KINGFISH galaxy sample radial profile SED

In order to characterize dust properties in galaxies over a wide range of physical conditions, we present here the radial surface brightness profiles of the entire sample of 61 galaxies from Key Insights into Nearby Galaxies: Far-Infrared Survey with Herschel (KINGFISH). The main goal of our work is the characterization of the grain emissivities, dust temperatures, and interstellar radiation fields responsible for heating the dust.

After fitting the dust and stellar radial profiles with exponential functions, we fit the far-infrared spectral energy distribution (SED) in each annular region with single-temperature modified black bodies using both variable (MBBV) and fixed (MBBF) emissivity indices {beta}, as well as with physically motivated dust models. Results show that while most SED parameters decrease with radius, the emissivity index {beta} also decreases with radius in some galaxies, but in others is increasing, or rising in the inner regions and falling in the outer ones.