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An extremely low gas-to-dust ratio in the dust-lane lenticular galaxy NGC 5485
Astrophysics of Galaxies · Submitted 27 Jul 2014
abstract compiled · 2026-09-23 · no language-model review
The authors' main claim The resulting gas-to-dust ratio upper limit is Mgas/Md < 14.5, almost an order of magnitude lower than the canonical value for the Milky Way.
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The abstract, sentence by sentence
Evidence is mounting that a significant fraction of the early-type galaxy population contains substantial reservoirs of cold interstellar gas and dust. We investigate the gas and dust in NGC 5485, an early-type galaxy with a prominent minor-axis dust lane. Using new Herschel PACS and SPIRE imaging data, we detect 3.8 x 10^6 Msun of cool interstellar dust in NGC 5485, which is in stark contrast with the non-detection of the galaxy in sensitive HI and CO observations from the ATLAS3D consortium. The resulting gas-to-dust ratio upper limit is Mgas/Md < 14.5, almost an order of magnitude lower than the canonical value for the Milky Way. We scrutinize the reliability of the dust, atomic gas and molecular gas mass estimates, but these do not show systematic uncertainties that can explain the extreme gas-to-dust ratio. Also a warm or hot ionized gas medium does not offer an explanation. A possible scenario could be that NGC 5485 merged with an SMC-type metal-poor galaxy with a substantial CO-dark molecular gas component and that the bulk of atomic gas was lost during the interaction, but it remains to be investigated whether such a scenario is possible.
background contribution method result interpretation main claim
| # | sentence | role | the authors' own work | states the main conclusion | strength |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| s0 | Evidence is mounting that a significant fraction of the early-type galaxy population contains substantial reservoirs of cold interstellar gas and dust. | background 1.00 | 0.05 | 0.03 | hedged possibility 0.51 |
| s1 | We investigate the gas and dust in NGC 5485, an early-type galaxy with a prominent minor-axis dust lane. | contribution 0.98 | 0.55 | 0.03 | asserted 0.91 |
| s2 | Using new Herschel PACS and SPIRE imaging data, we detect 3.8 x 10^6 Msun of cool interstellar dust in NGC 5485, which is in stark contrast with the non-detection of the galaxy in sensitive HI and CO observations from the ATLAS3D consortium. | result 0.97 | 0.96 | 0.23 | asserted 1.00 |
| s3 | The resulting gas-to-dust ratio upper limit is Mgas/Md < 14.5, almost an order of magnitude lower than the canonical value for the Milky Way. | result 1.00 | 0.94 | 0.79 | asserted 0.99 |
| s4 | We scrutinize the reliability of the dust, atomic gas and molecular gas mass estimates, but these do not show systematic uncertainties that can explain the extreme gas-to-dust ratio. | result 0.49 | 0.94 | 0.07 | asserted 1.00 |
| s5 | Also a warm or hot ionized gas medium does not offer an explanation. | interpretation 0.57 | 0.62 | 0.04 | asserted 1.00 |
| s6 | A possible scenario could be that NGC 5485 merged with an SMC-type metal-poor galaxy with a substantial CO-dark molecular gas component and that the bulk of atomic gas was lost during the interaction, but it remains to be investigated whether such a scenario is possible. | interpretation 0.91 | 0.11 | 0.07 | hedged possibility 0.93 |
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The paper
Original abstract
Evidence is mounting that a significant fraction of the early-type galaxy population contains substantial reservoirs of cold interstellar gas and dust. We investigate the gas and dust in NGC 5485, an early-type galaxy with a prominent minor-axis dust lane. Using new Herschel PACS and SPIRE imaging data, we detect 3.8 x 10^6 Msun of cool interstellar dust in NGC 5485, which is in stark contrast with the non-detection of the galaxy in sensitive HI and CO observations from the ATLAS3D consortium. The resulting gas-to-dust ratio upper limit is Mgas/Md < 14.5, almost an order of magnitude lower than the canonical value for the Milky Way. We scrutinize the reliability of the dust, atomic gas and molecular gas mass estimates, but these do not show systematic uncertainties that can explain the extreme gas-to-dust ratio. Also a warm or hot ionized gas medium does not offer an explanation. A possible scenario could be that NGC 5485 merged with an SMC-type metal-poor galaxy with a substantial CO-dark molecular gas component and that the bulk of atomic gas was lost during the interaction, but it remains to be investigated whether such a scenario is possible.
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