The following document lists the file abstract/RMANN_SPAAB1.abs
from catalogue VI/111.
A plain copy of the file
(without headers/trailers) may be downloaded.
We propose to obtain photometric data over the 4-200 micron range for a sample of 25 IRAS galaxies selected in narrow redshift and IRAS 100 micron flux ranges, but with a wide range of 60 micron/100 micron colours and, hence, star formation properties: this is a subset of the sample we are using in a wider study of the relationship between star formation and morphological indications of interactions and dynamical disturbance in IRAS galaxies. These data are vital to our project because they will provide good determinations of the far-infrared spectral energy distributions of the galaxies, which we will model, to determine the contributions to the far-infrared emission of the galaxies from cirrus, starburst and Seyfert components. In conjunction with an existing analysis of the morphological disturbance exhibited by these galaxies in the optical, and other ongoing follow-up data, these results will be used to reveal the origin of star formation and far-infrared emission in IRAS galaxies. The galaxies in our sample have modest far-infrared luminosities, making our study important from two points of view. Firstly, it constitutes a lower-luminosity analogue to the many studies currently underway of interaction-induced star formation in ultraluminous IRAS galaxies, enabling us to see how the prevalence and properties of starbursts resulting from galaxy interactions and mergers vary with the nature of the interacting galaxies and of the interaction itself. Secondly, the galaxies in our sample are typical of those found in the redshift surveys of IRAS galaxies widely used in large-scale structure studies, so an understanding of the origin of their far-infrared emission and its correlation with environment will help reveal how IRAS galaxies trace mass in the Universe.