Description
We present evidence that the mid infrared (MIR, rest frame 5-30{mu}m) is a good tracer of the total infrared luminosity, L(IR)(=L[8-1000{mu}m]), and star formation rate (SFR), of galaxies up to z~1.3. We use deep MIR images from the Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) and the Spitzer Space Telescope in the Northern field of the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey (GOODS-N) together with VLA radio data to compute three independant estimates of L(IR). The L(IR,MIR) derived from the observed 15 and/or 24{mu}m flux densities using a library of template SEDs, and L(IR,radio), derived from the radio (1.4 and/or 8.5GHz) using the radio-far infrared correlation, agree with a 1-sigma dispersion of 40%. We use the k-correction as a tool to probe different parts of the MIR spectral energy distribution (SED) of galaxies as a function of their redshift and find that on average distant galaxies present MIR SEDs very similar to local ones.
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