The Slope of the Near Infrared Extinction Law

Abstract

We determine the slope of the near infrared extinction power law (A${}_{\lambda }\propto {\lambda }^{-\alpha }$) for 8 regions of the Galaxy between l$\sim 27^{\circ }$ and $\sim 100^{\circ }$. UKIDSS Galactic Plane Survey data are compared, in colour-colour space, with Galactic population synthesis model data reddened using a series of power laws and convolved through the UKIDSS filter profiles. Monte Carlo simulations allow us to determine the best fit value of $\alpha$ and evaluate the uncertainty. All values are consistent with each other giving an average extinction power law of $\alpha$=2.14${}_{-0.05}^{+0.04}$. This is much steeper than most laws previously derived in the literature from colour excess ratios, which are typically between 1.6 and 1.8. We show that this discrepancy is due to an inappropriate choice of filter wavelength in conversion from colour excess ratios to $\alpha$ and that effective rather than isophotal wavelengths are more appropriate. In addition, curved reddening tracks, which depend on spectral type and filter system, should be used instead of straight vectors.

Accepted by MNRAS: 11/08/09. 13 pages, 10 figures, 2 tables

References in corpus (5)

• The UKIRT Infrared Deep Sky Survey (UKIDSS)
• The UKIDSS Galactic Plane Survey
• The WFCAM Science Archive
• The RMS Survey: ${}^{13}$CO observations of candidate massive YSOs in the northern Galactic plane
• Extinction techniques and impact on dust property determination

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