No Arabic abstract
We present evolutionary synthesis models of starbursts on top of old stellar populations to investigate in detailed time evolution the relation between Ha luminosity and star formation rate (SFR). The models show that several effects have an impact on the ratio between L(Ha) and SFR. Metallicity different from solar abundance, a time delay between star formation and maximum Ha-luminosity, and a varying stellar initial mass function give rise to strong variations in the ratio of Ha luminosity to SFR and can cause large errors in the determination of the SFR when employing well-known calibrations. When studying star-bursting dwarf galaxies, and sub-galactic fragments at high redshift, which show SFR fluctuating on short timescales, these effects can add up to errors of two orders of magnitude compared with the calibrations. To accurately determine the true current SFR additional data in combination with models for the spectral energy distribution are needed.
We have used the Spitzer Space Telescope to study the dust properties of a sample of star-forming dwarf galaxies. The differences in the mid-infrared spectral energy distributions for these galaxies which, in general, are low metallicity systems, indicate differences in the physical properties, heating, and/or distribution of the dust. Specifically, these galaxies have more hot dust and/or very small grains and less PAH emission than either spiral or higher luminosity starburst galaxies. As has been shown in previous studies, there is a gradual decrease in PAH emission as a function of metallicity. Because much of the energy from star formation in galaxies is re-radiated in the mid-infrared, star-formation rate indicators based on both line and continuum measurements in this wavelength range are coming into more common usage. We show that the variations in the interstellar medium properties of galaxies in our sample, as measured in the mid-infrared, result in over an order of magnitude spread in the computed star-formation rates.
We develop a simple analytical criterion to investigate the role of the environment on the onset of star formation. We will consider the main external agents that influence the star formation (i.e. ram pressure, tidal interaction, Rayleigh-Taylor and Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities) in a spherical galaxy moving through an external environment. The theoretical framework developed here has direct applications to the cases of dwarf galaxies in galaxy clusters and dwarf galaxies orbiting our Milky Way system, as well as any primordial gas-rich cluster of stars orbiting within its host galaxy. We develop an analytic formalism to solve the fluid dynamics equations in a non-inertial reference frame mapped with spherical coordinates. The two-fluids instability at the interface between a stellar system and its surrounding hotter and less dense environment is related to the star formation processes through a set of differential equations. The solution presented here is quite general, allowing us to investigate most kinds of orbits allowed in a gravitationally bound system of stars in interaction with a major massive companion. We present an analytical criterion to elucidate the dependence of star formation in a spherical stellar system (as a dwarf galaxy or a globular cluster) on its surrounding environment useful in theoretical interpretations of numerical results as well as observational applications. We show how spherical coordinates naturally enlighten the interpretation of the two-fluids instability in a geometry that directly applies to astrophysical case. This criterion predicts the threshold value for the onset of star formation in a mass vs. size space for any orbit of interest. Moreover, we show for the first time the theoretical dependencies of the different instability phenomena acting on a system in a fully analytical way.
We compare multi-wavelength SFR indicators out to z~3 in GOODS-South. Our analysis uniquely combines U-to-8um photometry from FIREWORKS, MIPS 24um and PACS 70, 100, and 160um photometry from the PEP survey, and Ha spectroscopy from the SINS survey. We describe a set of
We show that measures of star formation rates (SFRs) for infrared galaxies using either single-band 24 um or extinction-corrected Paschen-alpha luminosities are consistent in the total infrared luminosity = L(TIR) ~ 10^10 L_sun range. MIPS 24 micron photometry can yield star formation rates accurately from this luminosity upward: SFR(M_sun/yr) = 7.8 x 10^-10 L(24 um, L_sun) from L(TIR) = 5 x 10^9 L_sun to 10^11 L_sun, and SFR = 7.8 x 10^-10 L(24 um, L_sun) x (7.76 x 10^-11 L(24))^0.048 for higher L(TIR). For galaxies with L(TIR) >= 10^10 L_sun, these new expressions should provide SFRs to within 0.2 dex. For L(TIR) >= 10^11 L_sun, we find that the SFR of infrared galaxies is significantly underestimated using extinction-corrected Pa-alpha (and presumably using any other optical or near infrared recombination lines). As a part of this work, we constructed spectral energy distribution (SED) templates for eleven luminous and ultraluminous purely star forming infrared galaxies (LIRGs and ULIRGs) and over the spectral range 0.4 microns to 30 cm. We use these templates and the SINGS data to construct average templates from 5 microns to 30 cm for infrared galaxies with L(TIR) = 5 x 10^9 to 10^13 L_sun. All of these templates are made available on line.
Nonbarred ringed galaxies are relatively normal galaxies showing bright rings of star formation in spite of lacking a strong bar. This morphology is interesting because it is generally accepted that a typical ring forms when material collects near a resonance, set up by the pattern speed of a bar or bar-like perturbation. Our goal in this paper is to examine whether the ring star formation properties are related to the non-axisymmetric gravity potential in general. For this purpose, we obtained H{alpha} emission line images and calculated the line fluxes and star formation rates (SFRs) for 16 nonbarred SA galaxies and four weakly barred SAB galaxies with rings. For comparison, we combine our observations with a re-analysis of previously published data on five SA, seven SAB, and 15 SB galaxies with rings, three of which are duplicates from our sample. With these data, we examine what role a bar may play in the star formation process in rings. Compared to barred ringed galaxies, we find that the inner ring SFRs and H{alpha}+[N ii] equivalent widths in nonbarred ringed galaxies show a similar range and trend with absolute blue magnitude, revised Hubble type, and other parameters. On the whole, the star formation properties of inner rings, excluding the distribution of H ii regions, are independent of the ring shapes and the bar strength in our small samples. We confirm that the deprojected axis ratios of inner rings correlate with maximum relative gravitational force Q_g; however, if we consider all rings, a better correlation is found when local bar forcing at the radius of the ring, Q_r, is used. Individual cases are described and other correlations are discussed. By studying the physical properties of these galaxies, we hope to gain a better understanding of their placement in the scheme of the Hubble sequence and how they formed rings without the driving force of a bar.