An analysis of the FIR/RADIO continuum correlation in the small Magellanic cloud

The local correlation between far-infrared (FIR) emission and radio-continuum (RC) emission for the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) is investigated over scales from 3 kpc to 0.01 kpc. Here, we report good FIR/RC correlation down to ∼15 pc. The reciprocal slope of the FIR/RC emission correlation (RC/FIR) in the SMC is shown to be greatest in the most active star forming regions with a power law slope of ∼1.14 indicating that the RC emission increases faster than the FIR emission. The slope of the other regions and the SMC are much flatter and in the range of 0.63–0.85. The slopes tend to follow the thermal fractions of the regions which range from 0.5 to 0.95. The thermal fraction of the RC emission alone can provide the expected FIR/RC correlation. The results are consistent with a common source for ultraviolet (UV) photons heating dust and Cosmic Ray electrons (CRe − s) diffusing away from the star forming regions. Since the CRe − s appear to escape the SMC so readily, the results here may not provide support for coupling between the local gas density and the magnetic field intensity.