Recalibrating the Cosmic Star Formation History

Abstract

The calibrations linking observed luminosities to the star formation rate depend on the assumed stellar population synthesis model, initial mass function, star formation and metal enrichment history, and whether reprocessing by dust and gas is included. Consequently the shape and normalisation of the inferred cosmic star formation history is sensitive to these assumptions. Using v2.2.1 of the Binary Population and Spectral Synthesis (\bpass) model we determine a new set of calibration coefficients for the ultraviolet, thermal-infrared, and, hydrogen recombination lines. These ultraviolet and thermal infrared coefficients are 0.15-0.2 dex higher than those widely utilised in the literature while the H$\alpha$ coefficient is $\sim 0.35$ dex larger. These differences arise in part due to the inclusion binary evolution pathways but predominantly reflect an extension in the IMF to 300 $M_{\odot }$ and a change in the choice of reference metallicity. We use these new coefficients to recalibrate the cosmic star formation history, and find improved agreement between the integrated cosmic star formation history and the in-situ measured stellar mass density as a function of redshift. However, these coefficients produce new tension between star formation rate densities inferred from the ultraviolet and thermal-infrared and those from H$\alpha$.

7 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS

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Cited by in corpus (8)

• The Star Formation Burstiness and Ionizing Efficiency of Low-mass Galaxies
• Dependence of Gravitational Wave Transient Rates on Cosmic Star Formation and Metallicity Evolution History
• Cosmic metal density evolution in neutral gas: insights from observations and cosmological simulations
• Bridging Optical and Far-Infrared Emission-Line Diagrams of Galaxies from Local to the Epoch of Reionization: Characteristic High [O III] 88 $\mu \mathrm{m}$/SFR at $z>6$
• The observed cosmic star formation rate density has an evolution which resembles a Γ(a, bt) distribution and can be described successfully by only 2 parameters
• The MOSDEF Survey: Calibrating the relationship between H$\alpha$ star-formation rate and radio continuum luminosity at $1.4<z<2.6$
• Applications of Stellar Population Synthesis in the Distant Universe
• Brackett-$\gamma$ as a Gold-standard Test of Star Formation Rates Derived from SED Fitting