The Opacity of Galactic Disks at z~0.7

Abstract

We compare the surface brightness-inclination relation for a sample of COSMOS pure disk galaxies at z~0.7 with an artificially redshifted sample of SDSS disks well matched to the COSMOS sample in terms of rest-frame photometry and morphology, as well as their selection and analysis. The offset between the average surface brightness of face-on and edge-on disks in the redshifted SDSS sample matches that predicted by measurements of the optical depth of galactic disks in the nearby universe. In contrast, large disks at z~0.7 have a virtually flat surface brightness-inclination relation, suggesting that they are more opaque than their local counterparts. This could be explained by either an increased amount of optically thick material in disks at higher redshift, or a different spatial distribution of the dust.

7 pages, 3 figures. Accepted for publication in ApJL.

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Cited by in corpus (9)

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• Active and passive galaxies at z~2: Rest-frame optical morphologies with WFC3
• Modeling the connection between ultraviolet and infrared galaxy populations across cosmic times
• Probing star formation and ISM properties using galaxy disk inclination I: Evolution in disk opacity since $z\sim 0.7$
• On the Impact of Inclination-Dependent Attenuation on Derived Star Formation Histories: Results from Disk Galaxies in the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey Fields
• Detection of the 2175Å UV Bump at z>7: Evidence for Rapid Dust Evolution in a Merging Reionisation-Era Galaxy
• Probing star formation and ISM properties using galaxy disk inclination III: Evolution in dust opacity and clumpiness between redshift 0.0 < z < 0.7 constrained from UV to NIR
• The Impact of Inclination-dependent Attenuation on Ultraviolet Star Formation Rate Tracers
• The SAMI Galaxy Survey: The relationship between galaxy rotation and the motion of neighbours