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[119.01] [OII] as a SFR indicator and the Cosmic Star Formation History

L. J. Kewley (Harvard-Smithsonian CfA), M. J. Geller (Smithsonian Observatory), R. A. Jansen (ASU)

We present new results from our investigation into the use of [OII] as star formation rate (SFR) indicator for local and high-z samples. We compare the Kennicutt [OII] and H-alpha SFR calibrations and show that there are two significant effects which produce strong disagreement between SFR([OII]) and SFR(H-alpha): reddening and metallicity. Such a disagreement can appear as a function of redshift. We present a new SFR([OII]) calibration which does not contain a reddening assumption, and includes an optional correction for metallicity. We investigate the implications of this work for the cosmic star formation history. We show that one can remove the previously observed discrepancy between the star formation rates based on [OII] and those based on H-alpha by correcting for reddening and metallicity.

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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 35#5
© 2003. The American Astronomical Soceity.