The Calibration of Monochromatic Far-Infrared Star Formation Rate Indicators

Calzetti, D., Wu, S.-Y., Hong, S., Kennicutt, R. C., Lee, J. C., Dale, D. A., Engelbracht, C. W., van Zee, L., Draine, B. T., Hao, C.-N., Gordon, K. D., Moustakas, J., Murphy, E. J., Regan, M., Begum, A., Block, M., Dalcanton, J., Funes, J., Gil de Paz, A., Johnson, B., Sakai, S., Skillman, E., Walter, F., Weisz, D., Williams, B., & Wu, Y.
2010, The Astrophysical Journal, 714, 1256

Spitzer data at 24, 70, and 160 ЮМm and ground-based HЮБ images are analyzed for a sample of 189 nearby star-forming and starburst galaxies to investigate whether reliable star formation rate (SFR) indicators can be defined using the monochromatic infrared dust emission centered at 70 and 160 ЮМm. We compare recently published recipes for SFR measures using combinations of the 24 ЮМm and observed HЮБ luminosities with those using 24 ЮМm luminosity alone. From these comparisons, we derive a reference SFR indicator for use in our analysis. Linear correlations between SFR and the 70 ЮМm and 160 ЮМm luminosity are found for L(70) >~ 1.4 У? 1042 erg s-1 and L(160) >~ 2 У? 1042 erg s-1, corresponding to SFR >~ 0.1-0.3 M sun yr-1, and calibrations of SFRs based on L(70) and L(160) are proposed. Below those two luminosity limits, the relation between SFR and 70 ЮМm (160 ЮМm) luminosity is nonlinear and SFR calibrations become problematic. A more important limitation is the dispersion of the data around the mean trend, which increases for increasing wavelength. The scatter of the 70 ЮМm (160 ЮМm) data around the mean is about 25% (factor ~2) larger than the scatter of the 24 ЮМm data. We interpret this increasing dispersion as an effect of the increasing contribution to the infrared emission of dust heated by stellar populations not associated with the current star formation. Thus, the 70 (160) ЮМm luminosity can be reliably used to trace SFRs in large galaxy samples, but will be of limited utility for individual objects, with the exception of infrared-dominated galaxies. The nonlinear relation between SFR and the 70 and 160 ЮМm emission at faint galaxy luminosities suggests a variety of mechanisms affecting the infrared emission for decreasing luminosity, such as increasing transparency of the interstellar medium, decreasing effective dust temperature, and decreasing filling factor of star-forming regions across the galaxy. In all cases, the calibrations hold for galaxies with oxygen abundance higher than roughly 12 +log(O/H) ~ 8.1. At lower metallicity, the infrared luminosity no longer reliably traces the SFR because galaxies are less dusty and more transparent. Based on observations obtained with the Spitzer Space Telescope, which is operated by JPL, CalTech, under NASA Contract 1407.

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