2001/04/20 by A. Misiriotis, C. C. Popescu, R. Tuffs +1 · 4 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20010568
9 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication to A&A
arxiv created 2001/04/20 · openalex publication_date 2001/06/01 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2022/10/02 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
Using tools previously described and applied to the prototype galaxy NGC 891, we model the optical to far-infrared spectral energy distributions (SED) of four additional edge-on spiral galaxies, namely NGC 5907, NGC 4013, UGC 1082 and UGC 2048. Comparing the model predictions with IRAS and, where available, sub-millimeter and millimeter observations, we determine the respective roles of the old and young stellar populations in grain heating. In all cases, the young population dominates, with the contribution of the old stellar population being at most 40% , as previously found for NGC 891. After normalization to the disk area, the massive star-formation rate (SFR) derived using our SED modeling technique, which is primarily sensitive to the non-ionizing ultraviolet output from the young stellar population, lies in the range . This is consistent with normalized SFRs derived for face-on galaxies of comparable surface gas densities from Hα observations. Though the most active star-forming galaxy of the five in absolute terms, NGC 891 is not an exceptional system in terms of its surface density in SFR.