The spiral galaxy M33 mapped in the FIR by ISOPHOT: A spatially resolved study of the warm and cold dust

TL;DR

This study maps the spiral galaxy M33 in the far-infrared, revealing distinct warm and cold dust components associated with star-forming regions and the galaxy disk, and analyzing their relation to star formation and extinction.

Contribution

First spatially resolved FIR mapping of M33 separating spiral arms and interarm regions, analyzing dust temperature components and their relation to star formation and extinction.

Findings

Warm dust (~45K) concentrated in spiral arms and star-forming regions.

Cold dust (~16K) smoothly distributed over the disk.

FIR-derived SFR agrees with H-alpha estimates for the galaxy.

Abstract

The Sc galaxy M33 has been mapped with ISOPHOT in the far-infrared, at 60, 100, and 170mue. The spatial resolution of these FIR maps allows the separation of spiral arms and interarm regions and the isolation of a large number of star-forming regions. The spectral energy distribution in the FIR indicates a superposition of two components, a warm one originating from dust at ~45K, and a cold one, at ~16K. The warm component is concentrated towards the spiral arms and the star-forming regions, and is likely heated by the UV radiation from OB stars. The cold component is more smoothly distributed over the disk, and heated by the diffuse interstellar radiation. For the about 60 star-forming regions detected the H-alpha/FIR flux ratio increases significantly with the distance from the galaxy center, probably due to decreasing extinction. An anti-correlation of F_Ha/F_60 with F_170 suggests the intrinsic extinction to be related to the cold dust surface brightness according to A_V/S_170~0.03mag/MJy*sr. For the total galaxy the star formation rate (SFR) derived from the FIR is in agreement with that derived from the de-extincted H-alpha emission. For individual star-forming regions, a consistency between SFRs derived from the optical and from the FIR requires only a fraction of the UV radiation to be absorbed locally. The individual star-forming regions also show a local radio-FIR correlation. This local correlation is, however, due to quite different components than to those that lead to the well-known global radio-FIR correlation for entire galaxies.