Work

The Effect of Noise on the Dust Temperature- Spectral Index Correlation

Year: 2009

Type: article

Abstract: We investigate how uncertainties in flux measurements affect the results from modified blackbody SED fits. We show that an inverse correlation between the dust temperature T and spectral index β naturally arises from least squares fits due to the uncertainties, even for sources with a single T and β. Fitting SEDs to noisy fluxes solely in the Rayleigh-Jeans regime produces unreliable T and β estimates. Thus, for long wavelength observations (λ> ∼ 200 µm), or for warm sources (T> ∼ 60 K), it becomes difficult to distinguish sources with different temperatures. We assess the role of noise in recent observational results that indicate an inverse and continuously varying T − β relation. Though an inverse and continuous T −β correlation may be a physical property of dust in the ISM, we find that the observed inverse correlation may be primarily due to noise. Subject headings: dust- infrared:ISM- methods:miscellaneous 1.

Source: Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard (DASH) (Harvard University)

Authors: Rahul Shetty, Jens Kauffmann, Scott Schnee, Alyssa A. Goodman

Institutions: Harvard University, Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithsonian, California Institute of Technology

Language: English

Topic: Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies

Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics

Field: Physics and Astronomy

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: green

OpenAlex ID: W3099491677

FWCI: 4.134

Cites: 14

Cited by: 148

Related to: 8