Estimating the total infrared luminosity of galaxies up to z~2 from mid- and far-infrared observations

TL;DR

This study establishes reliable correlations between monochromatic mid- and far-infrared luminosities and total infrared luminosity of galaxies up to redshift 2, enabling accurate L_IR predictions from specific IR fluxes.

Contribution

It provides new empirical relations for estimating galaxy total infrared luminosity from mid- and far-infrared observations up to z~2, validated with stacking analysis.

Findings

Strong correlation between monochromatic IR luminosities and L_IR.

Predictions of L_IR with 34-54% accuracy from specific IR fluxes.

No significant evolution in dust properties up to z~1.

Abstract

We present the observed correlations between rest-frame 8, 24, 70 and 160 um monochromatic luminosities and measured total infrared luminosities L_IR of galaxies detected by Spitzer. Our sample consists of 372 star-forming galaxies with individual detections and flux measurements at 8, 24, 70 and 160 um. We have spectroscopic redshifts for 93% of these sources, and accurate photometric redshifts for the remainder. We also used a stacking analysis to measure the IR fluxes of fainter sources at higher redshifts. We show that the monochromatic mid and far-infrared luminosities are strongly correlated with the total infrared luminosity and our stacking analysis confirms that these correlations also hold at higher redshifts. We provide relations between monochromatic luminosities and total infrared luminosities L_IR that should be reliable up to z~2 (z~1.1) for ULIRGs (LIRGs). In particular, we can predict L_IR with accuracies of 37% and 54% from the 8 and 24 um fluxes, while the best tracer is the 70 um flux. Combining bands leads to slightly more accurate estimates. For example, combining the 8 and 24 um luminosities predicts L_IR with an accuracy of 34%. Our results are generally compatible with previous studies, and the small changes are probably due to differences in the sample selection criteria. We can rule out strong evolution in dust properties with redshift up to z~1. Finally, we show that infrared and sub-millimeter observations are complementary means of building complete samples of star-forming galaxies, with the former being more sensitive for z<~2 and the latter at higher z>~2.