Dust Attenuation in High Redshift Galaxies -- 'Diamonds in the Sky'

Abstract

We use observed optical to near infrared spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of 266 galaxies in the COSMOS survey to derive the wavelength dependence of the dust attenuation at high redshift. All of the galaxies have spectroscopic redshifts in the range z = 2 to 6.5. The presence of the CIV absorption feature, indicating that the rest-frame UV-optical SED is dominated by OB stars, is used to select objects for which the intrinsic, unattenuated spectrum has a well-established shape. Comparison of this intrinsic spectrum with the observed broadband photometric SED then permits derivation of the wavelength dependence of the dust attenuation. The derived dust attenuation curve is similar in overall shape to the Calzetti curve for local starburst galaxies. We also see the 2175 Å~bump feature which is present in the Milky Way and LMC extinction curves but not seen in the Calzetti curve. The bump feature is commonly attributed to graphite or PAHs. No significant dependence is seen with redshift between sub-samples at z = 2 - 4 and z = 4 - 6.5. The 'extinction' curve obtained here provides a firm basis for color and extinction corrections of high redshift galaxy photometry.

accepted ApJ

References in corpus (3)

• COSMOS Photometric Redshifts with 30-bands for 2-deg2
• UltraVISTA: a new ultra-deep near-infrared survey in COSMOS
• Star Formation at $4<z<6$ From the Spitzer Large Area Survey with Hyper-Suprime-Cam (SPLASH)

Cited by in corpus (8)

• The Star Formation Main Sequence in the Hubble Space Telescope Frontier Fields
• The MOSDEF Survey: the Variation of the Dust Attenuation Curve with Metallicity
• Are high redshift Galaxies hot? - Temperature of z > 5 Galaxies and Implications on their Dust Properties
• Exploring HeII$\lambda$1640 emission line properties at $z\sim 2-4$
• The Strength of the 2175Å Feature in the Attenuation Curves of Galaxies at 0.1<z<3
• Characterizing Dust Attenuation in Local Star Forming Galaxies: Inclination Effects and the 2175Å Feature
• A controlled study of cold dust content in galaxies from $z=0-2$
• The Intergalactic medium transmission towards z>4 galaxies with VANDELS and the impact of dust attenuation