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# References

CERN-TH/2002-128

BOUND STATES IN ONE AND TWO SPATIAL DIMENSIONS

K. Chadan
Laboratoire de Physique Théorique***Unité Mixte de Recherche UMR 8627 - CNRS
Université de Paris XI, Bâtiment 210, 91405 Orsay Cedex, France

N. N. Khuri

Department of Physics, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY 10021, U.S.A.

A. Martin
TH Division, CERN, Geneva, Switzerland and
Laboratoire de Physique Théorique, F-74941 Annecy-le-Vieux, France

Tai Tsun Wu

Gordon McKay Laboratory, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A.
and TH Division, CERN, Geneva, Switzerland

## Abstract

In this paper we study the number of bound states for potentials in one and two spatial dimensions. We first show that in addition to the well-known fact that an arbitrarily weak attractive potential has a bound state, it is easy to construct examples where weak potentials have an infinite number of bound states. These examples have potentials which decrease at infinity faster than expected. Using somewhat stronger conditions, we derive explicit bounds on the number of bound states in one dimension, using known results for the three-dimensional zero angular momentum. A change of variables which allows us to go from the one-dimensional case to that of two dimensions results in a bound for the zero angular momentum case. Finally, we obtain a bound on the total number of bound states in two dimensions, first for the radial case and then, under stronger conditions, for the non-central case.

LPT Orsay 02-57

CERN-TH/2002-128

June 2002

I. Introduction

In recent years, it has become apparent that studying physics in two spatial dimensions is not just an academic exercise, especially for condensed matter physics where there are bound states due to impurities on the surface of a semiconductor or at a junction . In addition, we have established a remarkable universality property for low energy scattering in two dimensions. Namely, excluding some well-defined and rare exceptional cases, the $`m=0`$ phase shift for a radial potential behaves like $`(\pi /2)(\mathrm{}nk)^1`$ as $`k0`$ . This result has been recently generalized to non-radial and even non-local potentials .

We believe that relatively little is known about bound states in one and two dimensions. For any dimension, including one and two, we know that if the potential is sufficiently smooth and sufficiently rapidly decreasing at large distances, there is a semi-classical asymptotic estimate of the number of bound states for a potential $`gV,g\mathrm{}`$, which was first established for the radial case in , then generalized in  to arbitrary dimensions.

However, concerning strict bounds on the number of bound states the situation is radically different for one and two dimensions from that in higher dimensions (including three dimensions). Lieb , Cwikel  and Rozenblum  have shown that for $`n3`$, $`n`$ being the number of spatial dimensions, there is a bound

$$NB_n|V|^{n/2}d^nx,$$
(1)
where $`B_n`$ is definitely larger, even for very large dimensions, contrary to earlier belief , than the semi-classical constant $`C_n`$ appearing in the asymptotic estimate

$$N(g)C_ng^{n/2}(V^{})^{n/2}d^nx,g\mathrm{},C_n=\frac{2^n\pi ^{n/2}}{\mathrm{\Gamma }(1+\frac{n}{2})}$$
(2)
for a potential $`gV`$ where $`V^{}`$ is the negative part of the potential : $`V=V^+V^{}`$, $`V^\pm 0`$. For central potentials, $`B_n/C_n1`$ for $`n\mathrm{}`$ . Other proofs have been obtained , . Furthermore, it is well known that for one and two dimensions a potential globally attractive, arbitrarily weak, such that

$$d^nxV(x)<0,n=1,2$$
(3)
has a bound state. The proof is trivial for $`n=1`$ by using a Gaussian trial function. For $`n=2`$, there is a proof by Simon, for instance . The simplest one is by Yang and De Llano  who use a trial function $`\mathrm{exp}(r+r_0)^\alpha `$, $`\alpha `$ sufficiently small.

However, this bound state has an incredibly small binding energy in absolute value, for a potential $`gV`$, which behaves like $`\mathrm{exp}\frac{c}{g}`$ for small $`g`$, as shown in Appendix I.

In addition to the above, we note that for the $`s`$-state ($`m=0`$), and $`n=2`$, there is an old bound on the number of bound states due to Newton  and Setô . However, this bound is bilinear in $`V`$ and does not behave like the semiclassical result for large $`g`$.

It was noticed in Ref.  that the number of bound states in two dimensions is certainly larger than $`\frac{1}{4}rV(r)𝑑r`$, in the central case.

In this paper we first find examples of potentials in one dimension for which the number of bound states is infinite. Using a transformation which is systematically studied, one can find more refined potentials for which the number of bound states is infinite.

This same transformation allows us also to find radial potentials in two dimensions for which the zero angular momentum bound states are infinite in number. Examples with non-radial potentials are also constructed. All these examples possess the property, $`d^2x|V(\stackrel{}{x})|<\mathrm{}`$, and in addition $`d^2x|V(\stackrel{}{x})|\mathrm{}n(2+|\stackrel{}{x}|)^{1\epsilon }<\mathrm{}`$.

In section III we find explicit bounds on the number of bound states in one dimension by using well-known bounds for the three dimensional radial case with zero angular momentum. In addition, using the above noted change of variables, we also obtain bounds on the number of zero angular momentum bound states in two dimensions.

Finally, in section IV, we get bounds on the total number of bound states in two dimensions. This bound has the property that it is linear in $`g`$ for a potential $`gV`$ and is thus similar to the semi-classical estimate.

In Appendix I we give upper and lower bounds on the ground state energy in two dimensions.

Next, in Appendix II, we present a system of transformations which first allow us to derive more and more refined examples of limit potentials with a finite or infinite number of bound states. Secondly, these transformations allow us to convert results obtained in a given dimension to results for another dimension for zero angular momentum.

In Appendix III we compare one of our two dimensional bounds with the Newton-Setô bound. Finally, in Appendix IV, we sketch the proof that bound states are on real analytic Regge trajectories.

A preliminary account of these results was presented at a workshop in Les Houches .

II. Examples where the number of bound states is infinite

We begin by using the well known result that in one dimension, and for the radial case in 2 and 3 dimensions, the number of negative energy bound states is equal to the number of nodes of the zero energy wave-function .

For any two potentials $`V_1(x)0`$, and $`V_2(x)0`$ in one dimension, one can easily show that, if $`V_1(x)>V_2(x)`$, then for any interval $`axb`$, we have

$$n_2(a,b)n_1(a,b)1;$$
(4)
where $`n(a,b)`$ is the number of nodes in the interval $`(a,b)`$. Thus if $`n_1(x,\mathrm{})`$ is infinite, $`n_2(x,\mathrm{})`$ is also infinite.

We write the zero energy one-dimensional Schrödinger equation for an attractive potential $`V=\lambda /x^2`$ ; $`x>x_0>0`$, $`\lambda >0`$,

$$\left(\frac{d^2}{dx^2}\frac{\lambda }{x^2}\right)\varphi (x)=0.$$
(5)
Because of the homogeneity of Eq. (5), $`\varphi =x^s`$, where $`s`$ is given by the two roots $`s_\pm `$ of the equation

$$s(s1)=\lambda ,$$

or

$$s_\pm =\frac{1}{2}\pm \sqrt{\frac{1}{4}\lambda }.$$
(6)
For $`\lambda >1/4`$, both $`s_+`$ and $`s_{}`$ are complex, and the solution $`\varphi `$ can be constructed by taking a linear combination of $`x^{s_+}`$ and $`x^s_{}`$. We have

$$\varphi (x)=\sqrt{x}\mathrm{cos}\left(\sqrt{\lambda 1/4}\mathrm{log}x+\delta \right).$$
(7)
Obviously, this $`\varphi `$ has an infinite number of nodes for any $`Xx<\mathrm{}`$, $`X>0`$.

We can now use the theorem summarized in Eq. (4), to get the following general result : the number of one dimensional bound states is infinite if there exists an $`X>0`$ such that

either $`x^2V(x)<L<1/4,\text{for}x>X,`$ (8)
and/or $`x^2V(x)<L<1/4,\text{for}x<X.`$
On the other hand, if $`V`$ is bounded from below and if $`x^2V(x)>1/4`$ for $`|x|>|X|`$, then the number of bound states is finite.

Using the series of transformation described in Appendix II it is possible to approach the limiting case in a more refined way. For example : if

$$V(x)<\frac{1}{4x^2}\frac{\mu _1}{4x^2(\mathrm{}nx)^2},x>X,\mu _1>1$$

or

$$V(x)<\frac{1}{4x^2}\frac{1}{4x^2(\mathrm{}nx)^2}\left[1+\frac{\mu _2}{(\mathrm{}n\mathrm{}nx)^2}\right],x>X,\mu _2>1$$
(9)
the number of bound states is infinite. Notice that this is true for $`X`$ arbitrarily large, i.e., in a way, $`V`$ arbitrarily small.

These two examples are such that $`𝑑x|V(x)|^{1/2}\mathrm{}`$. This is not surprising since in the three dimensional radial case we have for a monotonic potential the Cohn-Calogero  bound,

$$n<\frac{2}{\pi }_0^{\mathrm{}}𝑑r|V|^{1/2}.$$
(10)
However we can have non-monotonic potentials such that the above integral converges but the number of bound states is infinite. For example one can set

$$V=\underset{0}{\overset{+\mathrm{}}{}}\delta (x2n).$$
(11)
For this potential $`|V|^{1/2}𝑑x=0`$ since the $`\delta `$-function can be effectively replaced by suitably chosen square wells of decreasing widths $`\epsilon _n`$ and depth $`\frac{1}{\epsilon _n}`$ with $`\mathrm{\Sigma }\sqrt{\epsilon _n}`$ convergent, and $`\epsilon _o`$ arbitrarily small.

Next we consider the two-dimensional case. In this case we introduce a simple transformation which converts the one-dimensional zero energy Schrödinger equation to the $`m=0`$, two-dimensional radial Schrödinger equation. In one dimension $`\mathrm{}<x<+\mathrm{}`$ we have,

$$\left[\frac{d^2}{dx^2}+U(x)\right]\varphi (x)=0.$$
(12)
Our change of variables is given by :

$`x\mathrm{}nr/R,0r<\mathrm{};`$
$`U(x)r^2V(r);`$
$`\varphi (x)=\psi (r).`$ (13)
This transformation is a particular case of the Liouville transformation . Equation (12) now becomes

$$\left(\frac{d^2}{dr^2}\frac{1}{r}\frac{d}{dr}+V(r)\right)\varphi (r)=0.$$
(14)
But this equation is precisely the $`m=0`$ two\- dimensional radial Schrödinger equation.

