The Infrared Side of Galaxy Formation. I. The Local Universe in the Semianalytical Framework

By G. Granato, C. Lacey, Laura Silva, A. Bressan, C. Baugh, Shaun Cole, Carlos S. Frenk. 2000

229 citations recorded by the source corpus.

We present a new evolutionary model for predicting the far-UV-to-submillimeter properties of the galaxy population. This combines a semianalytic galaxy formation model based on hierarchical clustering (GALFORM) with a spectrophotometric code that includes dust reprocessing (GRASIL). The former provides the star formation and metal enrichment histories, together with the gas mass and various geometrical parameters, for a representative sample of galaxies formed in different density environments. These quantities, together with a few other assumptions concerning the spatial distribution of dust and its optical properties, allow us to model the spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of galaxies, taking into account stellar emission and also dust extinction (absorption plus scattering) and reemission. In the spectrophotometric code, dust is considered only in the disk, but the general radiation field is contributed by both the disk and the bulge components with their own distinct age and metallicity distributions. Two phases are considered for the dust: molecular cloud complexes, where stars are assumed to be born, and the diffuse interstellar medium. The model includes both galaxies forming stars quiescently in disks and starbursts triggered by galaxy mergers. We test our models against the observed spectrophotometric properties of galaxies in the local universe, assuming a cold dark matter cosmology with Ω0 = 0.3 and Λ0 = 0.7. The models reproduce fairly well the SEDs of normal spirals and starbursts from the far-UV to the submillimeter and their internal extinction properties. The starbursts follow the observed relationship between the far-IR-to-UV luminosity ratio and the slope of the UV continuum. They also reproduce the observed starburst attenuation law. This result is remarkable because we use a dust mixture that reproduces the Milky Way extinction law. It suggests that the observed attenuation law is closely related to the geometry of the stars and dust. We compute galaxy luminosity functions over a wide range of wavelengths, which turn out to be in good agreement with observational data in the UV (2000 Å), in the B and K bands, and in the IR (12-100 μm). Finally, we investigate the reliability of some star formation indicators that are based on the properties of the continuum SEDs of galaxies. The UV continuum turns out to be a poor star formation indicator for our models, while the infrared luminosity is much more reliable.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Instrumentation

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/c79504e3d629d80836c8a0bbb61915acf3ed1068

