The star formation rate cookbook at 1 < z < 3: Extinction-corrected relations for UV & [OII]λ3727 luminosities

Abstract

We use a spectroscopic sample of 286 star-forming galaxies (SFGs) at 1<z<3 from the GMASS survey to study different star formation rate (SFR) estimators. Infrared (IR) data are used to derive empirical calibrations to correct ultraviolet (UV) and [OII]λ3727 luminosities for dust extinction and dust-corrected estimates of SFR. In the selection procedure we fully exploit the available spectroscopic information. On the basis of three continuum indices, we are able to identify and exclude from the sample galaxies in which old stellar populations might bring a non-negligible contribution to IR luminosity (LIR) and continuum reddening. Using Spitzer-MIPS and Herschel-PACS data we derive LIR for two-thirds of our sample. The LIR/LUV ratio is used as a probe of effective attenuation (AIRX) to search for correlations with continuum and spectroscopic features. The relation between AIRX and UV continuum slope (β) was tested for our sample and found to be broadly consistent with the literature results at the same redshift, though with a larger dispersion with respect to UV-selected samples. We find a correlation between the rest-frame equivalent width (EW) of the [OII]λ3727 line and β, which is the main result of this work. We therefore propose the [OII]λ3727 line EW as a dust attenuation probe and calibrate it through AIRX, though the assumption of a reddening curve is still needed to derive the actual attenuation towards the [OII]λ3727 line. We tested the issue of differential attenuation towards stellar continuum and nebular emission: our results are in line with the traditional prescription of extra attenuation towards nebular lines. A set of relations is provided that allows the recovery of the total unattenuated SFR from UV and [OII]λ3727 luminosities. (Abridged)

Accepted for publication in A&A; 20 pages, 19 figures, 5 tables

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