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

L. Wang; P. Norberg; M. L. P. Gunawardhana; S. Heinis; I. K. Baldry; J. Bland-Hawthorn; N. Bourne; S. Brough; 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; C. Lacey; M. A. Lara-Lopez; J. Loveday; S. J. Maddox; M. J. Micha lowski; I. Oteo; M. S. Owers; C. C. Popescu; D. J. B. Smith; E. N. Taylor; R. J. Tuffs; P. van der Werf

doi:10.1093/mnras/stw1450

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

L. Wang, P. Norberg, M. L. P. Gunawardhana, S. Heinis, I. K. Baldry, J. Bland-Hawthorn, N. Bourne, S. Brough, 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. IvisonC. Lacey, M. A. Lara-Lopez, J. Loveday, S. J. Maddox, M. J. Micha lowski, I. Oteo, M. S. Owers, C. C. Popescu, D. J. B. Smith, E. N. Taylor, R. J. Tuffs, P. van der Werf

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

11 Citations (Scopus)

54 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

We compare common star-formation rate (SFR) indicators in the local Universe in the GAMA equatorial fields (around 160 sq. deg.), using ultraviolet (UV) photometry from GALEX, far-infrared (FIR) and sub-millimetre (sub-mm) photometry from H-ATLAS, and Halpha spectroscopy from the GAMA survey. With a high-quality sample of 745 galaxies (median redshift 0.08), we consider three SFR tracers: UV luminosity corrected for dust attenuation using the UV spectral slope beta (SFRUV,corr), Halpha line luminosity corrected for dust using the Balmer decrement (BD) (SFRHalpha,corr), and the combination of UV and IR emission (SFRUV+IR). We demonstrate that SFRUV,corr can be reconciled with the other two tracers after applying attenuation corrections by calibrating IRX (i.e. the IR to UV luminosity ratio) and attenuation in the Halpha (derived from BD) against beta. However, beta 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, z and dust temperature (Tdust), but not on Halpha equivalent width (EW) or Sersic index. Due to the large scatter in the IRX vs beta correlation, when compared to SFRUV+IR, the beta-corrected SFRUV,corr exhibits systematic deviations as a function of IRX, BD and Tdust.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1898-1916
Number of pages	19
Journal	Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Volume	461
Issue number	2
Early online date	20 Jun 2016
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stw1450
Publication status	Published - 11 Sept 2016

Keywords

astro-ph.GA
methods : statistical
Galaxies: photometry
galaxies: statistics
infrared: galaxies
ultraviolet: galaxies

Access to Document

10.1093/mnras/stw1450

stw1450Final published version, 3.38 MB

Cite this

Wang, L., Norberg, P., Gunawardhana, M. L. P., Heinis, S., Baldry, I. K., Bland-Hawthorn, J., Bourne, N., Brough, S., Cluver, M. E., Cooray, A., Cunha, E. D., Driver, S. P., Dunne, L., Dye, S., Eales, S., Grootes, M. W., Holwerda, B. W., Hopkins, A. M., Ibar, E., ... Werf, P. V. D. (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

@article{06f579e4bb444667a23557360fd401d9,

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

abstract = "We compare common star-formation rate (SFR) indicators in the local Universe in the GAMA equatorial fields (around 160 sq. deg.), using ultraviolet (UV) photometry from GALEX, far-infrared (FIR) and sub-millimetre (sub-mm) photometry from H-ATLAS, and Halpha spectroscopy from the GAMA survey. With a high-quality sample of 745 galaxies (median redshift 0.08), we consider three SFR tracers: UV luminosity corrected for dust attenuation using the UV spectral slope beta (SFRUV,corr), Halpha line luminosity corrected for dust using the Balmer decrement (BD) (SFRHalpha,corr), and the combination of UV and IR emission (SFRUV+IR). We demonstrate that SFRUV,corr can be reconciled with the other two tracers after applying attenuation corrections by calibrating IRX (i.e. the IR to UV luminosity ratio) and attenuation in the Halpha (derived from BD) against beta. However, beta 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, z and dust temperature (Tdust), but not on Halpha equivalent width (EW) or Sersic index. Due to the large scatter in the IRX vs beta correlation, when compared to SFRUV+IR, the beta-corrected SFRUV,corr exhibits systematic deviations as a function of IRX, BD and Tdust.",

keywords = "astro-ph.GA, methods : statistical, Galaxies: photometry, galaxies: statistics, infrared: galaxies, ultraviolet: galaxies",

