SCUBA observations of galaxies with metallicity measurements: a new method for determining the relation between submillimetre luminosity and dust mass

Using a new technique, we have determined a value for the constant of proportionality between submillimetre emission and dust mass, the dust mass-absorption coefficient (kappa(d)) at 850 mum. Our method has an advantage over previous methods in that we avoid assumptions about the properties of dust in the interstellar medium. Our only assumption is that the fraction of metals incorporated in the dust (epsilon) in galaxies is a universal constant. To implement our method, we require objects that have submillimetre and far-infrared flux measurements as well as gas mass and metallicity estimates. We present data for all the galaxies with suitable measurements, including new submillimetre maps for five galaxies. We find kappa(850) = 0.07 +/- 0.02 m(2) kg(-1). We have also been able to use our sample to investigate our assumption that is a universal constant. We find no evidence that is different for dwarf and giant galaxies, and show that the scatter in from galaxy to galaxy is apparently quite small.