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GAMA/H-ATLAS: common star formation rate indicators and their dependence on galaxy physical parameters

Wang, L.; Norberg, P.; Gunawardhana, M.L.P.; Heinis, S.; Baldry, I.K.; Bland-Hawthorn, J.; Bourne, N.; Brough, S.; Brown, M.J.I.; Cluver, M.E.; Cooray, A.; da Cunha, E.; Driver, S.P.; Dunne, L.; Dye, S.; Eales, S.; Grootes, M.W.; Holwerda, B.W.; Hopkins, A.M.; Ibar, E.; Ivison, R.; Lacey, C.; Lara-Lopez, M.A.; Loveday, J.; Maddox, S.J.; Michałowski, M.J.; Oteo, I.; Owers, M.S.; Popescu, C.C.; Smith, D.J.B.; Taylor, E.N.; Tuffs, R.J.; van der Werf, P.

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Authors

L. Wang

M.L.P. Gunawardhana

S. Heinis

I.K. Baldry

J. Bland-Hawthorn

N. Bourne

S. Brough

M.J.I. Brown

M.E. Cluver

A. Cooray

E. da Cunha

S.P. Driver

L. Dunne

S. Dye

S. Eales

M.W. Grootes

B.W. Holwerda

A.M. Hopkins

E. Ibar

R. Ivison

M.A. Lara-Lopez

J. Loveday

S.J. Maddox

M.J. Michałowski

I. Oteo

M.S. Owers

C.C. Popescu

D.J.B. Smith

E.N. Taylor

R.J. Tuffs

P. van der Werf



Abstract

We compare common star formation rate (SFR) indicators in the local Universe in the Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA) equatorial fields (∼160 deg2), using ultraviolet (UV) photometry from GALEX, far-infrared and sub-millimetre (sub-mm) photometry from Herschel Astrophysical Terahertz Large Area Survey, and Hα spectroscopy from the GAMA survey. With a high-quality sample of 745 galaxies (median redshift 〈z〉 = 0.08), we consider three SFR tracers: UV luminosity corrected for dust attenuation using the UV spectral slope β (SFRUV, corr), Hα line luminosity corrected for dust using the Balmer decrement (BD) (SFRH α, corr), and the combination of UV and infrared (IR) emission (SFRUV + IR). We demonstrate that SFRUV, corr can be reconciled with the other two tracers after applying attenuation corrections by calibrating Infrared excess (IRX; i.e. the IR to UV luminosity ratio) and attenuation in the Hα (derived from BD) against β. However, β, on its own, is very unlikely to be a reliable attenuation indicator. We find that attenuation correction factors depend on parameters such as stellar mass (M*), z and dust temperature (Tdust), but not on Hα equivalent width or Sérsic index. Due to the large scatter in the IRX versus β correlation, when compared to SFRUV + IR, the β-corrected SFRUV, corr exhibits systematic deviations as a function of IRX, BD and Tdust.

Citation

Wang, L., Norberg, P., Gunawardhana, M., Heinis, S., Baldry, I., Bland-Hawthorn, J., …van der Werf, P. (2016). GAMA/H-ATLAS: common star formation rate indicators and their dependence on galaxy physical parameters. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 461(2), 1898-1916. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stw1450

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Jun 15, 2016
Online Publication Date Jun 20, 2016
Publication Date Sep 11, 2016
Deposit Date Sep 28, 2016
Publicly Available Date Mar 28, 2024
Journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Print ISSN 0035-8711
Electronic ISSN 1365-2966
Publisher Royal Astronomical Society
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 461
Issue 2
Pages 1898-1916
DOI https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stw1450

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Copyright Statement
This article has been published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society ©: 2016 The Authors Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.





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