Extinction in Nebular Luminosities & Star Formation Rate of Disk Galaxies: Inclination Correction

Abstract

Star formation is one of the most important processes in galaxy formation. The luminosity of Halpha recombination and [OII] forbidden emissions remain to be most used in measuring formation rate of massive stars in galaxies. Here we report the inclination dependency of continuum-subtracted and aperture-corrected nebular luminosities, including Halpha, Hbeta, Hgamma, [OII], [NII], of disk-dominated galaxies in the local universe. Their luminosities decrease by a factor of three from face-on to edge-on (axis ratio limit = 0.17) orientations. This dependence is deduced to be caused by extinction due to diffuse dust within the disks with an amplitude of 1.2 mag. The line-luminosity--inclination relation provides a novel way to remove extinction in emission lines and present star formation rate of disk galaxies out to redshift of 1.6.

2 tables, 3 figures. Submitted to ApJ Letter