Balmer Decrement and IRX Break in Tracing Dust Attenuation at Scales of Individual Star-forming Regions in NGC 628

Abstract

We investigate the relationships between infrared excess (IRX=$L_{\rm IR}/L_{\rm UV}$) and Balmer decrement (${\rm H}\alpha/{\rm H}\beta$) as indicators of dust attenuation for 609 ${\rm {H\,{\small II}}}$ regions at scales of $\sim 50-200$ pc in NGC 628, utilizing data from AstroSat, James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE). Our findings indicate that about three fifths of the sample ${\rm {H\,{\small II}}}$ regions reside within the regime occupied by local star-forming galaxies (SFGs) along the dust attenuation correlation described by their corresponding color excess parameters $E(B-V)_{\rm IRX} = 0.51\,E(B-V)_{{\rm H}\alpha/{\rm H}\beta}$. Nearly 27$\%$ of the sample exhibits $E(B-V)_{\rm IRX}> E(B-V)_{{\rm H}\alpha/{\rm H}\beta}$, while a small fraction ($\sim 13\%$) displays significantly lower $E(B-V)_{\rm IRX}$ compared to $E(B-V)_{{\rm H}\alpha/{\rm H}\beta}$. These results suggest that the correlation between the two dust attenuation indicators no longer holds for spatially resolved ${\rm {H\,{\small II}}}$ regions. Furthermore, the ratio of $E(B-V)_{\rm IRX}$ to $E(B-V)_{{\rm H}\alpha/{\rm H}\beta}$ remains unaffected by various physical parameters of the ${\rm {H\,{\small II}}}$ regions, including star formation rate (SFR), SFR surface density, infrared luminosity ($L_{\rm IR}$), $L_{\rm IR}$ surface density, stellar mass, gas-phase metallicity, circularized radius, and the distance to galactic center. We argue that the ratio is primarily influenced by the evolution of surrounding interstellar medium (ISM) of the star-forming regions, transitioning from an early dense and thick phase to the late blown-away stage.