The connection between shear and star formation in spiral galaxies

Astrophysics, abstract
astro-ph/0504529

From: Marcus Seigar [view email]

Date: Mon, 25 Apr 2005 17:40:51 GMT   (25kb)

We present a sample of 33 galaxies for which we have calculated (i) the
average rate of shear from publish rotation curves, (ii) the far-infrared
luminosity from IRAS fluxes and (iii) The K-band luminosity from 2MASS. We show
that a correlation exists between the shear rate and the ratio of the
far-infrared to K-band luminosity. This ratio is essentially a measure of the
star formation rate per unit mass, or the specific star formation rate. From
this correlation we show that a critical shear rate exists, above which star
formation would turn off in the disks of spiral galaxies. Using the correlation
between shear rate and spiral arm pitch angle, this shear rate corresponds to
the lowest pitch angles typically measured in near-infrared images of spiral
galaxies.

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