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

note = "This article has been accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. {\textcopyright}: 2016 The Author(s). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. ",

year = "2016",

month = sep,

day = "11",

doi = "10.1093/mnras/stw1450",

language = "English",

volume = "461",

pages = "1898--1916",

journal = "Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society",

issn = "0035-8711",

publisher = "Oxford University Press (OUP)",

number = "2",

}

Wang, L, Norberg, P, Gunawardhana, MLP, Heinis, S, Baldry, IK, Bland-Hawthorn, J, Bourne, N, Brough, S, Cluver, ME, Cooray, A, Cunha, ED, Driver, SP, Dunne, L, Dye, S, Eales, S, Grootes, MW, Holwerda, BW, Hopkins, AM, Ibar, E, Ivison, R, Lacey, C, Lara-Lopez, MA, Loveday, J, Maddox, SJ, lowski, MJM, Oteo, I, Owers, MS, Popescu, CC, Smith, DJB, Taylor, EN, Tuffs, RJ & Werf, PVD 2016, 'GAMA/H-ATLAS: common star formation rate indicators and their dependence on galaxy physical parameters', Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, vol. 461, no. 2, pp. 1898-1916. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stw1450

TY - JOUR

T1 - GAMA/H-ATLAS: common star formation rate indicators and their dependence on galaxy physical parameters

AU - Wang, L.

AU - Norberg, P.

AU - Gunawardhana, M. L. P.

AU - Heinis, S.

AU - Baldry, I. K.

AU - Bland-Hawthorn, J.

AU - Bourne, N.

AU - Brough, S.

AU - Cluver, M. E.

AU - Cooray, A.

AU - Cunha, E. da

AU - Driver, S. P.

AU - Dunne, L.

AU - Dye, S.

AU - Eales, S.

AU - Grootes, M. W.

AU - Holwerda, B. W.

AU - Hopkins, A. M.

AU - Ibar, E.

AU - Ivison, R.

AU - Lacey, C.

AU - Lara-Lopez, M. A.

AU - Loveday, J.

AU - Maddox, S. J.

AU - lowski, M. J. Micha

AU - Oteo, I.

AU - Owers, M. S.

AU - Popescu, C. C.

AU - Smith, D. J. B.

AU - Taylor, E. N.

AU - Tuffs, R. J.

AU - Werf, P. van der

N1 - This article has been accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. ©: 2016 The Author(s). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society.

PY - 2016/9/11

Y1 - 2016/9/11

N2 - We compare common star-formation rate (SFR) indicators in the local Universe in the GAMA equatorial fields (around 160 sq. deg.), using ultraviolet (UV) photometry from GALEX, far-infrared (FIR) and sub-millimetre (sub-mm) photometry from H-ATLAS, and Halpha spectroscopy from the GAMA survey. With a high-quality sample of 745 galaxies (median redshift 0.08), we consider three SFR tracers: UV luminosity corrected for dust attenuation using the UV spectral slope beta (SFRUV,corr), Halpha line luminosity corrected for dust using the Balmer decrement (BD) (SFRHalpha,corr), and the combination of UV and IR emission (SFRUV+IR). We demonstrate that SFRUV,corr can be reconciled with the other two tracers after applying attenuation corrections by calibrating IRX (i.e. the IR to UV luminosity ratio) and attenuation in the Halpha (derived from BD) against beta. However, beta 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, z and dust temperature (Tdust), but not on Halpha equivalent width (EW) or Sersic index. Due to the large scatter in the IRX vs beta correlation, when compared to SFRUV+IR, the beta-corrected SFRUV,corr exhibits systematic deviations as a function of IRX, BD and Tdust.

AB - We compare common star-formation rate (SFR) indicators in the local Universe in the GAMA equatorial fields (around 160 sq. deg.), using ultraviolet (UV) photometry from GALEX, far-infrared (FIR) and sub-millimetre (sub-mm) photometry from H-ATLAS, and Halpha spectroscopy from the GAMA survey. With a high-quality sample of 745 galaxies (median redshift 0.08), we consider three SFR tracers: UV luminosity corrected for dust attenuation using the UV spectral slope beta (SFRUV,corr), Halpha line luminosity corrected for dust using the Balmer decrement (BD) (SFRHalpha,corr), and the combination of UV and IR emission (SFRUV+IR). We demonstrate that SFRUV,corr can be reconciled with the other two tracers after applying attenuation corrections by calibrating IRX (i.e. the IR to UV luminosity ratio) and attenuation in the Halpha (derived from BD) against beta. However, beta 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, z and dust temperature (Tdust), but not on Halpha equivalent width (EW) or Sersic index. Due to the large scatter in the IRX vs beta correlation, when compared to SFRUV+IR, the beta-corrected SFRUV,corr exhibits systematic deviations as a function of IRX, BD and Tdust.

KW - astro-ph.GA

KW - methods : statistical

KW - Galaxies: photometry

KW - galaxies: statistics

KW - infrared: galaxies

KW - ultraviolet: galaxies

U2 - 10.1093/mnras/stw1450

DO - 10.1093/mnras/stw1450

M3 - Article

SN - 0035-8711

VL - 461

SP - 1898

EP - 1916

JO - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

JF - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

IS - 2

ER -

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

Abstract

Keywords

Access to Document

Fingerprint

Cite this