Recalibrating the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) W4 Filter
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Date
2014
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Abstract
We present a revised effective wavelength and photometric calibration for the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer
W4 band, including tests of empirically motivated modifications to its pre-launch laboratory-measured relative system
response curve. We derived these by comparing measured W4 photometry with photometry synthesised from spectra
of galaxies and planetary nebulae. The difference between measured and synthesised photometry using the pre-launch
laboratory-measuredW4 relative system response can be as large as 0.3 mag for galaxies and 1 mag for planetary nebulae.
We find theW4 effective wavelength should be revised upward by 3.3%, from 22.1 to 22.8 μm, and theW4 AB magnitude
of Vega should be revised from mW4
= 6.59 to mW4
= 6.66. In an attempt to reproduce the observedW4 photometry, we
tested three modifications to the pre-launch laboratory-measured W4 relative system response curve, all of which have
an effective wavelength of 22.8 μm. Of the three relative system response curve models tested, a model that matches the
laboratory-measured relative system response curve, but has the wavelengths increased by 3.3% (or 0.73 μm) achieves
reasonable agreement between the measured and synthesised photometry.
Description
Keywords
Galaxies: photometry, Galaxies: Infrared, Planetary nebulae: general
Citation
Brown, M. J. I., Jarrett, T. H., & Cluver, M. E. (2014). Recalibrating the wide-field infrared survey explorer (WISE) W4 filter. Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia, 31 doi:10.1017/pasa.2014.44