Verifying reddening and extinction for Gaia DR1 TGAS giants

TL;DR

This study assesses the accuracy of reddening and extinction estimates for Gaia DR1 giants within 415 pc by comparing observational data with theoretical models, highlighting systematic errors and limitations of emission-based reddening maps.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive comparison of various reddening/extinction estimates with theoretical models, identifying their limitations and proposing the Gontcharov 3D map as the most reliable.

Findings

Emission-based 2D reddening maps are unreliable within 415 pc due to dust complexity.

All tested 2D and 3D reddening maps underestimate reddening at high Galactic latitudes if Galaxy parameters are reliable.

Gontcharov's 3D reddening map offers the best fit to empirical and theoretical data.

Abstract

Gaia DR1 Tycho-Gaia Astrometric Solution parallaxes, Tycho-2 photometry and reddening/extinction estimates from nine data sources for 38074 giants within 415 pc from the Sun are used to compare their position in the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram with theoretical estimates, which are based on the PARSEC and MIST isochrones and the TRILEGAL model of the Galaxy with its parameters being widely varied. We conclude that (1) some systematic errors of the reddening/extinction estimates are the main uncertainty in this study; (2) any emission-based 2D reddening map cannot give reliable estimates of reddening within 415 pc due to a complex distribution of dust; (3) if a TRILEGAL's set of the parameters of the Galaxy is reliable and if the solar metallicity is Z<0.021, then the reddening at high Galactic latitudes behind the dust layer is underestimated by all 2D reddening maps based on the dust emission observations of IRAS, COBE, and Planck and by their 3D followers (we also discuss some explanations of this underestimation); 4) the reddening/extinction estimates from recent 3D reddening map by Gontcharov, including the median reddening E(B-V)=0.06 mag at |b|>50 deg, give the best fit of the empirical and theoretical data with each other.