posted on 2024-08-06, 11:09authored byMichael J. I. Brown, John Moustakas, Robert C. Kennicutt, Nicolas J. Bonne, Huib T. Intema, Francesco de Gasperin, Mederic Boquien, T. H. Jarrett, Michelle CluverMichelle Cluver, J.-D. T. Smith, Elisabete Lima Da Cunha, Masatoshi Imanishi, Lee Armus, Bernhard R. Brandl, J. E. G. Peek
We present calibrations for star formation rate (SFR) indicators in the ultraviolet, mid-infrared, and radio-continuum bands, including one of the first direct calibrations of 150 MHz as an SFR indicator. Our calibrations utilize 66 nearby star-forming galaxies with Balmer-decrement-corrected H alpha luminosities, which span five orders of magnitude in SFR and have absolute magnitudes of -24 < M-r < -12. Most of our photometry and spectrophotometry are measured from the same region of each galaxy, and our spectrophotometry has been validated with SDSS photometry, so our random and systematic errors are small relative to the intrinsic scatter seen in SFR indicator calibrations. We find that the Wide-field Infrared Space Explorer W4 (22.8 mu m), Spitzer. 24 mu m, and 1.4 GHz bands have tight correlations with the Balmer-decrement-corrected Ha luminosity, with a scatter of only 0.2 dex. Our calibrations are comparable to those from the prior literature for L* galaxies, but for dwarf galaxies, our calibrations can give SFRs that are far greater than those derived from most previous literature.
Funding
The growth of galaxies: connecting stars, gas and dark matter