Using Eq. (8) we now see that for a radial potential $`V(r)`$, the number of bound states is infinite if,

$$r^2\left(\mathrm{}n\frac{r}{R}\right)^2V(r)<L<1/4;r>R_0>R;$$
(15)
This time we see that the integral appearing in the semiclassical estimate, $`_0^{\mathrm{}}r|V(r)|𝑑r`$ is convergent and yet the number of bound states is infinite. Furthermore the integral $`_0^{\mathrm{}}r𝑑r|V(r)|[\mathrm{}n(2+r)]^{1\epsilon }`$, is also convergent for $`\epsilon >0`$, and the integral can be made arbitrarily small by taking $`R_0`$ arbitrarily large.

Our limit potentials in the 2-dimensional case are given by

$`V(r)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\mu }{4}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{r^2\left(\mathrm{}n\frac{r}{R}\right)^2}},rR_01;`$
$`V(r)`$ $`=`$ $`0,r<R_0,`$ (16)
with $`\mu >1`$.

In addition we can also solve the Schrödinger equation exactly for the class,

$$V(r)=\{\begin{array}{c}0,r<R,\mathrm{with}R>1;\hfill \\ g/r^2(\mathrm{}nr)^\alpha ,r>R,1<\alpha <2\hfill \end{array}$$
(17)
with $`g>0`$. The solution is given by

$$\{\begin{array}{c}\psi (r)=a+b\mathrm{}nr;r<R;\hfill \\ \\ \psi (r)=(\mathrm{log}r)^{1/2}\left[AJ_\nu \left(2\nu \sqrt{g}(\mathrm{log}r)^{1/2\nu }\right)+BY_\nu \left(2\nu \sqrt{g}(\mathrm{log}r)^{\frac{1}{2\nu }}\right)\right],rR.\hfill \end{array}$$
(18)
where $`\nu (2\alpha )^1`$, and $`J_\nu `$ and $`Y_\nu `$ are Bessel functions. This last solution has an infinite number of nodes for $`r>R`$ and hence the potential (17) has an infinite number of bound states, and this is true for arbitrarily small $`g`$.

A completely different approach to get infinitely many bound states abandons radial symmetry and considers scattering by circular “delta shell” potentials in the plane. Indeed a very simple example where $`Vd^2x`$ is finite, arbitrarily small, and where one sees that has a bound state has been invented by Richard . It is a delta shell potential :

$$V=g\delta (r1).$$
(19)
Here $`d^2xV=2\pi g`$ is finite. The zero-energy Schrödinger equation

$$\left(\frac{d^2}{dr^2}\frac{1}{r}\frac{d}{dr}+V\right)\psi =0$$

has a solution, finite at the origin, which is

$$\{\begin{array}{c}\psi =1\text{for}r<1\hfill \\ \psi =1g\mathrm{}nr\text{for}r1\hfill \end{array}.$$
(20)
Hence the zero-energy radial solution has a node at

$$r_0=\mathrm{exp}\frac{1}{g},$$
(21)
and therefore this potential has a bound state for arbitrarily small $`g`$.

If, in addition, we now impose a Dirichlet boundary condition at $`r=\mathrm{exp}\frac{1}{g}`$ and set $`\psi `$ to be identically zero for $`r>\mathrm{exp}\left(\frac{1}{g}\right)`$, i.e., physically, having an infinitely repulsive wall, we will still have a solution with a node at $`r=\mathrm{exp}\frac{1}{g}`$, and hence a zero-energy bound state.

Take now a sequence of potentials

$$V_n=g_n\delta (|\stackrel{}{x}\stackrel{}{x}_n|1),$$
(22)
$`g_n>0`$, such that $`\mathrm{\Sigma }g_n`$ converges, $`\stackrel{}{x}_n`$ on the positive $`x`$ axis. For simplicity, $`g_n`$ will be chosen a decreasing sequence. It is always possible to choose the $`\stackrel{}{x}_n`$’s in such a way that the disks

$$|\stackrel{}{x}\stackrel{}{x}_n|\mathrm{exp}\frac{1}{g_n}=r_n$$
(23)
do not overlap.

The number of bound states of $`V=\underset{n=0}{\overset{n_0}{}}V_n`$ is certainly larger than $`n_0`$, the result one gets when one imposes Dirichlet boundary conditions on the border of each disk (this strategy was already used in Ref. ). Letting $`n_0`$ go to infinity, we see that we have infinitely many bound states, and yet the integral $`|V|d^2x=2\pi \mathrm{\Sigma }g_n`$ is finite and can be arbitrarily small.

We can, however, do better than that, i.e., try to build an example in which

$$|V|\left[\mathrm{}n(2+|\stackrel{}{x}|)\right]^\alpha d^2x$$

is finite, where $`\alpha `$ is to be determined. We take the centres of the circles on a line, and since the $`g_n`$’s are decreasing, we have

$$|\stackrel{}{x}_n|+r_n<(2n+1)\mathrm{exp}\frac{1}{g_n},$$

and hence

$$|V_n|\left|\mathrm{}n(2+|\stackrel{}{x}|)\right|^\alpha d^2x<g_n\mathrm{}n\left[2+(2n+1)\mathrm{exp}\frac{1}{g_n}\right]^\alpha .$$

However,

$$\mathrm{}n\left(2+(2n+1)\mathrm{exp}\frac{1}{g_n}\right)<\frac{\mathrm{}n3}{\mathrm{}n2}\left[\mathrm{}n(2n+1)+\frac{1}{g_n}\right],$$

and hence

$$\underset{n=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}|V_n|\left|\mathrm{}n(2+|\stackrel{}{x}|)\right|^\alpha d^2x<2\pi \left(\frac{\mathrm{}n3}{\mathrm{}n2}\right)^\alpha \left[\mathrm{\Sigma }g_n\left[\mathrm{}n(2n+1)+\frac{1}{g_n}\right]^\alpha \right].$$

Since we want the series on the right-hand side to converge, $`\alpha `$ is chosen to be less than $`1`$.

With the choice

$$g_n=g_0\mathrm{exp}(\lambda n),$$

this series will converge for any $`\alpha <1`$.

III. Bounds on the number of bound states in one and two

dimensions

We start by considering the one dimensional case, and write always, in obvious notations, $`V=V^+V^{}`$ where $`V^+`$ and $`V^{}`$ are both $`0`$.

The zero-energy one-dimensional Schrödinger equation is

$$\left(\frac{d^2}{dx^2}+V(x)\right)\psi (x)=0,x(\mathrm{},+\mathrm{}).$$
(24)
Except for the fact that one is restricted to the half line, the above equation is the same as the reduced $`\mathrm{}=0`$, 3-dimensional Schrödinger equation

$$\left(\frac{d^2}{dr^2}+V(r)\right)u(r)=0,r[0,\mathrm{}).$$
(25)
Now if, in the one dimensional case $`V(x)`$ has $`N`$ bound states, then $`\psi (x)`$ has $`N`$ nodes, $`x_p`$, $`p=1,\mathrm{},N`$. Let $`k`$ be such that

$$x_k<0<x_{k+1},$$

then the 3-dimensional potential, $`V_1(r)=V(x)`$ with $`rxx_{k+1}`$, has $`(Nk1)`$ $`\mathrm{}=0`$ bound states. Also the potential, $`V_2(r)V(x)`$ with $`r=(xx_k)`$ has $`k`$ bound states with $`\mathrm{}=0`$. Hence any three dimensional bound gives a one dimensional bound.

Starting with the well known Bargmann  bound for angular momentum $`\mathrm{}`$, we write

$$N(\mathrm{})<\frac{1}{2\mathrm{}+1}_0^{\mathrm{}}rV^{}(r)𝑑r.$$
(26)
Using $`\mathrm{}=0`$, we get, for the one dimensional case :

$$N(1D)1<_{\mathrm{}}^{x_\kappa }|xx_\kappa |V^{}(x)dx+_{x_{\kappa +1}}^{\mathrm{}}|xx_{\kappa +1}|V^{}(x)dx,$$

and hence

$$N(1D)<1+_{\mathrm{}}^+\mathrm{}|x|V^{}(x)dx.$$
(27)
Similarly, we can use the bound obtained by one of us  in the radial three-dimensional case :

$$N(3D,\mathrm{}=0)<\left[_0^{\mathrm{}}r^2V^{}(r)𝑑r_0^{\mathrm{}}V^{}(r)𝑑r\right]^{1/4}$$
(28)
to get, in the one-dimensional case, after some manipulations:

$$N(1D)<1+\sqrt{2}\left[_{\mathrm{}}^+\mathrm{}x^2V^{}(x)𝑑x_{\mathrm{}}^+\mathrm{}V^{}(x)𝑑x\right]^{1/4}$$
(29)
which behaves like $`\sqrt{g}`$ if $`V=gV`$, like the semi-classical estimate.

Now to get bounds in two dimensions for the $`m=0`$ case is very simple. The change of variables given in Eq. (S0.Ex4) allows us to go from Eq. (27) to a bound for the 2D case :

$$N(2D,m=0)<1+_0^{\mathrm{}}r|\mathrm{}n\left(\frac{r}{R}\right)|V^{}(r)dr.$$
(30)
In this bound $`R`$ is arbitrary. We can minimize with respect to $`R`$. $`R_{min}`$ is given by

$$_0^{R_{min}}x|V(x)|𝑑x=_{R_{min}}^{\mathrm{}}x|V(x)|𝑑x.$$
(31)
The bound (30) with $`R=R_{min}`$ should be compared with the bound previously obtained by Newton  and Setô  which is

$`N(m=0)`$ $`<`$ $`1+{\displaystyle \frac{\frac{1}{2}r𝑑rr^{}𝑑r^{}V^{}(r)V^{}(r^{})|\mathrm{}n\left(\frac{r}{r^{}}\right)|}{r𝑑rV^{}(r)}}`$ (32)
$`=`$ $`1+J.`$
It turns out that

$$J<I(R_{min})<2J.$$
(33)
This is demonstrated in Appendix III. So the Newton-Setô bound is slightly better but has a more complex structure. Both bounds are “optimal” in the sense that multiplying factors in them cannot be improved. This is because the Bargmann bound is itself known to be optimal.

