Resolved Dust-Gas-Metallicity relations in nearby spiral galaxies
Abstract
Context: Understanding the interstellar medium (ISM) requires high-resolution, multi-component mapping to capture its complex physical structure. Nearby spiral galaxies, with their abundant and diverse ISM, provide an ideal laboratory for such a comprehensive analysis at sub-galactic scales. Aims: We investigate dust-to-gas (DGR) and dust-to-metal (DMR) ratios as a functions of gas-phase metallicity (Z), on spatial scales ranging from 0.6 to 2.3 kpc, in a sample of 10 nearby spiral galaxies, spanning more than an order of magnitude in stellar mass (9.7 \le \log(M_*/M_\odot) \leq 11.0), star formation rate (SFR, \sim 0.3--3 \, M_\odot \, \rm yr^{-1}) and metallicity ranging from 8.3 \lesssim 12 + \log( O/H) \lesssim 8.8. We explore how the DGR-Z and DMR-Z relations are shaped by the assumptions behind the CO-to-H_2 conversion factor (α_{CO}). Methods: We homogeneously combine maps of dust, atomic gas, molecular gas, and metallicity. Motivated by the diversity in L_{CO(1-0)}/SFR ratios and metallicity across our sample, we introduce a hybrid α_{CO} prescription to distinguish between CO-bright and CO-dark regimes. The derived DGR-Z and DMR-Z relations are compared with other global and resolved observational results, and with the predictions of dust and chemical evolution models. Results: Both DGR-Z and DMR-Z relations are dependent on the adopted α_{CO} prescription, and no single α_{CO} can reproduce the properties of the entire sample, motivating the use of a hybrid approach. The DGR increases with metallicity, spanning \sim 1 dex across the sampled range; while the DMR remains approximately constant at \log(\mathrm{DMR}) = -0.53 \pm 0.13, implying that \sim 30 \% of metals are locked into dust grains. This flat behavior indicates an evolved dust phase where efficient ISM grain growth drives a saturation regime balancing dust formation and destruction.
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BibTeX
@misc{tailor2026resolved,
title = {{Resolved Dust-Gas-Metallicity relations in nearby spiral galaxies}},
author = {Vidhi Tailor and Viviana Casasola and Francesco Calura and Francesca Pozzi and Jacopo Fritz and Maritza Lara-López and Marco Palla and Simone Bianchi and Santiago Álvarez-Córdoba and Matteo Bonato and María Emilia De Rossi and Sami Dib and Luis E. Garduño and Andrea Giannetti and Omar López Cruz and Marina M. Puebla and Evangelos D. Paspaliaris and Leonid S. Pilyugin and Guillermo Valé and Mabel Valerdi},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.04320},
eprint = {2609.04320},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.04320},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Resolved Dust-Gas-Metallicity relations in nearby spiral galaxies
AU - Vidhi Tailor
AU - Viviana Casasola
AU - Francesco Calura
AU - Francesca Pozzi
AU - Jacopo Fritz
AU - Maritza Lara-López
AU - Marco Palla
AU - Simone Bianchi
AU - Santiago Álvarez-Córdoba
AU - Matteo Bonato
AU - María Emilia De Rossi
AU - Sami Dib
AU - Luis E. Garduño
AU - Andrea Giannetti
AU - Omar López Cruz
AU - Marina M. Puebla
AU - Evangelos D. Paspaliaris
AU - Leonid S. Pilyugin
AU - Guillermo Valé
AU - Mabel Valerdi
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/21
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.04320
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.04320
AB - Context: Understanding the interstellar medium (ISM) requires high-resolution, multi-component mapping to capture its complex physical structure. Nearby spiral galaxies, with their abundant and diverse ISM, provide an ideal laboratory for such a comprehensive analysis at sub-galactic scales. Aims: We investigate dust-to-gas (DGR) and dust-to-metal (DMR) ratios as a functions of gas-phase metallicity (Z), on spatial scales ranging from 0.6 to 2.3 kpc, in a sample of 10 nearby spiral galaxies, spanning more than an order of magnitude in stellar mass (9.7 \le \log(M_*/M_\odot) \leq 11.0), star formation rate (SFR, \sim 0.3--3 \, M_\odot \, \rm yr^{-1}) and metallicity ranging from 8.3 \lesssim 12 + \log( O/H) \lesssim 8.8. We explore how the DGR-Z and DMR-Z relations are shaped by the assumptions behind the CO-to-H_2 conversion factor (α_{CO}). Methods: We homogeneously combine maps of dust, atomic gas, molecular gas, and metallicity. Motivated by the diversity in L_{CO(1-0)}/SFR ratios and metallicity across our sample, we introduce a hybrid α_{CO} prescription to distinguish between CO-bright and CO-dark regimes. The derived DGR-Z and DMR-Z relations are compared with other global and resolved observational results, and with the predictions of dust and chemical evolution models. Results: Both DGR-Z and DMR-Z relations are dependent on the adopted α_{CO} prescription, and no single α_{CO} can reproduce the properties of the entire sample, motivating the use of a hybrid approach. The DGR increases with metallicity, spanning \sim 1 dex across the sampled range; while the DMR remains approximately constant at \log(\mathrm{DMR}) = -0.53 \pm 0.13, implying that \sim 30 \% of metals are locked into dust grains. This flat behavior indicates an evolved dust phase where efficient ISM grain growth drives a saturation regime balancing dust formation and destruction.
ER -