A Quantitative Comparison of SMC, LMC, and Milky Way UV to NIR Extinction Curves

By K. Gordon, G. Clayton, K. Misselt, A. Landolt, Michael J. Wolff. 2003

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We present an exhaustive, quantitative comparison of all of the known extinction curves in the Small and Large Magellanic Clouds (SMC and LMC) with our understanding of the general behavior of Milky Way extinction curves. The R_V dependent CCM relationship and the sample of extinction curves used to derive this relationship is used to describe the general behavior of Milky Way extinction curves. The ultraviolet portion of the SMC and LMC extinction curves are derived from archival IUE data, except for one new SMC extinction curve which was measured using HST/STIS observations. The optical extinction curves are derived from new (for the SMC) and literature UBVRI photometry (for the LMC). The near-infrared extinction curves are calculated mainly from 2MASS photometry supplemented with DENIS and new JHK photometry. For each extinction curve, we give R_V = A(V)/E(B-V) and N(HI) values which probe the same dust column as the extinction curve. We compare the properties of the SMC and LMC extinction curves with the CCM relationship three different ways: each curve by itself, the behavior of extinction at different wavelengths with R_V, and behavior of the extinction curve FM fit parameters with R_V. As has been found previously, we find that a small number of LMC extinction curves are consistent with the CCM relationship, but majority of the LMC and all of the SMC curves do not follow the CCM relationship. For the first time, we find that the CCM relationship seems to form a bound on the properties of all of the LMC and SMC extinction curves. This result strengthens the picture of dust extinction curves exhibit a continuum of properties between those found in the Milky Way and the SMC Bar. (abridged)

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/0596707f75e55dc1b334ec6e777919abaf6177cc

