Lx-SFR relation in star forming galaxies

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  • 16 January 2003
Abstract
We compare the results of Grimm et al. (2002) and Ranalli et al. (2002) on the Lx-SFR relation in normal galaxies. Using Milky Way as a calibration point, we show that ~half of the low SFR (<1-2 Msun/year) galaxies in the Ranalli et al. sample are likely to be contaminated by the X-ray emission from the low mass X-ray binaries, unrelated to the current star formation activity in a galaxy. The most important conclusion from our comparison is, however, that after the ``LMXB contaminated'' galaxies are excluded, the two datasets become consistent with each other, despite of their different content, the variability effects, difference in the adopted source distances, X-ray flux and star formation rate determination and in the cosmological parameters used in interpreting the HDF-N data. They also agree well, both in the low and high SFR regimes, with the predicted Lx-SFR dependence derived from the parameters of the universal HMXB luminosity function. This encouraging result emphasizes potential of the X-ray luminosity as an independent star formation rate indicator for normal galaxies.

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