Dust Properties of Local Dust-Obscured Galaxies with the Submillimeter Array

TL;DR

This study uses SMA observations to analyze dust properties of local dust-obscured galaxies, revealing their dust masses, temperatures, and their similarity to other infrared luminous galaxies, suggesting they are not a distinct population.

Contribution

First detailed submillimeter dust property analysis of local DOGs, establishing their dust characteristics and relation to other infrared luminous galaxies.

Findings

Detected dust emission in two DOGs with S/N>5

Derived dust temperatures of 23-26 K and 60-124 K for cold and warm dust

Found dust properties of DOGs are similar to other infrared luminous galaxies

Abstract

We report Submillimeter Array (SMA) observations of the 880 \mu m dust continuum emission for four dust-obscured galaxies (DOGs) in the local universe. Two DOGs are clearly detected with S_\nu(880 \mu m)=10-13 mJy and S/N>5, but the other two are not detected with 3{\sigma} upper limits of S_\nu(880 \mu m)=5-9 mJy. Including an additional two local DOGs with submillimeter data from the literature, we determine the dust masses and temperatures for six local DOGs. The infrared luminosities and dust masses for these DOGs are in the range 1.2-4.9x10^{11} (L_sun) and 4-14x10^{7} (M_sun), respectively. The dust temperatures derived from a two-component modified blackbody function are 23-26 K and 60-124 K for the cold and warm dust components, respectively. Comparison of local DOGs with other infrared luminous galaxies with submillimeter detections shows that the dust temperatures and masses do not differ significantly among these objects. Thus, as argued previously, local DOGs are not a distinctive population among dusty galaxies, but simply represent the high-end tail of the dust obscuration distribution.