SDSS+JWST Census of Stellar and Nebular Dust Attenuation at $z \sim 0$-7: Mass Dependence and Redshift Evolution

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Hauptverfasser: Song, Jie, Ouchi, Masami, Kiyota, Tomokazu, Zhu, Chenghao, Kong, Xu, Nakazato, Yurina
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2026
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author Song, Jie
Ouchi, Masami
Kiyota, Tomokazu
Zhu, Chenghao
Kong, Xu
Nakazato, Yurina
author_facet Song, Jie
Ouchi, Masami
Kiyota, Tomokazu
Zhu, Chenghao
Kong, Xu
Nakazato, Yurina
contents We present the demography of dust attenuation, including its mass dependence and redshift evolution, using spectroscopic samples of 34,182 SDSS galaxies at $z\sim0.1$ and 863 JWST/JADES galaxies at $z\sim1.5$--$7$. We find that, on average, ${\rm Hα}/{\rm Hβ}$ ratios are comparable to the Case B recombination value at $M_\ast \lesssim 10^9 M_\odot$, and increase beyond $M_\ast \sim 10^9 M_\odot$ both at $z\sim0.1$ and $1.5$--$7$. We derive the nebular attenuation $A_{\rm V, nebular}$ from Balmer decrements and the stellar attenuation $A_{\rm V, stellar}$ from rest-frame UV--optical spectra with supplementary \textit{GALEX} data, via comparisons with stellar-population models and multiple attenuation curves in a consistent manner across cosmic time. We find no significant redshift evolution of $A_{\rm V, nebular}$ and $A_{\rm V, stellar}$ at fixed $M_\ast$ over $z\sim0$--$7$, forming a universal extinction relation, and both rise from $0.2$--$0.4$ at $M_\ast \lesssim 10^9 M_\odot$ to $\sim1$ at $M_\ast \sim 10^{11} M_\odot$. Interestingly, at $M_\ast \gtrsim 10^9 M_\odot$, $A_{\rm V, nebular}$ rises more steeply than $A_{\rm V, stellar}$. This correlation holds within an uncertainty of $\sim\pm0.2$ for various combinations of attenuation curves (Calzetti, SMC, and Milky Way). These results indicate that $M_\ast \sim 10^9 M_\odot$ is a transition mass in dust attenuation, whose low-mass behavior reflects dust widely distributed by feedbacks. These mass-dependent extinction results address the long-standing issue of appropriate choice of the stellar-to-nebular color excess ratio, $f\equiv E(B-V)_{\rm stellar}/E(B-V)_{\rm nebular}=1.0$ or $0.44$, and suggest that galaxy $M_\ast$ determines $f$ from $\sim1.0$ to $\sim0.44$ across low- to high-mass galaxies.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2605_23049
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle SDSS+JWST Census of Stellar and Nebular Dust Attenuation at $z \sim 0$-7: Mass Dependence and Redshift Evolution
Song, Jie
Ouchi, Masami
Kiyota, Tomokazu
Zhu, Chenghao
Kong, Xu
Nakazato, Yurina
Astrophysics of Galaxies
We present the demography of dust attenuation, including its mass dependence and redshift evolution, using spectroscopic samples of 34,182 SDSS galaxies at $z\sim0.1$ and 863 JWST/JADES galaxies at $z\sim1.5$--$7$. We find that, on average, ${\rm Hα}/{\rm Hβ}$ ratios are comparable to the Case B recombination value at $M_\ast \lesssim 10^9 M_\odot$, and increase beyond $M_\ast \sim 10^9 M_\odot$ both at $z\sim0.1$ and $1.5$--$7$. We derive the nebular attenuation $A_{\rm V, nebular}$ from Balmer decrements and the stellar attenuation $A_{\rm V, stellar}$ from rest-frame UV--optical spectra with supplementary \textit{GALEX} data, via comparisons with stellar-population models and multiple attenuation curves in a consistent manner across cosmic time. We find no significant redshift evolution of $A_{\rm V, nebular}$ and $A_{\rm V, stellar}$ at fixed $M_\ast$ over $z\sim0$--$7$, forming a universal extinction relation, and both rise from $0.2$--$0.4$ at $M_\ast \lesssim 10^9 M_\odot$ to $\sim1$ at $M_\ast \sim 10^{11} M_\odot$. Interestingly, at $M_\ast \gtrsim 10^9 M_\odot$, $A_{\rm V, nebular}$ rises more steeply than $A_{\rm V, stellar}$. This correlation holds within an uncertainty of $\sim\pm0.2$ for various combinations of attenuation curves (Calzetti, SMC, and Milky Way). These results indicate that $M_\ast \sim 10^9 M_\odot$ is a transition mass in dust attenuation, whose low-mass behavior reflects dust widely distributed by feedbacks. These mass-dependent extinction results address the long-standing issue of appropriate choice of the stellar-to-nebular color excess ratio, $f\equiv E(B-V)_{\rm stellar}/E(B-V)_{\rm nebular}=1.0$ or $0.44$, and suggest that galaxy $M_\ast$ determines $f$ from $\sim1.0$ to $\sim0.44$ across low- to high-mass galaxies.
title SDSS+JWST Census of Stellar and Nebular Dust Attenuation at $z \sim 0$-7: Mass Dependence and Redshift Evolution
topic Astrophysics of Galaxies
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.23049