GALEX FUV Pilot Study Data

In this pilot study, we present a Herschel Space Observatory, Spitzer Space Telescope and Galaxy Evolution Explorer analysis of the resolved star-forming properties of three nearby luminous infrared galaxies (LIRGs) – NGC 1961, NGC 5257/8, and NGC 7752/3 – from the Great Observatories All-sky LIRG Survey (GOALS). Recent studies have inferred that, while the extranuclear regions of LIRGs have elevated specific star formation rates (sSFRs) compared to normal disk galaxies, their integrated sSFRs are driven by their nuclei. We assess the star formation within these LIRGs by measuring the distribution of star-forming properties in their nuclear and extranuclear regions. Our uniform spatial grid analysis samples both low and high surface-brightness regions – this is in contrast to prior studies that focus on high-luminosity, compact star-forming knots. We characterize obscured and unobscured star formation rates (SFRs), stellar masses, sSFRs, and SFR and stellar mass surface densities (ΣSFR and Σ∗, respectively) of kiloparsec-sized regions across these galaxies. The extranuclear regions contribute > 50% to their overall star-forming properties, illustrating that both nuclear and extranuclear regions contribute significantly to the total SFR and to setting the integrated sSFR of LIRGs. We compare our results with local and high-redshift (high-z) resolved normal galaxy studies. There is an overlap in ΣSFR and Σ∗ of LIRGs and nearby normal galaxy regions, but the nuclei and some extranuclear regions exhibit higher values. The LIRGs have comparable ΣSFR but higher Σ∗ than the high-z galaxies, possibly because high-z galaxies are in earlier stages of converting gas into stars.