Applying the same change of variable in equation (S0.Ex4) and (29) gives

$$N(m=0,2D)<1+\sqrt{2}\left[_0^{\mathrm{}}(\mathrm{}nr)^2r𝑑rV^{}(r)_0^{\mathrm{}}r𝑑rV(r)\right].$$
(34)
For large coupling this behaves like $`\sqrt{g}`$ for a potential $`gV`$. The integrals appearing in Eq. (34) are those which were required to converge in our original paper on low energy scattering in 2 dimensions.

IV. A bound on the total number of bound states in two dimensions

In this section, we study the total number of bound states in two dimensions, mostly for a rotationally symmetrical potential. The bound for this rotationally symmetrical case gives also some information for the general case, as discussed near the end of this section.

For the radial case, the easiest thing to do is to notice that the radial reduced equation (11) can be viewed as a radial three-dimensional equation with non-integer angular momentum $`\mathrm{}=m1/2`$. Therefore the Bargmann bound  is valid :

$$N_m<\frac{1}{2m}_0^{\mathrm{}}rV^{}(r)𝑑r.$$
(35)
To get the total number of bound states, we must remember that for $`m0`$ we have a multiplicity 2 and for $`m=0`$ multiplicity 1. Hence

$`N_{total}`$ $`<`$ $`N_0+{\displaystyle \underset{m=1}{\overset{m=2{\scriptscriptstyle rV^{}(r)𝑑r}}{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{m}}{\displaystyle rV^{}(r)𝑑r}`$
$`N_{total}`$ $`<`$ $`N_0+\left[{\displaystyle rV^{}(r)𝑑r}\right]\mathrm{}n\left[2+2{\displaystyle rV^{}(r)𝑑r}\right]`$ (36)
where $`N_0`$ is for instance given by (30).

However, the logarithm is spurious. This has already happened in the past, for instance in the three-dimensional bound obtained by Glaser, Grosse, Martin and Thirring .

To show this, we use a technique due to Glaser, Grosse and Martin , in which the counting of bound states for a radial potential is reduced to the calculation of a bound on the moment of the eigenvalues of a one-dimensional problem.

The reduced radial Schrödinger equation for bound states

$$\left[\frac{d^2}{dr^2}+\frac{m^21/4}{r^2}+V(r)E_i(m)\right]u_i(r)=0,$$
(37)
where $`i`$ designates the number of nodes of the solution ($`i`$-th eigenfunction starting from the ground state designated by $`i=0`$), has been generalized by Regge  to non-integer and even complex angular momentum. What can be shown, under the weak condition

$$r|V(r)|𝑑r<\mathrm{},$$
(38)
is that each $`E_i(m)`$, $`i=0,1,\mathrm{}`$ is the restriction to $`m`$ integer (physical) of a real analytic, monotonically increasing function of $`m`$, $`0<m<m_i`$, where $`m_i`$ is such that $`E_i(m_i)=0`$. That $`m_i`$ exist follows from the Bargmann bound and condition (38). (Notice that $`m_0>m_1>\mathrm{}`$). This is what is called a “Regge trajectory”. Different trajectories with different $`m_i`$’s do not intersect, due to general Sturn-Liouville theory. In Appendix IV, we sketch the proof of these statements.

The number of bound states on a given trajectory, with $`m1`$, will be $`[m_i]`$, where $`[x]`$ is the integer part of $`x`$. Each of those bound states with $`m0`$ has a multiplicity 2. So the total number of bound states with $`m0`$ is

$$2\underset{i,[m_i]1}{}[m_i].$$

On the other hand, by using the change of variables (13) already employed in sections II and III the zero-energy reduced Schrödinger equation

$$\left(\frac{d^2}{dr^2}+\frac{m^21/4}{r^2}+V(r)\right)u(r)=0$$
(39)
becomes

$$\left(\frac{d^2}{dz^2}+U(x)\right)\varphi (x)=(m^21/4)\varphi (x)$$
(40)
The eigenvalues of (39) are just the $`m_i^21/4`$, $`m_i`$ defined previously. The sum $`[m_i]`$ is very similar to the sum of moments of power 1/2 of the eigenvalues of (38) :

$$\underset{[m_i]>1}{}[m_i]<\frac{2}{\sqrt{3}}(m_i^21/4)^{1/2}.$$
(41)
It happens that this moment satisfies a bound proposed by Lieb and Thirring

$$|e_i|^{1/2}<L_{1/2,1}_{\mathrm{}}^+\mathrm{}𝑑xU^{}(x)=L_{1/2,1}_0^{\mathrm{}}rV^{}(r)𝑑r$$
(42)
. where the $`e_i`$’s are the eigenvalues of the one-dimensional Schrödinger equation with a potential $`U`$. $`L_{1/2,1}`$ has been shown to be finite by Weidel  and less than 1.005. More recently Hundertmark, Lieb and Thomas  have found the optimal value for $`L_{1/2,1}`$, namely 1/2 :

$$|e_i|^{1/2}<\frac{1}{2}_{\mathrm{}}^+\mathrm{}U^{}(x)𝑑x$$
(43)
which is obtained in the one-bound-state case with a delta function potential.

Therefore, using (30), (41) and (43) we get a bound on the total number of bound states in two space dimensions for a central potential

$`N<1`$ $`+`$ $`{\displaystyle _0^{\mathrm{}}}rV^{}(r)\left|\mathrm{}n\left({\displaystyle \frac{r}{R}}\right)\right|𝑑r`$ (44)
$`+`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{2}{\sqrt{3}}}{\displaystyle _0^{\mathrm{}}}rV^{}(r)𝑑r.`$
We notice that for a potential $`gV`$ the bound is linear in $`g`$, similar to the semiclassical estimate for large $`g`$. It is probably almost optimal, in the sense that it is optimal for $`m=0`$ and that for $`m0`$ the only foreseeable improvement is to remove the multiplicative factor $`2/\sqrt{3}`$.

It is trivial, but not very elegant, to obtain also a bound on the total number of bound states for a non-central potential. Let

$$B(r)=\underset{0<\theta <2\pi }{sup}V^{}(r,\theta ).$$
(45)
Then replacing $`V(r)`$ by $`B(r)`$ in (44) we get a bound on the total number of bound states in a non-radial potential because of the monotonicity of the bound-state energies with respect to the potential.

For a potential with a single singular point the replacement of $`V^{}`$ by $`B(r)`$ is not too bad. However, if $`V`$ has several singular points the replacement will be catastrophic since $`B`$ will be infinite on successive circles corresponding to these singular points. It is certainly desirable to find a better bound.

Our conjecture is

$`N`$ $`<`$ $`1+2{\displaystyle \frac{d^2x}{2\pi }V_R(|x|)\mathrm{}n^{}\left(\frac{|x|}{R}\right)}`$ (46)
$`+`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{d^2x}{2\pi }V^{}(x)\mathrm{}n\left(\frac{|x|}{R}\right)}+{\displaystyle \frac{2}{\sqrt{3}}}{\displaystyle \frac{d^2x}{2\pi }V^{}(x)},`$
where $`V_R(|x|)`$ is the decreasing rearrangement of $`V^{}(x)`$ (see footnote in Appendix I). The reasons for which we propose this are

(i) for a central decreasing potential (46) coincides with (44) ;

ii) for a central potential not necessarily decreasing, the r.h.s. of (46) is larger than the r.h.s. of (44) ;

iii) if we take a shifted central with a centre outside the origin, the first and the last integrals in (46) are, of course, invariant. The second integral, because of the harmonic properties of $`\mathrm{}nr`$ in 2 dimensions, is larger than the one corresponding to a central potential centred at the origin.

Proving (46) or something similar might be rather difficult but, seeing what has been achieved for higher dimensions, not impossible.

Notice that the integrals in (44) and (46) will certainly converge under the conditions of Ref. , and we can announce that they do converge in Ref.  also.

Acknowledgements

We should like to thank J. M. Richard and W. Thirring for crucial information. Two of us, N.N.K and T.T.W., are grateful to the CERN Theory Division for its kind hospitality. This work was supported in part by the U.S. Department of Energy under Grant No. DE-FG02-91ER40651, Task B, and under Grant No. DE-FG02-84ER40158.
Note added: Dr. P. Blanchard drew our attention to a paper by A. Laptev  in which he finds a bound on the number of bound states for a potential $`b|x|^2|V(|x|)|`$, which is

$$N<\frac{A(b)}{4\pi }|V(x)|d^2x,$$

when $`A(b)\mathrm{}`$ for $`b0`$. With methods developed in the present paper, using the Bargmann bound for the $`m=0`$ contribution and (42) for the rest, we get

$$A(b)<\frac{1}{\sqrt{b}}+\frac{4}{\sqrt{3}}.$$

Appendix I

Upper and lower bounds on the ground state energy
in two dimensions

We use the Schrödinger equation in integral form, for a potential $`gV`$ :

$$\psi (x)=\frac{g}{2\pi }K_0(\kappa |xy|)V(y)\psi (y)d^2y,$$
$`(\mathrm{I}.1)`$
for an energy $`E=\kappa ^2`$.

First we shall get an algebraic lower bound. Then $`V`$ can be replaced by $`V^{}`$, the attractive part of the potential. We have :

$$|\psi (x)|<\frac{g}{2\pi }K_0(\kappa |xy|)V^{}(y)d^2ysup|\psi |.$$
$`(\mathrm{I}.2)`$
Since $`K_0(t)`$ is a decreasing function of $`t`$ and given the rearrangement inequality,

$$ABd^2x<A_RB_Rd^2x$$

where $`A`$ and $`B`$ are positive, going to zero at infinity, and $`A_R`$ and $`B_R`$ are their decreasing circular rearrangements$`A_R`$ is a decreasing function of $`|x|`$ such that $`t`$, $`\mu (A_R>t)=\mu (A>t)`$, where $`\mu `$ is the Lesbègue measure., we have

$$|\psi (x)|<\frac{g}{2\pi }K_0(\kappa |y|)V_R(|y|)d^2ysup|\psi |$$
$`(\mathrm{I}.3)`$
where $`V_R`$ is the rearrangement of $`V^{}`$. Hence, if we take the supremum of the left-hand side over $`x`$, we can divide by $`sup|\psi |`$ and obtain

$$1<\frac{g}{2\pi }K_0(\kappa |y|)V_R(|y|)d^2y.$$

From the property

$$K_0(ab)<\mathrm{}n^+\left(\frac{1}{a}\right)+K_0(b),$$
$`(\mathrm{I}.4)`$
where $`\mathrm{}n^+(t)=\mathrm{}nt`$ for $`t>1`$, $`=0`$ for $`t<1`$, which is proved at the end of this Appendix, we get

$$K_0(\kappa )>\frac{1}{g}\frac{1\frac{g}{2\pi }\mathrm{}n^+\left(\frac{1}{|y|}\right)V_R(y)d^2y}{\frac{1}{2\pi }V_{}(y)d^2y}=X.$$
$`(\mathrm{I}.5)`$
As long as $`X`$ is positive, this gives a lower bound on $`K_0(\kappa )`$ and hence an upper bound on $`\kappa `$ and an upper bound on $`\kappa ^2`$, the absolute value of the binding energy.

