Star Formation in Radio Survey: 3–33 GHz Imaging of Nearby Galaxy Nuclei and Extranuclear Star-forming Regions

Abstract

We present 3, 15, and 33 GHz imaging toward galaxy nuclei and extranuclear star-forming regions using the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array as part of the Star Formation in Radio Survey. With 3–33 GHz radio spectra, we measured the spectral indices and corresponding thermal (free–free) emission fractions for a sample of 335 discrete regions having significant detections in at least two radio bands. After removing 14 likely background galaxies, we find that the median thermal fraction at 33 GHz is 92% ± 0.8% with a median absolute deviation of 11%, when a two-component power-law model is adopted to fit the radio spectrum. Limiting the sample to 238 sources that are confidently identified as star-forming regions and not affected by potential AGN contamination (i.e., having galactocentric radii r_G ≥ 250 pc) results in a median thermal fraction of 93% ± 0.8% with a median absolute deviation of 10%. We further measure the thermal fraction at 33 GHz for 163 regions identified at 7'' resolution to be 94% ± 0.8% with a median absolute deviation of 8%. Together, these results confirm that free–free emission dominates the radio spectra of star-forming regions on scales up to ~500 pc in normal star-forming galaxies. We additionally find a factor of ~1.6 increase in the scatter of the measured spectral index and thermal fraction distributions as a function of decreasing galactocentric radius. This trend is likely reflective of the continuous star formation activity occurring in the galaxy centers, resulting in a larger contribution of diffuse nonthermal emission relative to star-forming regions in the disk.

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