DustPedia and Local Volume Legacy samples as benchmarks for dust evolution in galaxies

DustPedia and Local Volume Legacy (LVL) are two samples representative of the local galaxy population, including in total ∼1000 unique objects of all morphological types, with a wide range of stellar masses and star formation activity, and a spectral coverage from the ultraviolet to the far-infrared. The purpose of this work is to show that these samples cover two complementary ranges in stellar mass and galaxy morphology, making them an ideal set for constraining the dominant processes in the evolution of the galactic dust content. Using the multi-wavelength data provided by the two surveys, we fitted the galaxies' spectral energy distribution and estimated their physical properties, in particular the stellar mass, M_*, the specific dust mass, sM_ =M_ /M_*, and the specific star formation rate, sSFR = SFR/M_*. dust dust By combining DustPedia and LVL, we highlight that the trend of log_ 10 (sM_ dust) with log_ 10 (M_*) is not monotonic. Thanks to a large number of objects across a wide range of M_*, we have been able to fit two smoothly joined linear correlations: a positive one for log_ 10 (M_ * /M_⊙) łesssim 9. 5 (a range populated mostly by LVL late spirals and irregulars), and a negative one for larger-mass, mainly DustPedia, spirals (with early-type galaxies being distinct and more dispersed in the same mass regime). For log_ 10 (M_ * /M_⊙) > 9. 5, we confirm a strong correlation between sM_̊m dust and sSFR; dwarf galaxies, instead, lie below this trend, showing a large scatter of sM_̊m dust for -10. 5< -1) <-9. 0. By using chemical evolution models we find that the observed log_ 10 (sM_ dust) --log_ 10 (M_ *) and log_ 10 (sM_ dust) -- trends can be interpreted mainly by variations in the initial gas mass budget and the galaxy ages, respectively. Low-mass Sm-Irr galaxies with low sM_ dust and a high sSFR can only be reproduced by the models by assuming a highly efficient photofragmentation rate of large grains, and/or low grain growth in clouds.