Dust-Obscured Galaxies in the Local Universe
  We use Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE), AKARI, and Galaxy
Evolution Explorer (GALEX) data to select local analogs of high-redshift (z~2)
dust obscured galaxies (DOGs). We identify 47 local DOGs with S_{12\mu
m}/S_{0.22 \mu m}>892 and S_{12\mu m}>20 mJy at 0.05<z<0.08 in the Sloan
Digital Sky Survey data release 7. The infrared luminosities of these DOGs are
in the range 3.4x10^{10} (L_\odot)<L_{IR}<7.0x10^{11} (L_\odot) with a median
L_{IR} of 2.1x10^{11} (L_\odot). We compare the physical properties of local
DOGs with a control sample of galaxies that have lower $S_{12\mu m}/S_{0.22 \mu
m}$ but have similar redshift, IR luminosity, and stellar mass distributions.
Both WISE 12 micron and GALEX near-ultraviolet (NUV) flux densities of DOGs
differ from the control sample of galaxies, but the difference is much larger
in the NUV. Among the 47 DOGs, 36\pm7% have small axis ratios in the optical
(i.e., b/a<0.6), larger than the fraction among the control sample (17\pm3%).
There is no obvious sign of interaction for many local DOGs. No local DOGs have
companions with comparable optical magnitudes closer than ~50 kpc. The large-
and small-scale environments of DOGs are similar to the control sample. Many
physical properties of local DOGs are similar to those of high-z DOGs, even
though the IR luminosities of local objects are an order of magnitude lower
than for the high-z objects: the presence of two classes (active galactic
nuclei- and star formation-dominated) of DOGs, abnormal faintness in the UV
rather than extreme brightness in the mid-infrared, and diverse optical
morphology. These results suggest a common underlying physical origin of local
and high-z DOGs. Both seem to represent the high-end tail of the dust
obscuration distribution resulting from various physical mechanisms rather than
a unique phase of galaxy evolution.
