The MOSDEF Survey: Implications of the Lack of Evolution in the Dust Attenuation-Mass Relation to z~2

Abstract

We investigate the relationship between dust attenuation and stellar mass ($M_{\ast }$) in star-forming galaxies over cosmic time. For this analysis, we compare measurements from the MOSFIRE Deep Evolution Field (MOSDEF) survey at $z\sim 2.3$ and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) at $z\sim 0$, augmenting the latter optical dataset with both UV Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) and mid-infrared Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) photometry from the GALEX-SDSS-WISE Catalog. We quantify dust attenuation using both spectroscopic measurements of H$\alpha$ and H$\beta$ emission lines, and photometric measurements of the rest-UV stellar continuum. The H$\alpha$/H$\beta$ ratio is used to determine the magnitude of attenuation at the wavelength of H$\alpha$, $A_{\mathrm{H}\alpha }$. Rest-UV colors and spectral-energy-distribution fitting are used to estimate $A_{1600}$, the magnitude of attenuation at a rest wavelength of 1600Å. As in previous work, we find a lack of significant evolution in the relation between dust attenuation and $M_{\ast }$ over the redshift range $z\sim 0$ to $z\sim 2.3$. Folding in the latest estimates of the evolution of $M_{\mathrm{dust}}$, $(M_{\mathrm{dust}}/M_{\mathrm{gas}})$, and gas surface density at fixed $M_{\ast }$, we find that the expected $M_{\mathrm{dust}}$ and dust mass surface density are both significantly higher at $z\sim 2.3$ than at $z\sim 0$. These differences appear at odds with the lack of evolution in dust attenuation. To explain the striking constancy in attenuation vs. $M_{\ast }$, it is essential to determine the relationship between metallicity and $(M_{\mathrm{dust}}/M_{\mathrm{gas}})$, the dust mass absorption coefficient, and dust geometry, and the evolution of these relations and quantities from $z\sim 0$ to $z\sim 2.3$.

arXiv comment14 pages, 4 figures, accepted to ApJ

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