A Spitzer Study of the FIR-Radio Correlation within Galaxies

Jeffrey Kenney

The remarkable correlation between the far-infrared (FIR) and predominantly non-thermal radio continuum emission from late-type galaxies remains to be one one of the most puzzling problems in extragalactic astronomy. This correlation has been found to hold for galaxies spanning nearly 5 orders of magnitude in luminosity and extend to redshifts of ~2.5, yet the exact physics tying the thermal re-radiation of starlight by dust grains to non-thermal synchrotron emission from cosmic-ray electrons accelerated in a galaxy's magnetic field remain unclear. Using Spitzer Space Telescope and Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope (WSRT) data, taken as part of the Spitzer Infrared Nearby Galaxies Survey (SINGS), we investigate how the FIR-radio correlation behaves within a sample of nearby star-forming galaxies.

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