The distribution of atomic gas and dust in nearby galaxies - III. Radial distributions and metallicity gradients
Abstract
The radial distribution of dust and gas in 38 nearby galaxies is investigated, using a sample of galaxies for which matched resolution (25 arcsec) neutral hydrogen (HI) and 850-μm images are available. Most of these radial profiles are fitted well by an exponential model, and the derived 850-μm scalelengths are proportional to the HI scalelengths. From this relation, it is found that the metallicity gradients of these galaxies are much shallower than previous studies, unless the dust temperature is constant within the disc, or a significant component of molecular gas exists at large radii that is not traced by CO observations.
- Publication:
-
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Pub Date:
- June 2004
- DOI:
- 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2004.07795.x
- Bibcode:
- 2004MNRAS.351..362T
- Keywords:
-
- galaxies: abundances;
- galaxies: ISM;
- galaxies: structure;
- radio lines: galaxies