If $`X>K_0(1)=0.42,\mathrm{}`$, we can again use the inequality (I.4) and get

$$\kappa ^2<\mathrm{exp}2\left(\frac{1}{g}\frac{1\frac{1}{2\pi }\mathrm{}n^+\left(\frac{1}{y}\right)V_R(y)d^2y}{\frac{1}{2\pi }V_{}(y)d^2y}+K_0(1)\right),$$
$`(\mathrm{I}.6)`$
which demonstrates that the absolute value of the binding energy is bounded by $`\mathrm{exp}C/g`$, $`C>0`$ for $`g0`$.

In the special case of a purely attractive potential we can get an inequality going in the opposite direction. We start again from (I.1) and use the fact that the ground-state wave function is positive. We have

$$\psi (x)>\frac{g}{2\pi }_{|y|<R}K_0(\kappa |xy|)|V(y)|d^2y\times \mathrm{Inf}_{|y|<R}|\psi (y)|$$

and, taking also $`|x|<R`$, and using the fact that $`K_0`$ is decreasing :

$$\mathrm{Inf}|\psi (y)|_{|x|<R}>\frac{g}{2\pi }K_0(2\kappa R)_{|y|<R}|V(y)|d^2y\mathrm{Inf}|\psi (y)|_{|x|<R}.$$
$`(\mathrm{I}.7)`$
However, $`\mathrm{Inf}|\psi (y)|_{|x|<R}`$ cannot vanish in the ground state and hence we can divide (I.7) by $`\mathrm{Inf}|\psi (x)|`$. From

$$K_0(t)>\mathrm{}n\frac{1}{t}+\mathrm{}n2\gamma ,$$
$`(\mathrm{I}.8)`$
when $`\gamma `$ is the Euler constant $`=0.577`$ … we get

$$\kappa ^2>\frac{e^{2\gamma }}{R^2}\mathrm{exp}\frac{2}{g_{|x|<R}|V(\kappa )|d^2x}$$
$`(\mathrm{I}.9)`$
which goes in the opposite direction to (I.6), but again has the form $`\mathrm{exp}\frac{C}{g}`$ for small $`g`$. Both upper and lower bounds on $`\kappa ^2`$ have the same qualitative behaviour for small $`g`$. The lower bound on $`\kappa ^2`$ can be optimized with respect to $`R`$. Of course we cannot do that for a potential which is not strictly attractive but only globally attractive. Nevertheless, we believe that the same qualitative result will hold.

In a recent paper  Nieto has given an explicit example in which he shows that the binding energy in absolute value is incredibly small. A square well with unit radius and strength 0.1 in natural units produces a bound state with energy $`10^{18}`$.

Finally we give a proof of (I.4) and (I.8) : consider the quantity

$`Z=K_0(x)\mathrm{}n\left({\displaystyle \frac{x_0}{x}}\right),`$
$`Z^{}=K_1(x)+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{x}}.`$
From

$$K_1(x)=_1^{\mathrm{}}\frac{tdt}{\sqrt{t^21}}\mathrm{exp}tx<_1^{\mathrm{}}\frac{tdt}{\sqrt{t^21}}\mathrm{exp}x\sqrt{t^21},$$

we get $`K_1(x)<\frac{1}{x}`$, and hence

$$Z^{}>0.$$

So, for $`x<x_0`$ $`Z(x)<Z(x_0)=K_0(x_0)`$, which proves (I.4). On the other hand, we have $`\underset{x0}{lim}Z(x)=\mathrm{}n2\gamma `$, and so

$$K_0(x)>\mathrm{}n2\gamma +\mathrm{}n\left(\frac{1}{x}\right).$$

Appendix II

Transformations of the Schrödinger equation
from one to two dimensions,
the converse, limit potentials, and generalization

In section II we presented a transformation of the one dimensional zero energy Schrödinger equation,

$$\left(\frac{d^2}{dx^2}+U(x)\right)\varphi (\kappa )=0,x(\mathrm{},+\mathrm{});$$
$`(\mathrm{II}.1)`$
into the two dimensional, zero angular momentum, Schrödinger equation,

$$\left(\frac{d^2}{dr^2}\frac{1}{r}\frac{d}{dr}+V(r)\right)\varphi (r)=0,r[0,\mathrm{}).$$
$`(\mathrm{II}.2)`$
The transformation is given by :

$`x`$ $``$ $`\mathrm{}n\left({\displaystyle \frac{r}{R}}\right);x(\mathrm{},+\mathrm{});r[0,\mathrm{});`$
$`U(x)`$ $``$ $`r^2V(r);x0;`$
$`\varphi (x)`$ $``$ $`\psi (r);x0.(\mathrm{II}.3)`$
This enables us to prove that since a potential, $`U(x)`$, given by

$`U(x)`$ $`=`$ $`0;x<X,`$
$`U(x)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\mu }{4x^2}};\mu >1,xX,(\mathrm{II}.4)`$
has infinitely many bound states in one dimension, the potential

$`V(r)`$ $`=`$ $`0;r<R_0;`$
$`V(r)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\mu }{r^2\left(\mathrm{}n\frac{r}{R}\right)^2}};rR_0>R;\mu >1;(\mathrm{II}.5)`$
will also have infinitely many bound states in two dimensions for the $`m=0`$, radial case.

This procedure can be continued further. We can re-transform (II.1) to make it look like a two dimensional equation by defining $`\chi (x)`$ as

$$\varphi (x)x^{1/2}\chi (x).$$
$`(\mathrm{II}.6)`$
The $`\kappa `$ satisfies the equation

$$\left(\frac{d^2}{dx^2}\frac{1}{x}\frac{d}{dx}+W(x)\right)\chi (x)=0,$$

with

$$W(x)=U(x)\frac{1}{4x^2}.$$
$`(\mathrm{II}.7)`$
Relabelling $`x`$ as $`r`$ we have

$$\left(\frac{d^2}{dr^2}\frac{1}{r}\frac{d}{dr}+W(r)\right)\chi (r)=0.$$
$`(\mathrm{II}.8)`$
This last equation is for $`r0`$ exactly the two dimensional radial equation.

From the chain,

$$V(r)U(x)W(r),$$

we obtain,

$$W(r)=\frac{1}{4r^2(\mathrm{}nr)^2}+\frac{1}{r^2}V(\mathrm{}nr).$$
$`(\mathrm{II}.9)`$
Thus if for $`x>x_0`$ we set

$$U(x)=\frac{\mu }{4x^2},$$

or

$$V(r)=\frac{\mu }{4r^2(\mathrm{}nr)^2},$$

we get

$$W(r)=\frac{1}{4r^2(\mathrm{}nr)^2}\frac{\mu }{4r^2(\mathrm{}nr)^2(\mathrm{}n\mathrm{}nr)^2},$$

with $`r>R_0>0`$.

This potential has infinitely many bound states if $`\mu >1`$. Our procedure can be repeatedly iterated producing potentials which are closer to the limit, and with wave functions which can be expressed explicitly in terms of elementary functions.

Finally we stress that this procedure is not restricted to the connection between one dimension and two dimensions, and the construction of limit potentials in one or two dimensions. It also applies in $`N`$ dimensions.

In $`N`$-dimensions the radial Schrödinger equation becomes

$$\left(\frac{d^2}{dr^2}\frac{N1}{r}\frac{d}{dr}+V(r)\right)\psi (r)=0.$$

We set

$$\psi (r)=r^{1\frac{N}{2}}\stackrel{~}{\psi }(r);$$

and obtain

$$\left(\frac{d^2}{dr^2}\frac{1}{r}\frac{d}{dr}+\frac{(1\frac{N}{2})^2}{r^2}+V(r)\right)\stackrel{~}{\psi }(r)=0.$$

We can define $`\stackrel{~}{V}(r)V(r)+\left(1\frac{N}{2}\right)^2/r^2`$, and hence again obtain the 2-$`D`$ form.

The conclusion is, using (II.5), that in $`N`$ dimensions, the potential

$`V(r)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{(N2)^2}{4r^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{\mu }{r^2(\mathrm{}nr)^2}};r>R>1;`$
$`=`$ $`0;rR;(\mathrm{II}.11)`$
has infinitely many bound states if $`\mu >1`$, and a finite number if $`\mu <1`$.

This procedure can be further iterated to get more refined results.

