Spitzer 70~$\mu$m Emission as a SFR Indicator for Sub--Galactic Regions

We use Spitzer 24 $\mu$m, 70 $\mu$m and ground based H$\alpha$ data for a sample of 40 SINGS galaxies to establish a star formation rate (SFR) indicator using 70 $\mu$m emission for sub–galactic ($\sim 0.05-2\mathrm{k}\mathrm{p}\mathrm{c}$) line-emitting regions and to investigate limits in application. A linear correlation between 70 $\mu$m and SFR is found and a star formation indicator SFR(70) is proposed for line-emitting sub-galactic regions as $\rm \Sigma(SFR)
({M_{\odot}\cdot yr^{-1}\cdot kpc^{-2}})=9.4\times10^{-44}\ \Sigma(70)
\rm{(ergs\cdot s^{-1}\cdot kpc^{-2})}$,forregionswith$12+\rm{log(O/H)}\gtrsim8.4$and$\rm \Sigma(SFR)\gtrsim10^{-3}
(M_{\odot}\cdot yr^{-1}\cdot kpc^{-2})$,witha1-$\sigma$ dispersion around the calibration of $\sim 0.16$ dex. We also discuss the influence of metallicity on the scatter of the data. Comparing with the SFR indicator at 70 $\mu$m for integrated light from galaxies, we find that there is $\sim 40$ excess 70 $\mu$m emission in galaxies, which can be attributed to stellar populations not involved in the current star formation activity.