WITH THE HERSCHEL REFERENCE SURVEY},
author = {Eales, Stephen and Smith, Matthew W. L. and Auld, Robbie and Davies, Jon and Gear, Walter and Gomez, Haley and Baes, Maarten and De Looze, Ilse and Gentile, Gianfranco and Fritz, Jacopo and Bendo, George J. and Bianchi, Simone and Boselli, Alessandro and Ciesla, Laure and Clements, David and Cooray, Asantha and Cortese, Luca and Galametz, Maud and Hughes, Tom and Madden, Suzanne and others, and},
abstractNote = {The standard method for estimating the mass of the interstellar medium (ISM) in a galaxy is to use the 21 cm line to trace the atomic gas and the CO 1-0 line to trace the molecular gas. In this paper, we investigate the alternative technique of using the continuum dust emission to estimate the mass of gas in all phases of the ISM. Using Herschel observations of 10 galaxies from the Herschel Reference Survey and the Herschel Virgo Cluster Survey, we show that the emission detected by Herschel is mostly from dust that has a temperature and emissivity index similar to that of dust in the local ISM in our galaxy, with the temperature generally increasing toward the center of each galaxy. We calibrate the dust method using the CO and 21 cm observations to provide an independent estimate of the mass of hydrogen in each galaxy, solving the problem of the uncertain ''X-factor'' for the CO observations by minimizing the dispersion in the ratio of the masses estimated using the two methods. With the calibration for the dust method and the estimate of the X-factor produced in this way, the dispersion in the ratio of the two gas masses is 25%. The calibration we obtain for the dust method is similar to those obtained from Herschel observations of M31 and from Planck observations of the Milky Way. We discuss the practical problems in using this method.},
doi = {10.1088/0004-637X/761/2/168},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/22139943}, journal = {Astrophysical Journal},
issn = {0004-637X},
number = 2,
volume = 761,
place = {United States},
year = {Thu Dec 20 00:00:00 EST 2012},
month = {Thu Dec 20 00:00:00 EST 2012}
}