Appendix IIIComparison of our bound on the number
of m = 0 bound states and of the Newton-Setô bound

We wish to compare our bound

$`N(m=0)`$ $`<`$ $`1+I(R)`$
$`I(R)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle _0^{\mathrm{}}}r𝑑rV^{}(r)\left|\mathrm{}n\left({\displaystyle \frac{R}{r}}\right)\right|(\mathrm{III}.1)`$
and $`I(R_{min})`$ given by

$$_0^{R_{min}}rV^{}(r)𝑑r=_{R_{min}}^{\mathrm{}}rV^{}(r)𝑑r,$$
$`(\mathrm{III}.2)`$
with the Newton-Setô bound :

$$N(m=0)<1+J,$$

where

$$J=\frac{\frac{1}{2}r𝑑rr^{}𝑑r^{}\left|\mathrm{}n\left(\frac{r}{r^{}}\right)\right|V^{}(r)V^{}(r^{})}{r𝑑rV^{}(r)}.$$
$`(\mathrm{III}.3)`$
$`J`$ can be rewritten as

$$J=\frac{\frac{1}{2}r𝑑rV^{}(r)I^{}(r)}{r𝑑rV^{}(r)}.$$
$`(\mathrm{III}.4)`$
Hence, from the mean value theorem

$$J\frac{1}{2}I(R_{min}).$$
$`(\mathrm{III}.5)`$
On the other hand, taking into account (III.2), one has, with $`R>R_{min}`$,

$$I(R)=I(R_{min})+2_{R_{min}}^Rr𝑑rV^{}(r)\mathrm{}n\left(\frac{R}{r}\right).$$
$`(\mathrm{III}.6)`$
One gets

$`I(R)`$ $`<`$ $`I(R_{min})+2\mathrm{}n\left({\displaystyle \frac{R}{R_{min}}}\right){\displaystyle _{R_{min}}^{\mathrm{}}}r𝑑rV^{}(r)`$
$`=`$ $`I(R_{min})+\mathrm{}n\left({\displaystyle \frac{R}{R_{min}}}\right){\displaystyle _0^{\mathrm{}}}r𝑑rV^{}(r).`$
The case $`R<R_{min}`$ can be treated in the same way and one gets

$$I(R)<I(R_{min})+|\mathrm{}n\left(\frac{R}{R_{min}}\right)|_0^{\mathrm{}}r𝑑rV^{}(r).$$
$`(\mathrm{III}.7)`$
Inserting in (III.4) leads to

$$J<I(R_{min}).$$
$`(\mathrm{III}.8)`$
Appendix IVRegge trajectories for bound states

What follows here is somewhat implicit in the work of Regge . We give here some details for the sake of completeness.

To find bound state energies $`E=\kappa ^2`$ for a given $`m`$ (real $`>0`$), but not necessarily integer, we must find a solution of

$$\left[\frac{d^2}{dr^2}+\frac{m^21/4}{r^2}+V(r)+\kappa ^2\right]u=0,$$
$`(\mathrm{IV}.1)`$
such that $`u0`$ for $`r0`$ and $`r\mathrm{}`$. For general $`m`$ and $`\kappa `$ , $`Rem>0`$, $`Re\kappa >0`$, if

$$r|V(r)|𝑑r<\mathrm{},$$
$`(\mathrm{IV}.2)`$
(IV.1) has in general two independent solutions $`y`$ and $`z`$ such that

$`y`$ $``$ $`r^m,r0`$
$`z`$ $``$ $`\mathrm{exp}(\kappa r),r\mathrm{}.(\mathrm{IV}.3)`$
It is then shown that both $`y(m,\kappa ;r)`$ and $`z(m,\kappa ;r)`$ are analytic in $`m`$ and $`\kappa `$ in
$`\{Rem>0Re\kappa >0\}`$. The Wronskian of $`y`$ and $`z`$ is given by

$$W(y,z)yz^{}y^{}z=F(m,\kappa ),$$

where $`F`$ is analytic in the same domain. The bound state energies are given by

$$F(m,\kappa )=0.$$
$`(\mathrm{IV}.4)`$
This defines the bound state energies as implicit functions of $`m`$. If $`F(\stackrel{~}{m}_i,\stackrel{~}{\kappa }_i)=0`$, $`\stackrel{~}{m}_i`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{\kappa }_i>0`$, and $`(/\kappa )^pF=0`$, $`p=1,2\mathrm{},q1`$, and $`(/\kappa )^qF0`$ at that point, we have $`q`$ different solutions in the neighbourhood of $`\stackrel{~}{m}_i`$, $`\stackrel{~}{\kappa }_i`$. However, this is impossible for $`q2`$ because there cannot be any degeneracy as a general consequence of Sturm-Liouville theory. Hence, $`\kappa `$ is analytic in $`m`$ in the neighbourhood of $`\stackrel{~}{m}_i`$, $`\stackrel{~}{\kappa }_i`$, and $`\kappa _i`$ is a real analytic function of $`m`$ for $`0<m<m_i`$, where $`m_i`$ is such that $`E_i(m_i)=0`$. In addition, $`\kappa _i`$ is a decreasing function of $`m`$ since, from the Feynman-Hellmann theorem

$$\frac{dE_i}{dm}=2m\frac{u_i^2}{r^2}𝑑r.$$
$`(\mathrm{IV}.5)`$
Let us remark here that the condition (IV.2) is certainly too strong. It is needed to ensure that $`y`$ and $`z`$ have the properties given by (IV.3). But if $`V`$ has strong repulsive singularities, one could approach it by $`V_M,V_M=V`$ if $`V<M`$, $`V_M=M`$ if $`VM`$, and use a limiting procedure.


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# The H𝛼 and Infrared Star Formation Rates for the Nearby Field Galaxy Survey

## 1 Introduction

Understanding the star formation history of the universe is the primary goal of much current research in astronomy (for example, Rowan-Robinson, 2001; Cole et al., 2001; Baldry et al., 2002; Lanzetta et al., 2002; Rosa-Gonzàlez, Terlevich, & Terlevich, 2002). To obtain this understanding, a reliable estimate of the star formation rate in individual galaxies is required. Many calibrations of star-formation rate depend on the luminosity measured at various wavelengths including: radio (eg., Condon, 1992; Cram et al., 1998; Haarsma et al., 2000), IR (eg., Hunter et al., 1986; Lehnert & Heckman, 1996; Meurer et al., 1997; Kennicutt, 1998), optical (eg., Gallagher et al., 1989; Leitherer & Heckman, 1995; Kennicutt, 1998; Madau, Pozzetti, & Dickinson, 1998; Rosa-Gonzàlez, Terlevich, & Terlevich, 2002), or UV (eg., Buat, Deharveng & Donas, 1989; Deharveng et al., 1994; Leitherer, Robert, & Heckman, 1995; Meurer et al., 1995; Cowie et al., 1997; Madau, Pozzetti, & Dickinson, 1998; Rosa-Gonzàlez, Terlevich, & Terlevich, 2002). Unfortunately, the agreement among the SFR indicators at these different wavelengths is poor, and the underlying reasons for the differences are not well understood. To compute the SFR at any redshift and to relate SFRs at different redshifts, it is crucial to understand the physics underlying each SFR indicator and the source of the discrepancies among them.

Here, we investigate two SFR indicators, the SFR(IR) and SFR($`\text{H}\alpha `$), for a large, objectively selected sample of nearby galaxies. We aim to: (1) reduce the discrepancy between these two SFRs, and (2) obtain a better understanding of the relationship between the IR and $`\text{H}\alpha `$ emission for all Hubble types.

In star-forming galaxies, $`\text{H}\alpha `$ photons are produced by gas ionized by young hot stars. The SFR($`\text{H}\alpha `$) is then a direct measure of the current SFR in galaxies, provided that reddening is not significant. The SFR($`\text{H}\alpha `$) should agree with the SFR(IR) if the IR emission in star-forming galaxies arises from dust heated by the young hot stars. This scenario occurs in IR luminous starbursts (eg. Dopita et al., 2002), but the IR emission in normal star-forming galaxies appears more complex.

The IR emission (1–1000$`\mu `$m) in normal star-forming galaxies may arise from three processes: (1) the emission from dust heated by young OB stars (Devereux & Young, 1990; Devereux & Hameed, 1997); (2) the emission from the photospheres or circumstellar envelopes of evolved stars such as red-giants undergoing mass-loss (Knapp, Gunn, & Wynn-Williams, 1992; Mazzei & de Zotti, 1994); (3) the “cirrus” emission from dust distributed throughout the optically thin, neutral interstellar medium, heated by the general stellar radiation field. The general stellar radiation field is composed of a combination of unabsorbed radiation from young OB stars inside the active star-forming regions (eg., Zurita, Rozas, & Beckman, 2000), and an underlying old stellar population consisting of A, F and G dwarfs, and K and M giants (eg., Drapatz, 1979; Helou, 1986; Lonsdale & Helou, 1987; Sauvage & Thuan, 1994; Mazzei & de Zotti, 1994). The relative contribution to the general stellar radiation field by the young and old stellar populations is unclear and may vary substantially from galaxy to galaxy depending on the details of the physical and dynamical environment and metallicity.

The calibration of infrared luminosity as an indicator of the global star formation rate in a galaxy relies upon two assumptions; (a) that young stars dominate the radiation field throughout the UV to the visible (ie., that processes (2) and (3) above are negligible), and (b) that the dust opacity is infinite throughout a galaxy. If these assumptions hold, then the IR luminosity approximates the bolometric luminosity of the galaxy, and the SFR(IR) is a reliable estimate of the true SFR of the galaxy.

For infrared-bright dusty star-forming galaxies, the young stellar population does produce the dominant dust heating radiation field, and the dust opacity is high (Lonsdale & Helou, 1987; Poggianti, Bressan, & Franceschini, 2001; Dopita et al., 2002; Rosa-Gonzàlez, Terlevich, & Terlevich, 2002). Therefore, assumptions (a) and (b) above hold, and IR luminosity is a more direct indicator of the true SFR than the $`\text{H}\alpha `$ luminosity. Recently, Dopita et al. (2002) (hereafter D02) and Rosa-Gonzàlez, Terlevich, & Terlevich (2002) (herafter R02) showed that using the Balmer decrement to correct the $`\text{H}\alpha `$ luminosity for reddening results in better agreement between the SFR(IR) and SFR($`\text{H}\alpha `$). The D02 sample contains merging infrared starburst galaxies; the R02 sample consists of nearby young star-forming galaxies, most are low metallicity late-type spirals or blue compact dwarfs. It is unclear from these results whether the approximate agreement between SFR(IR) and SFR($`\text{H}\alpha `$) after reddening correction also applies to a wider range of “normal” galaxies.

The young (OB) star-forming population dominates the IR emission in late-type spirals. The nature of the IR emission in early-type spirals, on the other hand, remains controversial. Dust heating by the general stellar radiation field may make a significant contribution to the IR emission in early-types (eg., Lonsdale & Helou, 1987; Sauvage & Thuan, 1994; Mazzei & de Zotti, 1994) bringing the use of SFR(IR) into question for these galaxies. Early-type galaxies may have small dust opacities further complicating the use of SFR(IR).

