Mid-IR indicators of SF and AGN in galaxies

The MIR spectra were obtained with the Spitzer Space Telescope Infrared Spectrograph as part of the Spitzer-SDSS-GALEX Spectroscopic Survey (SSGSS), which includes multi-wavelength photometry from the ultraviolet to the far-infrared and optical spectroscopy.

The continuum and features were extracted using PAHFIT, a decomposition code which we find to yield PAH equivalent widths (EWs) up to ~30 times larger than the commonly used spline methods. Despite the lack of extreme objects in our sample (such as strong AGNs, low-metallicity galaxies, or ULIRGs), we find significant variations in PAH, continuum, and emission-line properties, and systematic trends between these MIR properties and optically derived physical properties, such as age, metallicity, and radiation field hardness.