2008/05/12 by D. C. Ford, Dominic C. Ford, B. Nikolic +3
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #Emission spectrum #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Galaxy #Infrared #Luminous infrared galaxy #Radiative transfer #Redshift #Spectral line #Star formation #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2008.13357.x
15 pages, 16 figures, 2 tables. Accepted for publication in MNRAS
arxiv created 2008/05/12 · openalex publication_date 2008/11/06 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We present a semi-empirical model for the infrared emission of dust around star-forming sites in galaxies. Our approach combines a simple model of radiative transfer in dust clouds with a state-of-the-art model of the microscopic optical properties of dust grains pioneered by Draine & Li. In combination with the starburst99 stellar spectral synthesis package, this framework is able to produce synthetic spectra for galaxies which extend from the Lyman limit through to the far-infrared. We use it to probe how model galaxy spectra depend on the physical characteristics of their dust grain populations, and on the energy sources which heat that dust. We compare the predictions of our model with the 8- and 24-μm luminosities of sources in the Spitzer First Look Survey, and conclude by using the models to analyse the relative merits of various colour diagnostics in distinguishing systems out to a redshift of 2 with ongoing star formation from those with only old stellar populations.