Kennicutt & Kent (1983) demonstrated that the $`\text{H}\alpha `$ equivalent width increases systematically from early-type to late-type galaxies. This increase suggests that early-type galaxies are deficient in young stars. Sauvage & Thuan (1994) provide additional evidence for this deficiency. They found that the $`BV`$ and $`UB`$ colors decrease and the ratio of H I mass to blue luminosity increases systematically from S0 to Im type in the CfA1 galaxy sample (Davis & Peebles, 1983; Huchra et al., 1983). Furthermore, IR SED modeling of early-types appears to require a cooler component to the IR emission (Buat & Deharveng, 1988; Rowan-Robinson & Crawford, 1989), often attributed to the general stellar radiation field.

An intriguing theoretical argument by Inoue (2002) suggests that the SFR(IR) can be applied to a wide range of galaxy types, including those with an older stellar population and small dust opacity. Inoue proposes a scenario in which the two effects of small dust opacity and a large cirrus contribution offset each other, making the SFR(IR) a good measure of the true SFR within a factor of 2 for a wide range of galaxy types.

Although the general stellar radiation field may be important in many early-type spirals, $`\text{H}\alpha `$ images provide convincing evidence that at least some early-type galaxies contain significant recent star formation (Hameed & Devereux, 1999). In addition, Tomita, Tomita & Saito (1996) and Devereux & Hameed (1997) showed that the far infrared-to-blue luminosity ratio is independent of Hubble type for a large sample of nearby spirals. Their work supports the idea that early-type galaxies contain substantial recent star formation.

A number of studies compare various SFR indicators for normal disk galaxies (eg., Kennicutt, 1983; Hopkins et al., 2001; Charlot et al., 2002; Buat et al., 2002). Most of these authors cannot properly correct the $`\text{H}\alpha `$ luminosity for reddening or stellar absorption because they lack integrated optical spectra with sufficient spatial coverage, signal-to-noise, and wavelength coverage. For example, Charlot et al. (2002) use had to assume an ‘average’ attenuation $`\mathrm{A}_\mathrm{v}=1`$ for the galaxies in the Stromlo-APM survey where the slit-covering fraction is 40-50 percent.

In this paper, we analyze integrated spectra from the Nearby Field Galaxy Survey (NFGS) (Jansen et al., 2000a), described in Section 2. We ensure that the integrated $`\text{H}\alpha `$ luminosity is properly corrected for reddening and underlying stellar absorption. We compare uncorrected SFR($`\text{H}\alpha `$) with SFR(IR) in Section 3. Section 4 compares the corrected SFR($`\text{H}\alpha `$) with the SFR(IR). The agreement between the two SFR indicators in the latter section is remarkable and is independent of Hubble type. We discuss the implications of this agreement in Section 5.

## 2 Sample selection and cross-correlation with IRAS

The NFGS is ideal for investigating relative IR and $`\text{H}\alpha `$ star formation rates. The sample was selected objectively from the CfA1 galaxy survey (Davis & Peebles, 1983; Huchra et al., 1983) with $`\mathrm{m}_{\mathrm{B}(0)}<14.5`$. The CfA1 catalog is nearly complete within its selection limits and contains galaxies with a large range of absolute magnitude ($`22\mathrm{M}_\mathrm{z}13`$). Jansen et al. (2000a) chose a subsample of 198 nearby galaxies spanning the full range of Hubble type and absolute magnitude present in the CfA1 catalog. To avoid a strict diameter limit, which might introduce a bias against the inclusion of low surface brightness galaxies in the sample, they chose a radial velocity limit, $`\mathrm{V}_{\mathrm{LG}}(\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1)>10^{0.190.2\mathrm{M}_\mathrm{z}}`$ (with respect to the Local Group standard of rest). To avoid a sampling bias favoring a cluster population, they excluded galaxies in the direction of the Virgo Cluster. The absolute magnitude distribution in the NFGS sample approximates the local galaxy luminosity function, while the distribution over Hubble type follows the changing mix of morphological types as a function of luminosity in the local galaxy population. Low surface brightness galaxies are overrepresented in the NFGS relative to the CfA1 sample.

Both integrated and nuclear spectrophotometry are available for almost all galaxies in the NFGS sample, including reliably measured integrated $`\text{H}\alpha `$ and $`\text{H}\beta `$ fluxes relative to the flux at 5500Å (Jansen et al., 2000b; Jansen, Franx, & Fabricant, 2001). The spectra have high enough S/N ratios to measure the $`\text{H}\beta `$ fluxes even when E(B-V) is large.

The integrated spectra typically cover 82$`\pm `$ 7% of the galaxy. We calibrate the integrated fluxes, $`\mathrm{F}_{\mathrm{rel}}(\lambda )`$, to absolute fluxes, $`\mathrm{F}(\lambda )`$, by careful comparison with B-band photometry. We converted total $`B`$-magnitudes (extrapolated to infinite radius) to flux densities, $`\mathrm{F}(4350\mathrm{\AA },\mathrm{phot})`$, at the effective wavelength of the $`B`$-filter (4350Å). The uncertainties in the constant relating the magnitude to the flux of Vega, and in the effective wavelength of the $`B`$-filter for a given galaxy SED are $``$2-3% combined. Because the position, size and orientation of the spectroscopic apertures are known, the $`B`$-filter galaxy images allow us to compute the fractions, $`f,`$ of the total $`B`$-filter light that enters the spectroscopic apertures with 1.5-3% accuracy. The mean value of $`f`$ = $`0.82\pm 0.07`$. The $`B`$-filter flux density to which we must scale the spectra is then

$$\mathrm{F}(B,\mathrm{spec})=f\times \mathrm{F}(4350\mathrm{\AA },\mathrm{phot}).$$

Scaling the relatively flux calibrated spectrum, $`\mathrm{F}_{\mathrm{rel}}(\lambda )`$, by the ratio of this flux density and that derived from the spectrum itself, we obtain the absolute flux calibrated spectrum:

$$\mathrm{F}(\lambda )=\mathrm{F}_{\mathrm{rel}}(\lambda )\frac{\mathrm{F}(B,\mathrm{spec})}{\mathrm{F}_{\mathrm{rel}}(\lambda )\mathrm{T}_B(\lambda )}[\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{s}^1\mathrm{cm}^2\mathrm{\AA }^1],$$

where $`\mathrm{F}_{\mathrm{rel}}(\lambda )\mathrm{T}_B(\lambda )`$ denotes the mean relative flux density, derived by convolving the relative spectrum with the normalized $`B`$-filter response curve (Bessell 1979). The maximum error in the relative flux calibration is $``$6.5%. The range in uncertainty in the total $`B`$-filter magnitudes is $``$1-10%, with a mean of 3.0% and rms of 2.7%. The errors in the absolute flux calibration of the spectrum are smallest at 4350Å and increase toward both shorter and longer wavelengths. The expected error in the derived absolute $`\text{H}\alpha `$ ($`\text{H}\beta `$) emission line fluxes is on average $``$12% ($``$17%) and at most $``$34% ($``$50%) for galaxies with $`\mathrm{EW}(\text{H}\beta )0.5`$Å. The error in the $`\text{H}\beta `$ flux is larger than that in $`\text{H}\alpha `$, because the $`\text{H}\beta `$ emission line is fainter and its measurement is complicated by the superposition of stellar absorpion.

As described in Jansen, Franx, & Fabricant (2001), the line fluxes are corrected for Galactic extinction, using Burnstein & Heiles (1984; as listed in de Vaucouleurs et al. 1991). The $`\text{H}\beta `$ emission is partially corrected for stellar absorption by ensuring that the limits of the flux measurement window are well inside the absorption trough, closely bracketing the emission line. We evaluated the residual absorption using spectra of galaxies without detectable emission. On average, we applied an additional correction of 1.0Å in equivalent width (EW) to $`\text{H}\beta `$ and 1.5Å EW to $`\text{H}\alpha `$.

We cross-correlated the NFGS with the IRAS Faint Source Catalogue (FSC) and Point Source Catalogue (PSC). The IRAS beam size at 60 $`\mu `$m is 1.5 arcminutes, and the IRAS positional uncertainty is 30 arcseconds. Because the NFGS positional uncertainty is only a few arcseconds and because all but a few of the NFGS galaxies are smaller than 3 arcmin in extent, we used a detection radius of 30 arcseconds. Any IRAS source associated with an NFGS object should be detected within this radius. We found 110 (56%) NFGS galaxies with IRAS sources within 30 arcseconds; 84 of these galaxies have moderate or good quality fluxes at 60 and 100$`\mu `$m, and $`\text{H}\alpha `$ and $`\text{H}\beta `$ fluxes accurate to within 30%.

To rule out the presence of AGN in the NFGS sample, we used the theoretical optical classification scheme developed by Kewley et al. (2001). The optical diagnostic diagrams indicate that the global spectra of 81/84 NFGS galaxies are dominated by star formation. The spectra of the remaining 3 galaxies are dominated by AGN: UGC 00545, Mrk 0205, and NGC 5940 host Seyfert i nuclei. These 81 galaxies constitute the sample we analyse here. We list the galaxies in Table 1.

## 3 Infrared versus $`\text{H}𝜶`$ SFRs

The development of SFR diagnostics has been an intense topic of research for over three decades (see Kennicutt, 1998, for a review) (hereafter K98). We use the K98 SFR relations for IR and $`\text{H}\alpha `$ because these relations are used in many current SFR studies. We defer a more detailed analysis of other SFR diagnostics to a future paper.

The IR SFR relation (K98) depends on the total infrared luminosity (8-1000$`\mu `$m) ($`\mathrm{L}_{\mathrm{IR}}`$):

$$\mathrm{SFR}(\mathrm{IR})(\mathrm{M}_{}\mathrm{yr}^1)=4.5\times 10^{44}\mathrm{L}_{\mathrm{IR}}(\mathrm{ergs}\mathrm{s}^1).$$
(1)
Note that $`\mathrm{L}_{\mathrm{IR}}`$ is referred to as $`\mathrm{L}_{\mathrm{FIR}}`$ in K98. For the remainder of this paper, we refer to the 40-120$`\mu `$m range as the far-infrared (FIR), and the 1-1000$`\mu `$m range as the infrared (IR) regime.

