Remarkable analytic relations among greybody parameters

Abstract

In this paper we derive and discuss several implications of the analytic form of a modified blackbody, also called greybody, which is widely used in Astrophysics, and in particular in the study of star formation in the far-infrared/submillimetre domain. The research in this area has been greatly improved thanks to recent observations taken with the Herschel satellite, so that it became important to clarify the sense of the greybody approximation, to suggest possible further uses, and to delimit its intervals of validity. First, we discuss the position of the greybody peak, making difference between the optically thin and thick regimes. Second, we analyse the behaviour of bolometric quantities as a function of the different greybody parameters. The ratio between the bolometric luminosity and the mass of a source, the ratio between the so-called `submillimetre luminosity' and the bolometric one, and the bolometric temperature are observables used to characterize the evolutionary stage of a source, and it is of primary importance to have analytic equations describing the dependence of such quantities on the greybody parameters. Here we discuss all these aspects, providing analytic relations, illustrating particular cases, and providing graphical examples. Some equations reported here are well known in Astrophysics, but are often spread over different publications. Some of them, instead, are brand new and represent a novelty in Astrophysics literature. Finally, we indicate an alternative way to obtain, under some conditions, the greybody temperature and dust emissivity index directly from an observing spectral energy distribution, avoiding a best-fitting procedure.