Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Jan 2012
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2012aas...21934605l&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #219, #346.05
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Scientific paper
We use the Brγ hydrogen recombination line as a reference star formation rate (SFR) to test the validity and calibration of the Herschel PACS 70, 100 and 160μm emission as a SFR indicator for HII regions in external galaxies. Brγ offers the double advantage of tracing ionizing photons directly, and being relatively insensitive to the effects of dust attenuation. For our first experiment, we use CFHT archival Brγ and Ks images of two Key Insights on Nearby Galaxies: a Far-Infrared Survey with Herschel (KINGFISH) galaxies: NGC5055 and NGC6946. We demonstrate the use of Brγ to establish the calibrations of SFR(70), SFR(100) and SFR(160) for HII regions in the two galaxies and compare the calibrations at different scales and at different wavelengths. We find that the use of combinations of the observed Hα and a fraction of each of the three far-infrared (FIR) bands applicable as a proxy of extinction corrected Hα Calibrations of FIR SFR indicators could also be established and the comparison of Calibration Coefficients (C) at different scales reveals more diffuse non-star-forming 70μm emission, as we probe star forming regions of smaller physical sizes and gives possibility on similar analysis done for 100 and 160μm with more data available. Although only crude numbers could be derived due to the limited quality of archive Brγ data, we demonstrate the power of using a consistent reference SFR indicator to calibrate the FIR SFR indicators and to analyze the calibrations at different scales and at different bands. We expect to have similar analysis, with detailed studies, done with better quality Brγ maps (observed or to be observed). The HII region luminosity functions, consistent with previous studies, using the Brγ emission line, are presented as well. This work has been supported by JPL KINGFISH grant.
Calzetti Daniela
Crocker Alison F.
Kennicutt Robert C.
KINGFISH Team
Li Yiming
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