Abstract :

We present a map of the total intrinsic reddening across ≃ 90 deg² of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) derived using optical (ugriz) and near-infrared (IR; YJK_s) spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of background galaxies. The reddening map is created from a sample of 222,752 early-type galaxies based on the LEPHARE χ² minimization SED-fitting routine. We find excellent agreement between the regions of enhanced intrinsic reddening across the central (4 × 4 deg²) region of the LMC and the morphology of the low-level pervasive dust emission as traced by far-IR emission. In addition, we are able to distinguish smaller, isolated enhancements that are coincident with known star-forming regions and the clustering of young stars observed in morphology maps. The level of reddening associated with the molecular ridge south of 30 Doradus is, however, smaller than in the literature reddening maps. The reduced number of galaxies detected in this region, due to high extinction and crowding, may bias our results towards lower reddening values. Our map is consistent with maps derived from red clump stars and from the analysis of the star formation history across the LMC. This study represents one of the first large-scale categorisations of extragalactic sources behind the LMC and as such we provide the LEPHARE outputs for our full sample of ~ 2.5 million sources.

Publication : Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Advance Access
DOI : 10.1093/mnras/stac1545 
Bibcode : 2022MNRAS.tmp.1529B 
Keywords : Magellanic Clouds; galaxies: photometry; galaxies: ISM; surveys; dust; extinction; Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies