Calibrating the James Webb Space telescope filters as star formation rate indicators
Date
2018Author
Senarath, Madhooshi R.
Brown, Michael J. I.
Cluver, Michelle E.
Moustakas, John
Armus, Lee
Jarrett, Thomas H.
Metadata
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We have calibrated the 6.5m James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) mid-infrared (MIR) filters as star formation rate
(SFR) indicators, using JWST photometry synthesized from Spitzer spectra of 49 low-redshift galaxies, which cover a
wider luminosity range than most previous studies. We use Balmer-decrement-corrected Hα luminosity and
synthesized MIR photometry to empirically calibrate the Spitzer, WISE, and JWST filters as SFR indicators. Our
Spitzer and WISE calibrations are in good agreement with recent calibrations from the literature. While MIR
luminosity may be directly proportional to SFR for high-luminosity galaxies, we find a power-law relationship
between MIR luminosity and SFR for low-luminosity galaxies. We find that for galaxies with
an Hα luminosity of 1040 erg s-1 (corresponding to an SFR of~0.055 M yr-1), the corresponding JWST MIR ν Lν
luminosity is between 1040.50 and 1041.00 erg s-1. Power-law fits of JWST luminosity as a function of Hα luminosity
have indices between 1.17 and 1.32. We find that the scatter in the JWST filter calibrations decreases with increasing
wavelength from 0.39 to 0.20 dex, although F1000W is an exception where the scatter is just 0.24 dex.