We use the published photometry and spectroscopy of 22 galaxies in the Herschel Reference Survey to determine that the value of the dust mass absorption coefficient $\kappa_{ d}$ at a wavelength of 500 $\mu m$ is $\kappa_{ 500} = 0.051^{ +0.070}_{ -0.026}\,{ \rm m^{ 2}\,kg^{ -1}}$. We do so by taking advantage of the fact that the dust-to-metals ratio in the interstellar medium of galaxies appears to be constant. We argue that our value for $\kappa_{ d}$ supersedes that of James et al. (2002) -- who pioneered this approach for determining $\kappa_{ d}$ -- because we take advantage of superior data, and account for a number of significant systematic effects that they did not consider. We comprehensively incorporate all methodological and observational contributions to establish the uncertainty on our value, which represents a marked improvement on the oft-quoted 'order-of-magnitude' uncertainty on $\kappa_{ d}$. We find no evidence that the value of $\kappa_{ d}$ differs significantly between galaxies, or that it correlates with any other measured or derived galaxy properties. We note, however, that the availability of data limits our sample to relatively massive ($10^{ 9.7}<{ M_{ \star}}<10^{ 11.0}\ { \rm M_{ \odot}}$), high metallicity ($8.61<[12+{ \rm log}_{ 10}\frac{ O}{ H}]<8.86$) galaxies; future work will allow us to investigate a wider range of systems.
Categories: astro-ph.GA