The K98 SFR relation assumes that young stars dominate the radiation field throughout the UV-visible regimes, and that the optical depth is large. The infrared luminosity is then a good representation of the bolometric luminosity of the galaxy. Although this situation may hold for IR-luminous starburst galaxies, it does not necessarily apply to normal galaxies where the emission may be dominated by emission from a cooler, “infrared cirrus” component (eg., Lonsdale & Helou, 1987).

In order to estimate the infrared star formation rate SFR(IR), we first calculate the far-infrared flux (F(FIR): 40-120$`\mu `$m) from the IRAS 60 and 100$`\mu `$m fluxes ($`\mathrm{F}_{60},\mathrm{F}_{100}`$) in units of Janskies (Helou et al., 1988):

$$\mathrm{F}(\mathrm{FIR})=1.26\times 10^{14}[2.58\mathrm{F}_{60}+\mathrm{F}_{100}](\mathrm{W}\mathrm{m}^2)$$
(2)
The far-infrared luminosity L(FIR) is then calculated using:

$$\mathrm{L}(\mathrm{FIR})=4\pi \mathrm{D}_\mathrm{L}^2\mathrm{F}(\mathrm{FIR})$$
(3)
where DL is the cosmological ”luminosity distance”. We assume H0=75 km s-1 Mpc-1 and q0 = 0.5. For thermal energy distributions relevant for most galaxies, the FIR flux and luminosity are essentially model independent. All galaxies in our sample have measured 60 and 100$`\mu `$m fluxes.

New IR photometry and spectra from the Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) have lead to recent advances in infrared spectral energy distribution (SED) modelling (eg., Spinoglio, Paola & Malkan, 2002; Dale et al., 2001; Rowan-Robinson, 2001; Calzetti et al., 2000; Granato et al., 2000). It is now possible to obtain estimates of the total infrared luminosity from the IRAS 60 and 100$`\mu `$m fluxes (eg., Charlot et al., 2002; Rosa-Gonzàlez, Terlevich, & Terlevich, 2002). The uncertainties that arise from the conversion of 60 and 100$`\mu `$m IRAS fluxes to total (1-1000$`\mu `$m) IR flux are likely to be modest in comparison with the uncertainties in the conversion from infrared luminosity to star formation rate (Charlot et al., 2002).

To transform L(FIR) to L(IR), we use the Calzetti et al. (2000) (hereafter C00) formulation because it was developed for IR-luminous starburst galaxies and is therefore the most consistent relation to use in conjunction with the K98 SFR formula. C00 modelled the total-infrared flux for five low-redshift starburst galaxies with a two-component dust model. The dust model consists of two modified Planck functions of temperature T$`4055`$ K (warm dust) and T$`2023`$ K (cool dust), with an emissivity index $`ϵ=2`$. C00 finds that the ratio of the total dust IR emission (1-1000$`\mu `$m) to the IRAS FIR emission is

$$\mathrm{L}(\mathrm{IR})1.75\times \mathrm{L}(\mathrm{FIR})$$
(4)
with little variation from galaxy to galaxy. Using this conversion, the K98 SFR(IR) becomes:

$`\mathrm{SFR}(\mathrm{IR})(\mathrm{M}_{}\mathrm{yr}^1)`$ $`=`$ $`4.5\times 10^{44}\mathrm{L}(\mathrm{IR})`$ (5)
$``$ $`7.9\times 10^{44}\mathrm{L}(\mathrm{FIR})(\mathrm{ergs}\mathrm{s}^1)`$
Here, we define SFR(IR) as the SFR derived from the total (1-1000$`\mu `$m) IR luminosity. We estimate the IR luminosity from the measured IRAS 60 and 100$`\mu `$m fluxes. We note that K98 defined the SFR(IR) over 8-1000$`\mu `$m. The C00 conversion applies to the range 1-1000$`\mu `$m. The contribution to the total infrared luminosity from the 1-8$`\mu `$m regime is expected to be of the order of a few percent (Calzetti et al., 2000; Dale et al., 2001).

The $`\text{H}\alpha `$ SFR relation (K98) comes from evolutionary synthesis models, assuming solar metallicity and no dust. The total integrated stellar luminosity shortward of the Lyman limit is re-emitted in the nebular emission lines. The $`\text{H}\alpha `$ SFR relation is:

$$\mathrm{SFR}(\mathrm{H}\alpha )(\mathrm{M}_{}\mathrm{yr}^1)=7.9\times 10^{42}\mathrm{L}(\mathrm{H}\alpha )(\mathrm{ergs}\mathrm{s}^1)$$
(6)
For most star-forming galaxies, dust absorption leads to the underestimation of the SFR derived from the $`\text{H}\alpha `$ luminosity (eg., Lonsdale & Helou, 1987).

Figure 1 shows the SFRs derived using the K98 IR and $`\text{H}\alpha `$ SFR relations for the NFGS galaxies. There is obviously a strong correlation between the two SFRs. Upper limits for those objects with measurable $`\text{H}\alpha `$ fluxes but without IRAS detections at 60 and 100$`\mu `$m are consistent with this correlation.

We fit a straight line to the logarithm of the SFRs for the objects with IRAS detections using the numerical recipes *fitexy* routine in IDL. This routine uses linear least-squares minimization and includes error estimates for both variables. We assumed errors of $``$60% for the non-reddening corrected SFR($`\text{H}\alpha `$) and $``$30% for SFR(IR). The large $``$60% error allows for the systematic error introduced by failure to correct for reddening. The resulting fit (dotted line in Figure 1) has the form:

$$\mathrm{log}[\mathrm{SFR}(\mathrm{IR})]=(1.30\pm 0.06)\mathrm{log}[\mathrm{SFR}(\mathrm{H}\alpha )]+0.43\pm 0.05$$
(7)
or:

$$\mathrm{SFR}(\mathrm{IR})=(2.7\pm 0.3)\mathrm{SFR}(\mathrm{H}\alpha )^{1.30\pm 0.06}.$$
(8)
The rms distance perpendicular to this line (in the log) gives a measure of the degree of scatter. The rms dispersion in Figure 1 is 0.17 in the log. The Spearman Rank correlation test for SFR(IR) and SFR($`\text{H}\alpha `$) gives a correlation coefficient of 0.95. The two-sided probability of finding a value of 0.95 by chance is formally 0.0 ($`10^{30}`$), confirming the very strong correlation between the two SFR indicators.

We plot a histogram of the logarithm of the ratio of the two SFRs, $`\mathrm{log}[\mathrm{SFR}(\mathrm{IR})/\mathrm{SFR}(\mathrm{H}\alpha )]`$, in Figure 2. Markers at the top of Figure 2 show the means of the early and late type SFR ratio distributions, $`0.50\pm 0.07`$ and $`0.34\pm 0.04`$, respectively. We note that the mean for the early types is larger than the mean for the late types.

## 4 SFRs and Reddening

Figures 1 and 2, and equation 8 demonstrate that the SFR(IR) estimate exceeds SFR($`\text{H}\alpha `$) by a factor of $`3`$, as observed by Charlot et al. (2002). The ratio between SFR(IR) and SFR($`\text{H}\alpha `$) increases with SFR. If the SFR(IR) and SFR($`\text{H}\alpha `$) are both valid measures of the true SFRs, then a physical process not yet taken into account must bias one relative to the other. This process must also cause the bias to increase at higher SFRs. One obvious candidate is reddening. We test this conjecture by measuring the difference in the extinction at two wavebands, E($`BV`$).

We calculated E($`BV`$) in the emission-line gas for the 81 IRAS-detected galaxies in the NFGS sample for which flux measurements for both $`\text{H}\alpha `$ and $`\text{H}\beta `$ are available. We assume an intrinsic $`\text{H}\alpha `$$`/`$$`\text{H}\beta `$ ratio of 2.85 (case B recombination at T$`=10^4`$K and electron density $`n_e10^210^4\mathrm{cm}^3`$; Osterbrock (1989)) and used the Whitford reddening curve as parameterized by Miller & Mathews (1972).

Figure 3 shows the relationship between the ratio of the two luminosities $`\mathrm{L}(\mathrm{FIR})/\mathrm{L}(\mathrm{H}\alpha )`$ and E($`BV`$). The Spearman Rank correlation correlation coefficient is 0.86. The two-sided probability of obtaining a value of 0.86 by chance is $`1.2\times 10^{23}`$, supporting the very strong correlation between $`\mathrm{L}(\mathrm{FIR})/\mathrm{L}(\mathrm{H}\alpha )`$ and E($`BV`$).

The fitexy least squares line fitting routine gives

$$\mathrm{log}\left[\frac{\mathrm{L}(\mathrm{FIR})}{\mathrm{L}(\mathrm{H}\alpha )}\right]=(0.62\pm 0.08)\mathrm{log}[\mathrm{E}(BV)]+2.66\pm 0.06.$$
(9)
This relationship is model independent. If we use E($`BV`$) to correct $`\mathrm{L}(\mathrm{H}\alpha )`$ for extinction, the difference between SFR(IR) and SFR($`\text{H}\alpha `$) could be reduced, supporting similar results by Dopita et al. (2002) and Rosa-Gonzàlez, Terlevich, & Terlevich (2002) for young starforming galaxies. Infact, after making the correction, we do arrive at much better agreement between the corrected $`\text{H}\alpha `$ star formation rate (SFR($`\text{H}\alpha `$corr)) and the IR star formation rate (Figure 4). This relation is striking because many nearby field galaxies are cool IRAS sources. Only 6 out of the 81 galaxies in Figure 4 have a 60$`\mu `$m to 100$`\mu `$m flux ratio greater than 0.6, typical for objects dominated by hot stars (Bothun, Lonsdale, & Rice, 1989).

We fit a straight line to the NFGS data in Figure 4 using the same method as for Figure 1. The errors are $`30`$% for both SFR($`\text{H}\alpha `$) and SFR(IR). The resulting fit is

$$\mathrm{log}[\mathrm{SFR}(\mathrm{IR})]=(1.07\pm 0.03)\mathrm{log}[\mathrm{SFR}(\mathrm{H}\alpha _{\mathrm{corr}})]0.04\pm 0.02$$
(10)
or,

$$\mathrm{SFR}(\mathrm{IR})=(0.91\pm 0.04)\mathrm{SFR}(\mathrm{H}\alpha _{\mathrm{corr}})^{1.07\pm 0.03}.$$
(11)
The Spearman rank correlation coefficient for (SFR($`\text{H}\alpha `$corr)) and SFR(IR) is 0.98, with the 2-sided probability of obtaining this value of $`10^{30}`$. The rms scatter of the data around this line decreases to 0.12 in the log. Clearly correcting $`\text{H}\alpha `$ for reddening results in a closer correspondence between SFR(IR) and SFR($`\text{H}\alpha `$), and reduces the scatter observed in Figure 1.

