2004A&A...421..115P -
Astronomy and Astrophysics, volume 421, 115-127 (2004/7-1)
Modelling the Spectral Energy Distribution of compact luminous infrared galaxies: Constraints from high frequency radio data.
PROUTON O.R., BRESSAN A., CLEMENS M., FRANCESCHINI A., GRANATO G.L. and SILVA L.
Abstract (from CDS):
We have performed 23GHz VLA observations of 7 compact, luminous infrared galaxies, selected as showing evidence of starburst activity. New and published multi-frequency data are combined to obtain the spectral energy distributions of all 7 galaxies from the near-infrared to the radio (at 1.4GHz). These SEDs are compared with new models, for dust enshrouded galaxies, which account for both starburst and AGN components. In all 7 galaxies the starburst provides the dominant contribution to the infrared luminosity; in 4 sources no contribution from an AGN is required. Although AGN may contribute up to 50 percent of the total far-infrared emission, the starbursts always dominate in the radio. The SEDs of most of our sources are best fit with a very high optical depth of ∼50 at 1µm. The scatter in the far-infrared/radio correlation, found among luminous IRAS sources, is due mainly to the different evolutionary status of their starburst components. The short time-scale of the star formation process amplifies the delay between the far-infrared and radio emission. This becomes more evident at low radio frequencies (below about 1GHz) where synchrotron radiation is the dominant process. In the far-infrared (at wavelengths shorter than 100µm) an additional source of scatter is provided by AGN, when present. AGN may be detected in the near-infrared by the absence of the knee, typical of stellar photospheres. However, near-infrared data alone cannot constrain the level at which AGN contribute because the interpretation of their observed properties, in this wave-band, depends strongly on model parameters.
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Journal keyword(s):
ISM: dust, extinction - galaxies: stellar content - infrared: galaxies - radio continuum: galaxies
Simbad objects:
9
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