DUST-CORRECTED STAR FORMATION RATES OF GALAXIES. I. COMBINATIONS OF Hα AND INFRARED TRACERS
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We combine Hα emission-line and infrared (IR) continuum measurements of two samples of nearby galaxies to derive dust attenuation-corrected star formation rates (SFRs). We use a simple energy balance based method that has been applied previously to H ii regions in the Spitzer Infrared Nearby Galaxies Survey, and extend the methodology to integrated measurements of galaxies. We find that our composite Hα + IR based SFRs are in excellent agreement with attenuation-corrected SFRs derived from integrated spectrophotometry, over the full range of SFRs (0.01–80 M ☉ yr −1 ) and attenuations (0–2.5 mag) studied. We find that the combination of Hα and total IR luminosities provides the most robust SFR measurements, but combinations of Hα measurements with monochromatic luminosities at 24 μm and 8 μm perform nearly as well. The calibrations differ significantly from those obtained for H ii regions, with the difference attributable to a more evolved population of stars heating the dust. Our results are consistent with a significant component of diffuse dust (the "IR cirrus" component) that is heated by a non-star-forming population. The same methodology can be applied to [O ii ]λ3727 emission-line measurements, and the radio continuum fluxes of galaxies can be applied in place of IR fluxes when the latter are not available. We assess the precision and systematic reliability of all of these composite methods.
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Integrated-luminosity tracers infer instantaneous SFRs from the luminosity of short-lived massive stars and dust re-radiation, implicitly assuming a steady SFH and a fixed dust geometry.
“while other tracers infer instantaneous SFRs from the luminosity of short-lived massive stars and dust re-radiation, implicitly assuming a steady SFH and a fixed dust geometry”
From The Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Southern Treasury (PHAST). II. The Spatially Resolved Recent Star Formation History in M31 (2026) · cites this paper as Kennicutt et al. 2009
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Starburst99: Synthesis Models for Galaxies with Active Star Formation
Leitherer, C., Schaerer, D., Goldader, J. D., Delgado, R. M. G., Robert, C., Kune, D. F., de Mello, D. F., Devost, D., & Heckman, T. M. (1999) · The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series · doi:10.1086/313233 · Cited by 4,126 · see citing works
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Star Formation in the Milky Way and Nearby Galaxies
Kennicutt, R. C., & Evans, N. J. (2012) · Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics · doi:10.1146/annurev-astro-081811-125610 · Cited by 2,902 · see citing works
“An illustration of the effectiveness of the method is shown in Figure 3, taken from Kennicutt et al. (2009).”
BackgroundMethodInfluentialSelf-citationESTIMATING THE STAR FORMATION RATE AT 1 kpc SCALES IN NEARBY GALAXIES
Leroy, A. K., Bigiel, F., de Blok, W. J. G., Boissier, S., Bolatto, A., Brinks, E., Madore, B., Munoz-Mateos, J.-C., Murphy, E., Sandstrom, K., et al. (2012) · The Astronomical Journal · doi:10.1088/0004-6256/144/1/3 · Cited by 203 · see citing works
“Note that the Calzetti et al. (2010) results are partially anchored to the Kennicutt et al. (2009) results, which we consider somewhat uncertain for these targets.”
BackgroundMethodResultInfluentialViaene, S., Baes, M., Tamm, A., Tempel, E., Bendo, G., Blommaert, J. A. D. L., Boquien, M., Boselli, A., Camps, P., Cooray, A., et al. (2017) · Astronomy & Astrophysics · doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201629251 · Cited by 79 · see citing works
Self-citationCALIBRATING UV STAR FORMATION RATES FOR DWARF GALAXIES FROM STARBIRDS
McQuinn, K. B. W., Skillman, E. D., Dolphin, A. E., & Mitchell, N. P. (2015) · The Astrophysical Journal · doi:10.1088/0004-637x/808/2/109 · Cited by 48 · see citing works
Lewis, A. R., Simones, J. E., Johnson, B. D., Dalcanton, J. J., Skillman, E. D., Weisz, D. R., Dolphin, A. E., Williams, B. F., Bell, E. F., Fouesneau, M., et al. (2017) · The Astrophysical Journal · doi:10.3847/1538-4357/834/1/70 · Cited by 16 · see citing works
Self-citationWainer, T. M., Williams, B. F., Chen, Z., Lazzarini, M., Dalcanton, J. J., Bell, E. F., Goold, K., Dolphin, A., Durbin, M. J., Dubón, S. L. F., et al. (2026) · The Astrophysical Journal · doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ae6db9
- Authors
- Kennicutt, R. C., Hao, C.-N., Calzetti, D., Moustakas, J., Dale, D. A., Bendo, G., Engelbracht, C. W., Johnson, B. D., & Lee, J. C.
- Affiliations
- University of Arizona (US)
- University of Cambridge (GB)
- University of Massachusetts Amherst (US)
- University of California San Diego (US)
- University of Wyoming (US)
- Imperial College London (GB)
- Carnegie Observatories (US)
- ORCID
- Venue
- The Astrophysical Journal
- Publisher
- American Astronomical Society
- Published
- 2009-09-12
- Volume
- 703
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 1672-1695
- ISSN
- 0004-637X (ISSN-L)
- 1538-4357
- OpenAlex
- W2090135680
- Cited by
- 604
- References
- 1
- Citations by year
- 2026: 14 · 2025: 16 · 2024: 22 · 2023: 25 · 2022: 30 · 2021: 23 · 2020: 29 · 2019: 35 · 2018: 35 · 2017: 43 · 2016: 35 · 2015: 49 · 2014: 46 · 2013: 50 · 2012: 57
- FWCI
- 25.54
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- The Astrophysical Journal (publishedVersion)
- arXiv (Cornell University) (submittedVersion)
- ScholarWorks@UMassAmherst (University of Massachusetts Amherst) (submittedVersion)
- arXiv (Cornell University)
- Funders
- Science and Technology Facilities Council (PP/E00105X/1)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies
- Keywords
- star formation rate, H-alpha emission, infrared continuum, energy balance method, total infrared luminosity, 24 micron emission, 8 micron emission, radio continuum emission, nearby galaxies, SFR calibration
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