Predicting Resolved Dust Attenuation from Local Galaxy Properties Using MaNGA

Anilkumar Mailvaganam; Tayyaba Zafar; Pablo Corcho-Caballero; Tamal Mukherjee; Jahang Prathap; Kyle B. Westfall; Kevin Bundy

doi:10.1017/pasa.2026.10147

paper

Predicting Resolved Dust Attenuation from Local Galaxy Properties Using MaNGA

arXiv:2602.23767 · doi:10.1017/pasa.2026.10147

Abstract

Accurate spatially resolved dust corrections are critical for interpreting the structure and evolution of star-forming galaxies (SFGs). We present an empirical model for predicting spatially resolved dust attenuation ( $A_{V}$ ) in SFGs using integral field spectroscopy from the Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory (MaNGA) survey. Using a sample of 5,155 galaxies over $7.20 < M_{*} < 11.14$ and $0.0002 < z < 0.1444$ , we derive $A_{V}$ maps from the Balmer decrement across more than 1,898,954 star-forming spaxels. Using local star formation rate surface density ( $Σ_{SFR}$ ) as a predictor, the model achieves $R^{2} = 0.69$ and RMSE $= 0.22$ mag, with residuals that are approximately Gaussian and centred near zero. It predicts $A_{V}$ within a factor of $\sim$ 1.3 on kpc scales. We also demonstrate that the relation can be applied iteratively to recover dust-corrected $Σ_{SFR}$ from uncorrected values, converging by the fourth iteration with minimal residual bias ( $- 0.01$ mag) and low RMSE ( $0.42$ mag). The model accurately reproduces $A_{V}$ maps across diverse morphologies and orientations, including edge-on systems. It also recovers the observed radial $A_{V}$ profiles, capturing their dependence on stellar mass and relative star formation activity, with more massive and more strongly star-forming galaxies showing steeper gradients.

Accepted for Publication

Predicting Resolved Dust Attenuation from Local Galaxy Properties Using MaNGA

Abstract

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