Optical properties of 4248 IRAS galaxies

Abstract

We have investigated optical properties of 4248 infrared galaxies (IRGs) by positionally matching data from the Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 3 (SDSS DR3). As a result of the large sky area coverage of both surveys, we have obtained an opportunity to study an unprecedentedly large number of 4248 infrared galaxies spanning four orders of infrared luminosity range 109 ≤ L8-1000μm ≤ 1013.57L⊙. Our sample includes three hyperluminous infrared galaxies (L8-1000μm > 1013 L⊙) and the large number of 178 ultraluminous infrared galaxies (1012 1011 L⊙) may be in a post-starburst phase, sharing a similar (but not the same) merger/interaction origin with E+A galaxies. © 2005 RAS.