Calibration of the Mid-Infrared Tully-Fisher Relation

• Published in: The Astrophysical journal Vol. 765; no. 2; pp. 1 - 11
• Main Authors: Sorce, Jenny G., Courtois, Helene M., Tully, R. Brent, Seibert, Mark, Scowcroft, Victoria, Freedman, Wendy L., Madore, Barry F., Persson, S. Eric, Monson, Andy, Rigby, Jane
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Goddard Space Flight Center American Astronomical Society 10.03.2013
• Subjects: ASTRONOMY; ASTROPHYSICS; ASTROPHYSICS, COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY; CALIBRATION; COLOR; COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS; CORRECTIONS; Correlation; CORRELATIONS; Cosmology and Extra-Galactic Astrophysics; DISTANCE; Flux; GALAXIES; GALAXY CLUSTERS; Hubble constant; HYDROGEN; INTERMEDIATE INFRARED RADIATION; LUMINOSITY; PHOTOMETRY; Physics; RED SHIFT; ROTATION; Sciences of the Universe; Sky; Space telescopes; STARS; TELESCOPES; VISIBLE RADIATION; Calibration; Tully-Fisher; Mid-Infrared
• ISSN: 0004-637X; 1538-4357
• DOI: 10.1088/0004-637X/765/2/94

Distance measures on a coherent scale around the sky are required to address the outstanding cosmological problemsof the Hubble constant and of departures from the mean cosmic flow. The correlation between galaxy luminositiesand rotation rates can be used to determine the distances to many thousands of galaxies in a wide range ofenvironments potentially out to 200 Mpc. Mid-infrared (3.6m) photometry with the Spitzer Space Telescope isparticularly valuable as a source of luminosities because it provides products of uniform quality across the sky.From a perch above the atmosphere, essentially the total magnitude of targets can be registered in exposures ofa few minutes. Extinction is minimal and the flux is dominated by the light from old stars, which is expected tocorrelate with the mass of the targets.In spite of the superior photometry, the correlation between mid-infrared luminosities and rotation rates extractedfrom neutral hydrogen profiles is slightly degraded from the correlation found with I-band luminosities. A colorcorrection recovers a correlation that provides comparable accuracy to that available at the I band (20 1in an individual distance) while retaining the advantages identified above. Without color correction, the relationbetween linewidth and [3.6] magnitudes is Mb,i,k,a [3.6] 20.34 9.74(logWimx 2.5). This description is foundwith a sample of 213 galaxies in 13 clusters that define the slope and 26 galaxies with Cepheid or tip of the red giant branch distances that define the zero point. A color-corrected parameter MC[3.6] is constructed that has reduced scatter: MC[3.6] 20.34 9.13(logWimx 2.5). Consideration of the seven calibration clusters beyond 50 Mpc, outside the domain of obvious peculiar velocities, provides a preliminary Hubble constant estimate of H0 74 4 km s1 Mpc1.