Panchromatic star formation rate indicators and their uncertainties

Abstract

The star formation rate (SFR) is a fundamental property of galaxies and it is crucial to understand the build-up of their stellar content, their chemical evolution, and energetic feedback. The SFR of galaxies is typically obtained by observing the emission by young stellar populations directly in the ultraviolet, the optical nebular line emission from gas ionized by newly-formed massive stars, the reprocessed emission by dust in the infrared range, or by combining observations at different wavelengths and fitting the full spectral energy distributions of galaxies. In this brief review we describe the assumptions, advantages and limitations of different SFR indicators, and we discuss the most promising SFR indicators for high-redshift studies.

2 pages; invited talk to appear in the proceedings of the IAU Focus Meeting 7 "Stellar Physics in Galaxies throughout the Universe", Eds. S. Charlot, C. Maraston, C. Leitherer (slides to appear on http://iau-fm7.stsci.edu/index.html)