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While the slope of the dust attenuation curve ($\delta$) is found tocorrelate with effective dust attenuation ($A_V$) as obtained through spectralenergy distribution (SED) fitting, it remains unknown how the fittingdegeneracies shape this relation. We examine the degeneracy effects by fittingSEDs of a sample of local star-forming galaxies (SFGs) selected from the GalaxyAnd Mass Assembly survey, in conjunction with mock galaxy SEDs of knownattenuation parameters. A well-designed declining starburst star formationhistory is adopted to generate model SED templates with intrinsic UV slope($\beta_0$) spanning over a reasonably wide range. The best-fitting $\beta_0$for our sample SFGs shows a wide coverage, dramatically differing from thelimited range of $\beta_0<-2.2$ for a starburst of constant star formation. Ourresults show that strong degeneracies between $\beta_0$, $\delta$, and $A_V$ inthe SED fitting induce systematic biases leading to a false $A_V$--$\delta$correlation. Our simulation tests reveal that this relationship can be wellreproduced even when a flat $A_V$--$\delta$ relation is taken to build theinput model galaxy SEDs. The variations in best-fitting $\delta$ are dominatedby the fitting errors. We show that assuming a starburst with constant starformation in SED fitting will result in a steeper attenuation curve, smallerdegeneracy errors, and a stronger $A_V$--$\delta$ relation. Our findingsconfirm that the $A_V$--$\delta$ relation obtained through SED fitting islikely driven by the systematic biases induced by the fitting degeneraciesbetween $\beta_0$, $\delta$, and $A_V$.

Systematic biases in determining dust attenuation curves through galaxy SED fitting