A Multiwavelength Consensus on the Main Sequence of Star-Forming Galaxies at z~2

TL;DR

This study compares multiple star formation rate indicators for galaxies at z~2, finding overall agreement between UV and FIR-based measures and clarifying the main sequence slope of star-forming galaxies.

Contribution

It provides a multiwavelength analysis of the star formation main sequence at z~2, reconciling different SFR indicators and characterizing faint galaxy populations.

Findings

The SFR-$M_*$ relation has a slope of ~0.8-0.9.

FIR-selected samples highlight outliers, not the main population.

UV and FIR SFRs are broadly consistent when stacking data.

Abstract

We compare various star formation rate (SFR) indicators for star-forming galaxies at $1.4<z<2.5$ in the COSMOS field. The main focus is on the SFRs from the far-IR (PACS-Herschel data) with those from the ultraviolet, for galaxies selected according to the BzK criterion. FIR-selected samples lead to a vastly different slope of the SFR-stellar mass ($M_*$) relation, compared to that of the dominant main sequence population as measured from the UV, since the FIR selection picks predominantly only a minority of outliers. However, there is overall agreement between the main sequences derived with the two SFR indicators, when stacking on the PACS maps the BzK-selected galaxies. The resulting logarithmic slope of the SFR-{$M_*$} relation is $\sim0.8-0.9$, in agreement with that derived from the dust-corrected UV-luminosity. Exploiting deeper 24$\mu$m-Spitzer data we have characterized a sub-sample of galaxies with reddening and SFRs poorly constrained, as they are very faint in the $B$ band. The combination of Herschel with Spitzer data have allowed us to largely break the age/reddening degeneracy for these intriguing sources, by distinguishing whether a galaxy is very red in B-z because of being heavily dust reddened, or whether because star formation has been (or is being) quenched. Finally, we have compared our SFR(UV) to the SFRs derived by stacking the radio data and to those derived from the H$\alpha$ luminosity of a sample of star-forming galaxies at $1.4<z<1.7$. The two sets of SFRs are broadly consistent as they are with the SFRs derived from the UV and by stacking the corresponding PACS data in various mass bins.