Systematic biases in determining dust attenuation curves through galaxy SED fitting

While the slope of the dust attenuation curve ($δ$) is found to correlate with effective dust attenuation ($A_V$) as obtained through spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting, it remains unknown how the fitting degeneracies shape this relation. We examine the degeneracy effects by fitting SEDs of a sample of local star-forming galaxies (SFGs) selected from the Galaxy And Mass Assembly survey, in conjunction with mock galaxy SEDs of known attenuation parameters. A well-designed declining starburst star formation history is adopted to generate model SED templates with intrinsic UV slope ($β_0$) spanning over a reasonably wide range. The best-fitting $β_0$ for our sample SFGs shows a wide coverage, dramatically differing from the limited range of $β_0<-2.2$ for a starburst of constant star formation. Our results show that strong degeneracies between $β_0$, $δ$, and $A_V$ in the SED fitting induce systematic biases leading to a false $A_V$--$δ$ correlation. Our simulation tests reveal that this relationship can be well reproduced even when a flat $A_V$--$δ$ relation is taken to build the input model galaxy SEDs. The variations in best-fitting $δ$ are dominated by the fitting errors. We show that assuming a starburst with constant star formation in SED fitting will result in a steeper attenuation curve, smaller degeneracy errors, and a stronger $A_V$--$δ$ relation. Our findings confirm that the $A_V$--$δ$ relation obtained through SED fitting is likely driven by the systematic biases induced by the fitting degeneracies between $β_0$, $δ$, and $A_V$.

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