Diffuse Dust in Elliptical Galaxies
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Diffuse Dust in Elliptical Galaxies by Jonathan Savoy A Thesis Submitted to Saint Mary’s University, Halifax, Nova Scotia in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE in Astronomy (Department of Physics and Astronomy) September 26, 2007, Halifax, Nova Scotia © Jonathan Savoy, 2007 Approved: Gary A. Welch Supervisor Approved: Marcin Sawicki Examiner Approved: David G. Turner Examiner Date: September 26, 2007 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 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Abstract ii A bstract Diffuse Dust in Elliptical Galaxies, by Jonathan Savoy, submitted on September 26, 2007: It is well established that the broadband colors of elliptical galaxies become red der near their centres, which provides an important constraint on models of elliptical galaxy formation. The observed radial color gradients are usually explained by a gra dient in stellar metallicity, but if a diffuse dust component were present, it could also contribute to the reddening. Dust clouds are commonly observed near the centres of elliptical galaxies, but the dust mass implied from optical extinction is generally 5-10 times less than values derived from far infrared (FIR) emission measured by IRAS photometry. One explanation for this discrepancy is that the majority of the dust is diffusely distributed, and not concentrated in dense clouds, but previous FIR experiments have lacked the spatial resolution to determine the location of the ex isting dust. In an effort to determine the importance of a diffuse dust component, 23 elliptical galaxies have been observed with the SCUBA instrument on the JCMT. The observations, combined with published fluxes, are modeled using a three dimen sional Monte Carlo radiation transfer code to establish the mass, temperature, and distribution of diffuse dust in elliptical galaxies. The implied dust masses are often an order of magnitude larger than IRAS estimates, and the impact on the observed colour gradients is found to be negligible. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Acknowledgements iii Acknowledgement s Gary: Thanks for the enormous amount of help you’ve given me over the last few years. It is a pleasure to work with you, and I think we make a great team. Marcin and Dave Turner: Thanks for all the helpful comments and suggestions. Mom and Dad: Thank you for all your love and support. Your regular Sunday and Wednesday phone calls were a soothing constant over the last six years (the homemade bread supply didn’t hurt, either). Beth: This project, as with most things I’ve done, would not have been possible without you. You are always there to pick me up, and I still don’t know how everyone else manages. Because of you, the future looks wonderful. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Contents iv Contents A b s tr a c t..................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements ............................................................................................... iii C o n te n ts..................................................................................................................... iv List of Figures........................................................................................................ vi List of Tables........................................................................................................... viii 1 Introduction...................................................................................................... 1 2 Galaxy Sample and SCUBA Observations........................................... 6 2.1 Data Reduction ........................................................................................... 9 3 SCUBA Images and Flux Densities....................................................... 11 3.1 Emission from Additional Sources ............................................................ 20 4 Dust Models ................................................................................................... 24 4.1 Monte Carlo Model .................................................................................. 24 4.1.1 Model O u tp u ts ................................................................................ 26 4.2 Model R esults ........................................................................................... 28 4.2.1 Single Temperature M odel ............................................................. 28 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Contents v 4.2.2 Standard M odel ............................................................................... 32 4.2.3 Alternative Dust Distributions ...................................................... 34 4.2.4 Synthetic Dust Im a g e s.................................................................. 40 4.2.5 Colour G rad ien ts ............................................................................ 41 4.2.6 Stellar Mass L o s s ............................................................................ 46 5 Discussion and Conclusions ....................................................................... 49 A Data Reduction .............................................................................................. 53 B Spectral Energy Distributions ................................................................. 57 Bibliography........................................................................................................... 65 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. List of Figures vi List of Figures 3.1 a.) SCUBA 850 /zm images ..................................................................... 12 3.1 b.) (cont’d) SCUBA 850 /zm images.................................................. 13 3.1 c.) (cont’d) SCUBA 850 /zm im ages......................................................... 14 3.1 d.) ( cont’d) SCUBA 850 /zm images.................................................. 15 3.1 e.) (cont’d) SCUBA 850 /zm im ages......................................................... 16 3.1 f.) (cont’d) SCUBA 850 /zm im ages......................................................... 17 3.2 SCUBA 450 /zm im a g e............................................................................... 19 3.3 Extended emission ..................................................................................... 21 3.4 AGN emission .............................................................................................. 23 4.1 Model SED comparison ................................................................................ 37 4.1 b.) (cont’d) Model SED comparison .......................................................... 38 4.1 c.) (cont’d) Model SED comparison .......................................................... 39 4.2 a.) Predicted Spitzer 70 /zm surface brightness profiles ....................... 42 4.2 b.) (cont’d) Predicted Spitzer 70 /zm surface brightness profiles . 43 4.3 B-R colour g rad ien ts .................................................................................. 45 4.4 Stellar mass loss........................................................................................... 48 B.l a.) Standard Model S E D s .......................................................................