From the outside looking in: what can Milky Way analogues tell us about the star formation rate of our own galaxy?
Abstract
ABSTRACT The Milky Way has been described as an anaemic spiral, but is its star formation rate (SFR) unusually low when compared to its peers? To answer this question, we define a sample of Milky Way analogues (MWAs) based on stringent cuts on the best literature estimates of non-transient structural features for the Milky Way. This selection yields only 176 galaxies from the whole of the SDSS DR7 spectroscopic sample which have morphological classifications in Galaxy Zoo 2, from which we infer SFRs from two separate indicators. The mean SFRs found are $$\log (\rm {SFR}_{SED}/\rm {M}_{\odot }~\rm {yr}^{-1})=0.53$$ with a standard deviation of 0.23 dex from SED fits, and $$\log (\rm {SFR}_{W4}/\rm {M}_{\odot }~\rm {yr}^{-1})=0.68$$ with a standard deviation of 0.41 dex from a mid-infrared calibration. The most recent estimate for the Milky Way’s SFR of $$\log (\rm {SFR}_{MW}/\rm {M}_{\odot }~\rm {yr}^{-1})=0.22$$ fits well within 2$$\sigma$$ of these values, where $$\sigma$$ is the standard deviation of each of the SFR indicator distributions. We infer that the Milky Way, while being a galaxy with a somewhat low SFR, is not unusual when compared to similar galaxies.
- Authors:
-
[1];
[1]
- School of Physics & Astronomy, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK
- Publication Date:
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1566187
- Resource Type:
- Published Article
- Journal Name:
- Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Name: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Journal Volume: 489 Journal Issue: 4; Journal ID: ISSN 0035-8711
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- Country of Publication:
- United Kingdom
- Language:
- English
Citation Formats
Fraser-McKelvie, Amelia, Merrifield, Michael, and Aragón-Salamanca, Alfonso. From the outside looking in: what can Milky Way analogues tell us about the star formation rate of our own galaxy?. United Kingdom: N. p., 2019.
Web. doi:10.1093/mnras/stz2493.
Fraser-McKelvie, Amelia, Merrifield, Michael, & Aragón-Salamanca, Alfonso. From the outside looking in: what can Milky Way analogues tell us about the star formation rate of our own galaxy?. United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stz2493
Fraser-McKelvie, Amelia, Merrifield, Michael, and Aragón-Salamanca, Alfonso. Tue .
"From the outside looking in: what can Milky Way analogues tell us about the star formation rate of our own galaxy?". United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stz2493.
@article{osti_1566187,
title = {From the outside looking in: what can Milky Way analogues tell us about the star formation rate of our own galaxy?},
author = {Fraser-McKelvie, Amelia and Merrifield, Michael and Aragón-Salamanca, Alfonso},
abstractNote = {ABSTRACT The Milky Way has been described as an anaemic spiral, but is its star formation rate (SFR) unusually low when compared to its peers? To answer this question, we define a sample of Milky Way analogues (MWAs) based on stringent cuts on the best literature estimates of non-transient structural features for the Milky Way. This selection yields only 176 galaxies from the whole of the SDSS DR7 spectroscopic sample which have morphological classifications in Galaxy Zoo 2, from which we infer SFRs from two separate indicators. The mean SFRs found are $\log (\rm {SFR}_{SED}/\rm {M}_{\odot }~\rm {yr}^{-1})=0.53$ with a standard deviation of 0.23 dex from SED fits, and $\log (\rm {SFR}_{W4}/\rm {M}_{\odot }~\rm {yr}^{-1})=0.68$ with a standard deviation of 0.41 dex from a mid-infrared calibration. The most recent estimate for the Milky Way’s SFR of $\log (\rm {SFR}_{MW}/\rm {M}_{\odot }~\rm {yr}^{-1})=0.22$ fits well within 2$\sigma$ of these values, where $\sigma$ is the standard deviation of each of the SFR indicator distributions. We infer that the Milky Way, while being a galaxy with a somewhat low SFR, is not unusual when compared to similar galaxies.},
doi = {10.1093/mnras/stz2493},
journal = {Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society},
number = 4,
volume = 489,
place = {United Kingdom},
year = {Tue Sep 10 00:00:00 EDT 2019},
month = {Tue Sep 10 00:00:00 EDT 2019}
}
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https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stz2493
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