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Citations in the corpus

Fitting the integrated spectral energy distributions of galaxies (2010, methodology): “For self-consistent SED models, the SAMs need to be coupled with radiative transfer (RT) calculations such as GRASIL, which has been done only for a few models (e.g. Granato et al. 2000; Lacey et al. 2008).”
On the Normalization of the Cosmic Star Formation History (2006, background): “…of ρ∗(z) based on SFH measurements seem to be larger than the observed stellar mass density at high redshift, and numerous simulations imply that the measurements might be underestimating the totalρ∗(z) (e.g., Nagamine et al. 2004; Menci et al. 2004; Somerville et al. 2001; Granato et al. 2000).”
The Hα and Infrared Star Formation Rates for the Nearby Field Galaxy Survey (2002, methodology): “New IR photometry and spectra from the Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) have lead to recent advances in infrared spectral energy distribution (SED) modelling (eg., Spinoglio, Paola & Malkan 2002; Dale et al. 2001; Rowan-Robinson 2001; Calzetti et al. 2000; Granato et al. 2000).”
Empirical determination of the shape of dust attenuation curves in star-forming galaxies (2011, background): “Models suggest that the 2175̊A feature should vary in strength in galaxy spectral energy distributions (SEDs) depending upon the properties and geometry of the dust (Granato et al. 2000; Witt & Gordon 2000).”
THE DUST ATTENUATION LAW IN DISTANT GALAXIES: EVIDENCE FOR VARIATION WITH SPECTRAL TYPE (2013, methodology): “In particular, a two-component dust model (e.g., Calzetti et al. 1994; Charlot & Fall 2000; Granato et al. 2000; Wild et al. 2011), in which all stars are attenuated by the diffuse ISM, while younger stars experience additional attenuation due to dust in their short-lived birth clouds, naturally…”
A primer on hierarchical galaxy formation: the semi-analytical approach (2006, methodology): “Granato et al. (2000) combined the semi-analytic model of Cole et al. (2000) with the spectrophotometric model developed by Silva et al. (1998).”
Modeling the Pan-Spectral Energy Distribution of Starburst Galaxies. IV. The Controlling Parameters of the Starburst SED (2007, methodology): “One of the more sophisticated approaches is taken in the GRASIL code by the Padova–Trieste group (Silva et al. 1998; Granato et al. 2000).”
GALICS I: A hybrid N-body semi-analytic model of hierarchical galaxy formation (2003, methodology): “Here we propose the GALICS model of hierarchical galaxy formation, which is intended to provide a fully panchromatic description of the galaxy merging history, similar in spirit to that implemented by Granato et al. (2000) in a purely semi-analytic model.”
The K20 survey. VI. The distribution of the stellar masses in galaxies up to z 2 (2004, result): “On the other side, theoretical models allowing for a patchy, complex dust geometry (Granato et al. 2000) suggest that the outcoming attenuation curve may still be close to a single curve, similar to Calzetti one.”
The Dust Opacity of Star‐forming Galaxies (2001, background): “Dust/emitter geometries that can dilute the bump include mixed distributions with large optical depths (Natta & Panagia 1984; Granato et al. 2000; Gordon et al. 2000).”
Dusty Star Forming Galaxies at High Redshift (2014, methodology): “These authors updated the then-current version of the Durham galform SAM (Cole et al., 2000; Granato et al., 2000) to investigate the physical properties of high-z SMGs.”
Dust formation history of galaxies: A critical role of metallicity* for the dust mass growth by accreting materials in the interstellar medium (2012, background): “Therefore dust affects the spectral energy distributions of galaxies (e.g., Takagi et al., 1999; Granato et al., 2000; Noll et al., 2009; Popescu et al., 2011).”
DUST-CORRECTED STAR FORMATION RATES OF GALAXIES. II. COMBINATIONS OF ULTRAVIOLET AND INFRARED TRACERS (2011, background): “…similar analysis is extended from starburst galaxies to normal star-forming galaxies, β will depend on the mean age of the dust-heating population, the dust/star geometry, and the dust properties (e.g., Witt, Thronson & Capuano 1992; Witt & Gordon 2000; Granato et al. 2000; Burgarella et al. 2005).”
Toward an Understanding of the Rapid Decline of the Cosmic Star Formation Rate (2005, background): “A few models have started to incorporate detailed dust prescriptions and can model the evolution of IR-bright galaxies (e.g., Granato et al. 2000; Balland et al. 2003).”
The Luminosity Function of Galaxies in SDSS Commissioning Data (2000, result): “If this is the case, it may relieve some of the strain on galaxy formation models, which typically predict a higher density of stellar matter than previous observational estimates (Katz, Weinberg, & Hernquist 1996 ; Pearce et al. 1999 ; Granato et al. 2000).”
Submillimetre galaxies in a hierarchical universe: number counts, redshift distribution, and implications for the IMF (2012, methodology): “The B05 modifications increased the 850-μm flux density (S850) per unit SFR for starbursts by a factor of ∼5 (Granato, private communication), which caused starbursts to account for a factor of ∼103 times more sources at S850 = 3 mJy than in Granato et al. (2000).”
Modelling and interpreting spectral energy distributions of galaxies with BEAGLE (2016, background): “Such changes are expected to have less effect on integrated galaxy SEDs than geometry, age dependence and inclination (e.g. Granato et al. 2000; Fontanot et al. 2009, C13), except perhaps around the 2175 Å absorption feature (e.g. Conroy, Schiminovich & Blanton 2010b).”