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Citations in the corpus

STRONG NEBULAR LINE RATIOS IN THE SPECTRA of z ∼ 2–3 STAR FORMING GALAXIES: FIRST RESULTS FROM KBSS-MOSFIRE (2014, background): “…E(B − V)cont to estimate the attenuation of the Hα emission line in magnitudes, A(Hα) = 2.52×2.27 E(B − V)cont = 5.72×E(B − V)cont (4) assuming Galactic extinction, or A(Hα) = 2.00×2.27 E(B − V)cont = 4.54×E(B − V)cont (5) for SMC extinction (Gordon et al. 2003) applied to the nebular emission.”
The GALEX Ultraviolet Atlas of Nearby Galaxies (2006, methodology): “Studies on the dust attenuation in galaxies based on either photometric or spectroscopic UV studies are numerous, including Calzetti et al. (1994), Heckman et al. (1995),Meurer et al. (1995, 1999), Buat&Xu (1996), Gordon et al. (2000, 2003), Buat et al. (2002), and Roussel et al. (2005).”
The global gas and dust budget of the Large Magellanic Cloud: AGB stars and supernovae, and the impact on the ISM evolution (2009, methodology): “The extinction curve in the LMC is quite similar to the Galactic one, except for a slight steep rise in far-ultraviolet region in 30 Dor region (Gordon et al. 2003).”
Spitzer Survey of the Large Magellanic Cloud: Surveying the Agents of a Galaxy’s Evolution (SAGE). I. Overview and Initial Results (2006, unknown): “UVextinctionmeasurements have indicated that the dust properties in the LMC vary spatially (Gordon et al. 2003).”
GOODS-Herschel: dust attenuation properties of UV selected high redshift galaxies (2012, methodology): “The attenuation law for local starbursts, based on spectroscopic data, does not exhibit a bump at 2175 Å such as that observed in the extinction curves of the Milky Way (MW) or the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) (Fitzpatrick & Massa, 2007; Gordon et al., 2003).”
The Spitzer Survey of the Small Magellanic Cloud: S3MC Imaging and Photometry in the Mid- and Far-Infrared Wave Bands (2006, background): “For quite a while it has been recognized that the UV extinction curve in the SMC lacks the 2175 8 ‘‘hump’’ (e.g., Gordon et al. 2003), which is interpreted as signaling the lack of a population of small carbonaceous dust grains (Li&Draine 2002).”
The Resolved Properties of Extragalactic Giant Molecular Clouds (2008, methodology): “In the SMC N(H I)/AV ≈ 13.2 × 1021 cm−2 mag−1, a factor of 6.5 larger than McKee’s adopted Galactic value and compatible with the ratio of metallicities between the SMC and the Milky Way (Gordon et al. 2003).”
SURVEYING THE AGENTS OF GALAXY EVOLUTION IN THE TIDALLY STRIPPED, LOW METALLICITY SMALL MAGELLANIC CLOUD (SAGE-SMC). I. OVERVIEW (2011, background): “In addition, the SMC is the only local galaxy which has the ultraviolet dust characteristics (lack of 2175 Å extinction bump, Gordon et al. 2003) of starburst galaxies in the local (Calzetti et al. 1994; Gordon et al. 1997) and high-redshift (2 < z < 4, Vijh et al. 2003) universe.”
The star formation histories of galaxies in the sloan digital sky survey (2006, methodology): “We used an Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) extinction law for the main analysis, but later we will explore the difference in recovered SFH using the Calzetti (1997) starburst model and the LMC and Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) curves given in Gordon et al. (2003).”
JWST Census for the Mass–Metallicity Star Formation Relations at z = 4–10 with Self-consistent Flux Calibration and Proper Metallicity Calibrators (2023, background): “…Balmer line ratios should follow the sequence of the expected Balmer decrements as a function of dust attenuation, as shown with the curves adopting different reddening laws ( Cardelli et al. 1989; Calzetti et al. 2000; Gordon et al. 2003 ) and electron temperatures ( T e = 10,000 and 25,000 K ) .”
Dust Attenuation Curves in the Local Universe: Demographics and New Laws for Star-forming Galaxies and High-redshift Analogs (2018, background): “…Small Magellanic Clouds (LMC and SMC) (Nandy et al. 1975, 1980; Rocca-Volmerange et al. 1981), from which the average total extinction curves currently in use for these galaxies have been derived (e.g., Seaton 1979; Cardelli et al. 1989; Fitzpatrick 1986; Prevot et al. 1984; Gordon et al. 2003).”
Ultraviolet Extinction Properties in the Milky Way (2004, methodology): “Virtually all of the non-CCM sightlines known today are in the (diffuse) Magellanic Clouds, not in dense Galactic clouds (e.g., Gordon et al. 2003).”
Empirical determination of the shape of dust attenuation curves in star-forming galaxies (2011, methodology): “We adopt the tabulated LMC and SMC-bar curves of Gordon et al. (2003), spline interpolating onto our wavelength points.”
Optical Star Formation Rate Indicators (2005, unknown): “Other reddening curves in this wavelength regime (e.g., for the Small Magellanic Cloud; Gordon et al. 2003) are very similar to the two curves plotted.”
The history of star-forming galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (2007, methodology): “…attenuation, we have selected 1000 galaxies at random from the SFhq sample and fitted them with four other functions: the starburst attenuation law of Calzetti, Kinney & Storchi-Bergmann (1994), the SMC and LMC curves from Gordon et al. (2003) and the λ−0.7 law used by Kauffmann et al. (2003a).”
Probing the Interstellar Medium near Star-forming Regions with Gamma-Ray Burst Afterglow Spectroscopy: Gas, Metals, and Dust (2007, methodology): “Specifically, we adopt two empirical relations: (i) the observed reddening in the SMC (Tumlinson et al. 2002) logE(B − V ) = logNHI − 22.95 (4) and (ii) a linear relation betweenAV and E(B−V ) (Gordon et al. 2003) modified by the dust-to-gas ratio AV = 2.74 E(B − V ) κ κSMC .”
A Census of Photometrically Selected Little Red Dots at 4 < z < 9 in JWST Blank Fields (2024, methodology): “We fit the unreddened AGN component together with the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) law (Gordon et al. 2003) attenuated ( A V = 0.1 – 4) version of the same composite template.”