The total infrared luminosity may significantly overestimate the star formation rate of quenching and recently quenched galaxies

The total infrared luminosity may significantly overestimate the star formation rate of quenching and recently quenched galaxies. Hayward, C. C., Lanz, L., Ashby, M. L. N., Fazio, G., Hernquist, L., Martínez-Galarza, J. R., Noeske, K., Smith, H. A., Wuyts, S., & Zezas, A. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 445:1598–1604, December, 2014.

Paper doi abstract bibtex

The total infrared (IR) luminosity is very useful for estimating the star formation rate (SFR) of galaxies, but converting the IR luminosity into an SFR relies on assumptions that do not hold for all galaxies. We test the effectiveness of the IR luminosity as an SFR indicator by applying it to synthetic spectral energy distributions generated from three-dimensional hydrodynamical simulations of isolated disc galaxies and galaxy mergers. In general, the SFR inferred from the IR luminosity agrees well with the true instantaneous SFR of the simulated galaxies. However, for the major mergers in which a strong starburst is induced, the SFR inferred from the IR luminosity can overestimate the instantaneous SFR during the post-starburst phase by greater than two orders of magnitude. Even though the instantaneous SFR decreases rapidly after the starburst, the stars that were formed in the starburst can remain dust-obscured and thus produce significant IR luminosity. Consequently, use of the IR luminosity as an SFR indicator may cause one to conclude that post-starburst galaxies are still star forming, whereas in reality, star formation was recently quenched.

@article{hayward_total_2014,
	title = {The total infrared luminosity may significantly overestimate the star formation rate of quenching and recently quenched galaxies},
	volume = {445},
	url = {http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2014MNRAS.445.1598H},
	doi = {10.1093/mnras/stu1843},
	abstract = {The total infrared (IR) luminosity is very useful for estimating the 
star formation rate (SFR) of galaxies, but converting the IR luminosity
into an SFR relies on assumptions that do not hold for all galaxies. We
test the effectiveness of the IR luminosity as an SFR indicator by
applying it to synthetic spectral energy distributions generated from
three-dimensional hydrodynamical simulations of isolated disc galaxies
and galaxy mergers. In general, the SFR inferred from the IR luminosity
agrees well with the true instantaneous SFR of the simulated galaxies.
However, for the major mergers in which a strong starburst is induced,
the SFR inferred from the IR luminosity can overestimate the
instantaneous SFR during the post-starburst phase by greater than two
orders of magnitude. Even though the instantaneous SFR decreases rapidly
after the starburst, the stars that were formed in the starburst can
remain dust-obscured and thus produce significant IR luminosity.
Consequently, use of the IR luminosity as an SFR indicator may cause one
to conclude that post-starburst galaxies are still star forming, whereas
in reality, star formation was recently quenched.},
	urldate = {2020-10-27},
	journal = {Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society},
	author = {Hayward, Christopher C. and Lanz, Lauranne and Ashby, Matthew L. N. and Fazio, Giovanni and Hernquist, Lars and Martínez-Galarza, Juan Rafael and Noeske, Kai and Smith, Howard A. and Wuyts, Stijn and Zezas, Andreas},
	month = dec,
	year = {2014},
	keywords = {dust, extinction, galaxies: interactions, galaxies: starburst, infrared: galaxies, radiative transfer, stars: formation},
	pages = {1598--1604},
}

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We test the effectiveness of the IR luminosity as an SFR indicator by applying it to synthetic spectral energy distributions generated from three-dimensional hydrodynamical simulations of isolated disc galaxies and galaxy mergers. In general, the SFR inferred from the IR luminosity agrees well with the true instantaneous SFR of the simulated galaxies. However, for the major mergers in which a strong starburst is induced, the SFR inferred from the IR luminosity can overestimate the instantaneous SFR during the post-starburst phase by greater than two orders of magnitude. Even though the instantaneous SFR decreases rapidly after the starburst, the stars that were formed in the starburst can remain dust-obscured and thus produce significant IR luminosity. 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We\ntest the effectiveness of the IR luminosity as an SFR indicator by\napplying it to synthetic spectral energy distributions generated from\nthree-dimensional hydrodynamical simulations of isolated disc galaxies\nand galaxy mergers. In general, the SFR inferred from the IR luminosity\nagrees well with the true instantaneous SFR of the simulated galaxies.\nHowever, for the major mergers in which a strong starburst is induced,\nthe SFR inferred from the IR luminosity can overestimate the\ninstantaneous SFR during the post-starburst phase by greater than two\norders of magnitude. 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