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Title: SPECTRAL ENERGY DISTRIBUTIONS OF LOCAL LUMINOUS AND ULTRALUMINOUS INFRARED GALAXIES

Journal Article · · Astrophysical Journal, Supplement Series
; ; ; ; ;  [1]; ; ;  [2]; ;  [3]; ;  [4];  [5];  [6];  [7];  [8];  [9]; ;
  1. Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii, 2680 Woodlawn Drive, Honolulu, HI 96822 (United States)
  2. Infrared Processing and Analysis Center, California Institute of Technology, 1200 E. California Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States)
  3. Department of Astronomy, University of Virginia, 530 McCormick Road, Charlottesville, VA 22904 (United States)
  4. Spitzer Science Center, 1200 E. California Blvd., MS 314-6, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States)
  5. ICREA and Institut del Ciencies del Cosmos, Universitat de Barcelona (IEEC-UB), Marti i Franques, 1, E-08028 Barcelona (Spain)
  6. Department of Physics and Astronomy, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794 (United States)
  7. Department of Astronomy, Yale University, P.O. Box 208101, New Haven, CT 06511 (United States)
  8. National Radio Astronomy Observatory, P.O. Box 2, Green Bank, WV 24944 (United States)
  9. CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science, Marsfield NSW, 2122 (Australia)

Luminous (LIRGs; log (L{sub IR}/L{sub Sun }) = 11.00-11.99) and ultraluminous infrared galaxies (ULIRGs; log (L{sub IR}/L{sub Sun }) = 12.00-12.99) are the most extreme star-forming galaxies in the universe. The local (U)LIRGs provide a unique opportunity to study their multi-wavelength properties in detail for comparison with their more numerous counterparts at high redshifts. We present common large aperture photometry at radio through X-ray wavelengths and spectral energy distributions (SEDs) for a sample of 53 nearby (z < 0.083) LIRGs and 11 ULIRGs spanning log (L{sub IR}/L{sub Sun }) = 11.14-12.57 from the flux-limited (f{sub 60{mu}m} > 5.24 Jy) Great Observatories All-sky LIRG Survey. The SEDs for all objects are similar in that they show a broad, thermal stellar peak ({approx}0.3-2 {mu}m), and a dominant FIR ({approx}40-200 {mu}m) thermal dust peak, where {nu}L{sub {nu}}(60 {mu}m)/{nu}L{sub {nu}}(V) increases from {approx}2 to 30 with increasing L{sub IR}. When normalized at IRAS 60 {mu}m, the largest range in the luminosity ratio, R({lambda}) {identical_to} log[{nu}L{sub {nu}}({lambda})/{nu}L{sub {nu}}(60 {mu}m)], observed over the full sample is seen in the hard X-rays (HX = 2-10 keV), where {Delta}R{sub HX} = 3.73 (R-bar{sub HX}= -3.10). A small range is found in the radio (1.4 GHz), {Delta}R{sub 1.4GHz} = 1.75, where the mean ratio is largest, (R-bar{sub 1.4GHz}= -5.81). Total infrared luminosities, L{sub IR}(8-1000 {mu}m), dust temperatures, and dust masses were computed from fitting thermal dust emission modified blackbodies to the mid-infrared (MIR) through submillimeter SEDs. The new results reflect an overall {approx}0.02 dex lower luminosity than the original IRAS values. Total stellar masses were computed by fitting stellar population synthesis models to the observed near-infrared (NIR) through ultraviolet (UV) SEDs. Mean stellar masses are found to be log (M{sub *}/M{sub Sun }) = 10.79 {+-} 0.40. Star formation rates have been determined from the infrared (SFR{sub IR} {approx} 45 M{sub Sun} yr{sup -1}) and from the monochromatic UV luminosities (SFR{sub UV} {approx} 1.3 M{sub Sun} yr{sup -1}), respectively. Multi-wavelength active galactic nucleus (AGN) indicators have be used to select putative AGNs: About 60% of the ULIRGs would have been classified as an AGN by at least one of the selection criteria.

OSTI ID:
22089800
Journal Information:
Astrophysical Journal, Supplement Series, Vol. 203, Issue 1; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0067-0049
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English