If the general stellar radiation field contributes significantly to the IR emission in early-types, we would expect the late-types to display a larger scatter than early types. We find the contrary: the rms scatter for the early-types (S0-Sab) is 0.08, compared to 0.13 for the late-types (Sb-Im).

We plot a histogram of the logarithm of the ratio of the two SFRs, log(SFR(IR)/SFR($`\text{H}\alpha `$)), in Figure 5. After correction for reddening, the means of the two SFR ratios for early and late types are approximately equal: $`0.02\pm 0.03`$ and $`0.07\pm 0.02`$ respectively. Greater reddening for the early types appears to explain the offset in Figure 2. The overall mean in the ratios is $`0.05\pm 0.02`$.

By selecting early-types with infrared detections, we bias our early-type sample towards galaxies with more recent star-formation than is normal in these galaxies. The number of early-types with 60 and 100 $`\mu `$m IRAS detections is 17/59 (29%), compared with the number of late-types with detections 73/112 (65%). This detection rate supports previous studies which showed that early-types in general have less recent star formation than late types (eg., Kennicutt & Kent, 1983; Sauvage & Thuan, 1994; Bendo et al., 2002). The strong agreement and very small scatter between SFR(IR) and SFR($`\text{H}\alpha `$) for the infrared early-types implies that they are dominated in both $`\text{H}\alpha `$ and the IR by recent star formation.

We obtain SFR estimates by multiplying the luminosity at the relevant wavelength by a constant. Thus, the SFR correlation (Figure 4) is really equivalent to a correlation between the far-infrared and $`\text{H}\alpha `$ luminosities. The line of best fit to the luminosity correlation is;

$$\mathrm{log}\left[\frac{\mathrm{L}(\mathrm{FIR})}{\mathrm{L}_{}}\right]=(1.07\pm 0.02)\mathrm{log}\left[\frac{\mathrm{L}(\mathrm{H}\alpha _{\mathrm{corr}})}{\mathrm{L}_{}}\right]]+(1.4\pm 0.2)$$
(12)
or,

$$\frac{\mathrm{L}(\mathrm{FIR})}{\mathrm{L}_{}}=(25\pm 12)\left[\frac{\mathrm{L}(\mathrm{H}\alpha _{\mathrm{corr}})}{\mathrm{L}_{}}\right]^{(1.07\pm 0.02)}$$
(13)
For the K98 star formation rate indicators to produce equivalent IR and $`\text{H}\alpha `$ star formation rates, the ratio $`\mathrm{L}(\mathrm{FIR})/\mathrm{L}(\mathrm{H}\alpha _{\mathrm{corr}})`$ multiplied by the ratio of the constants in the K98 relations (including the C00 factor of 1.75 to convert L(FIR) to L(IR)) should be $`1`$. The mean $`\mathrm{L}(\mathrm{FIR})/\mathrm{L}(\mathrm{H}\alpha _{\mathrm{corr}})`$ for our sample is $`96\pm 4`$. Multiplying the mean $`\mathrm{L}(\mathrm{FIR})/\mathrm{L}(\mathrm{H}\alpha _{\mathrm{corr}})`$ by ratio of the K98 relations gives $`(96\pm 4)(7.9\times 10^{44})/(7.9\times 10^{42})=0.96\pm 0.04`$. Clearly, the combination of the C00 conversion and the ratio of the K98 coefficients gives an excellent estimate of the relationship between $`\mathrm{L}(\mathrm{FIR})/\mathrm{L}(\mathrm{H}\alpha _{\mathrm{corr}})`$ and $`\mathrm{SFR}(\mathrm{IR})/\mathrm{SFR}(\mathrm{H}\alpha _{\mathrm{corr}})`$.

It is interesting that such a strong FIR-$`\text{H}\alpha `$ correlation occurs. In the simplest picture, the correlation indicates that a single physical process is responsible for both the FIR and $`\text{H}\alpha `$ emission. In reality, the FIR and $`\text{H}\alpha `$ radiation may be produced in quite different environments. The $`\text{H}\alpha `$ radiation comes from gas ionized by the UV radiation from young, hot OB stars. This process occurs within many H II regions throughout a galaxy. The FIR radiation source is more complex.

The far-IR spectra of galaxies result from large dust grains of diameter 0.01-0.3. The spectrum from these grains is characteristic of thermal emission at 15-20K (see Draine, 2001, for a review), and accounts for nearly all the emission at $`\lambda >60\mu `$m. Some authors believe that an older stellar population can make a significant contribution to the far-IR emission (eg., Lonsdale & Helou, 1987; Sauvage & Thuan, 1994; Mazzei & de Zotti, 1994) for early-type galaxies. However, our $`\text{H}\alpha `$-FIR luminosity correlation implies that the dominant UV and optical heating source for this emission is the young stellar population. This hypothesis is in agreement with various other physical correlations linking the FIR emission to young stellar populations, such as the radio-FIR correlation (eg., Gavazzi, Cocito, & Vettolani, 1986), and the 12$`\mu `$m-FIR luminosity correlation (Shapley, Fabbiano, & Eskridge, 2001). Both of these correlations hold for all galaxy types.

These correlations suggest that the gas and dust must be closely coupled in all FIR-bright galaxies. Malhotra et al. (2001) found a strong correlation between $`\mathrm{L}_{[\mathrm{OI}]}/\mathrm{L}_{[\mathrm{CII}]}`$ and F(60$`\mu `$m)/F(100$`\mu `$m), indicating that both gas and dust temperatures increase together. The most plausible explanation for this effect is that the majority of the dust and gas heating in galaxies occurs very close to the actively star-forming regions.

Modeling by Popescu & Tuffs (2002) for normal star-forming galaxies strengthens this explanation. The Popescu et al. models predict that radiation from H II regions is the dominant energy source for the dust emitting at 60$`\mu `$m. Even at 100$`\mu `$m, H II regions contribute $`1/3`$ of the radiation source. The other $`2/3`$ is produced by the diffuse UV and optical radiation, which could also contain some contribution from the young stellar population.

Even if the FIR emission is dominated by the young stellar population, one would expect the ratio of gas and dust masses to vary from one H II region to another, and from one galaxy to another. Similarly, the dust geometry and composition must vary. If these variations occur, they do not appear to have an effect on the relationship between the global FIR and $`\text{H}\alpha `$ luminosities.

## 5 Conclusions

We analyze a sample of 81 far-infrared detected galaxies from the Nearby Field Galaxy Survey. The NFGS is an objectively selected sample of galaxies in the CfA1 catalog. The sample contains a representative mix of all galaxy types and morphologies represented in the CfA1 survey. In addition, the NFGS is unique in the quality and coverage of the integrated spectra. We have taken extensive care to ensure that the integrated $`\text{H}\alpha `$ flux for each galaxy is as reliable as possible. We have corrected these fluxes carefully for extinction and underlying stellar absorption.

To compare the IR and $`\text{H}\alpha `$ star formation rates, we make the following standard assumptions: (1) the Whitford reddening law is appropriate for all galaxies in our sample, (2) the star formation rates are proportional to the relevant luminosities, and (3) that the IR SED of the galaxies in our sample can be approximated by the Calzetti et al. (2000) relation.

With the assumed reddening, the data provide a direct measurement of the ratio of the IR and $`\text{H}\alpha `$ SFR constants which transform the luminosities to star formation rates. Correction for reddening brings the IR and $`\text{H}\alpha `$ SFRs into agreement to within 10% on average, and reduces the scatter.

Correction for reddening also brings the mean of SFR(IR)/SFR(H$`\alpha `$) for early and late types into agreement. One average, early types in this sample are more heavily reddened than late types. It is intriguing that the ratio between the SFR(IR) and SFR($`\text{H}\alpha `$) is the same for early and late types. The IR emission from early-type spirals may contain a significant contribution from the general stellar radiation field. This contribution should increase the observed IR luminosity. Inoue (2002) suggested that this effect is offset by a lower dust opacity. This compensation would require a remarkable conspiracy to hold for all galaxy types. The physical properties of dust and the nature of the general stellar radiation field probably vary from galaxy to galaxy. The variation in the general stellar radiation field should result in a larger dispersion around the SFR relation for early types than late-types. We do not observe this variation. Rather, the infrared NFGS early-type galaxies have a smaller dispersion than the late-types.

Previous studies have shown that early-type galaxies contain a lower fraction of young-to-old stellar populations than late-types (eg., Kennicutt & Kent, 1983; Sauvage & Thuan, 1994; Davis & Peebles, 1983; Huchra et al., 1983). This result does not determine what combination of young-to-old populations produces the IR emission in each galaxy. The agreement of SFR(IR) with SFR($`\text{H}\alpha `$) (or L(FIR) with L($`\text{H}\alpha `$)) for both early types and late-types implies that the FIR emission results from the same young stellar population which produces the $`\text{H}\alpha `$ emission. This hypothesis is supported by other physical correlations linking the FIR emission to the young stellar population, including the radio-FIR correlation(Gavazzi, Cocito, & Vettolani, 1986) and the 12$`\mu `$m-FIR luminosity correlation (Shapley, Fabbiano, & Eskridge, 2001). These correlations suggest that the dust is heated in close proximity to the young star-forming regions. In addition, the FIR-$`\text{H}\alpha `$ luminosity correlation implies that the relationship between the global dust and gas properties is universal for all FIR-detected galaxies in the NFGS.

Further observations and modeling are required to prove that the young stellar population is responsible for FIR emission in all galaxy types, rather than a compensation effect as suggested by Inoue (2002). Near-infrared observations would enable separation of the young and old stellar populations. The Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF) will help determine whether the global dust and gas properties are truly universal for all FIR-detected galaxies in the NFGS.

We enjoyed discussions about many aspects of this paper with Rob Kennicutt, Dan Fabricant, and Stephane Charlot. L. J. Kewley is supported by a Harvard-Smithsonian CfA Fellowship. M. J. Geller is supported by the Smithsonian Institution.