Differential attenuation in star-forming galaxies at 0.3 ≲ z ≲ 1.5 in the SHARDS/CANDELS field

We use a sample of 706 galaxies, selected as [O ii]λ3727 ([O ii]) emitters in the Survey for High-z Absorption Red and Dead Sources (SHARDS) on the CANDELS/GOODS-N field, to study the differential attenuation of the nebular emission with respect to the stellar continuum. The sample includes only galaxies with a counterpart in the infrared and log10(M∗/M⊙) > 9, over the redshift interval 0.3 ≲ z ≲ 1.5. Our methodology consists in the comparison of the star formation rates inferred from [O ii] and Hα emission lines with a robust quantification of the total star-forming activity (SFR TOT) that is independently estimated based on both infrared and ultraviolet (UV) luminosities. We obtain $f\, =\, E(B-V)_{\mathrm{stellar}}$/E(B - V)nebular = 0.69$^{0.71}_{0.69}$ and 0.55$^{0.56}_{0.53}$ for [O ii] and Hα, respectively. Our resulting f-factors display a significant positive correlation with the UV attenuation and shallower or not-significant trends with the stellar mass, the SFRTOT, the dist...