Quantifying dust and the ultraviolet radiation density in the local Universe

A sample of local galaxies for which far-infrared and ultraviolet fluxes are available is used to estimate the characteristic dust extinction in galaxies and to test whether standard dust properties are plausible. Assuming galaxies can be characterized by a single dust optical depth (certainly not valid for galaxies with a dominant starburst component), the infrared excess and ultraviolet colours of local galaxies are found to be consistent with normal Milky Way dust, with a mean value for E(B-V) of 0.16. A significant fraction of the dust heating is caused by older, lower-mass stars, and this fraction increases towards earlier galaxy types.

Analysis of (F_FIR/F_UV) versus ultraviolet colour diagrams for starburst galaxies in terms of a simple screen dust model does not support a Calzetti (1997) rather than a Milky Way extinction law, though the absence of the expected strong 2200-Å feature in several galaxies with IUE spectra does show that more detailed radiative transfer models are needed - probably with nonspherical geometry.

A simple treatment in which the 100/60-μm flux ratio is used to subtract the optically thick starburst contribution to the far-infrared radiation results in lower extinction estimates for the optically thin cirrus component, with a mean E(B-V) of 0.10.

The ultraviolet luminosity density, corrected for dust extinction, is derived and a value for the local mean star formation rate inferred. This is consistent with previous estimates from ultraviolet surveys and from Hα surveys.