The Star Formation Rate Distribution Function of the Local Universe

Understand

We present total infrared (IR) and ultraviolet (UV) luminosity functions derived from large representative samples of galaxies at z ~ 0, selected at IR and UV wavelengths from the IRAS IIFSCz catalogue, and the GALEX AIS respectively.

• We augment these with deep Spitzer and GALEX imaging of galaxies in the 11 Mpc Local Volume Legacy Survey (LVL), allowing us to extend these luminosity functions to lower luminosities (~10^6 L_sun), and providing good constraints on the slope of the luminosity function at the extreme faint end for the first time.
• Using conventional star formation prescriptions, we generate from our data the SFR distribution function for the local Universe.
• We find that it has a Schechter form, that the faint-end slope has a constant value (to the limits of our data) of {\alpha} = -1.51 \pm 0.08, and the 'characteristic' SFR is 9.2 M_sun/yr.