Star Formation in Isolated LIRGs: Clues to Star-forming Processes at Higher z

Luminous infrared galaxies (LIRGs) are galaxies with LIR > 1011 L⊙. For a star-forming galaxy to emit at a LIRG level, it must have a very high star formation rate (SFR). In the local Universe, the star formation (SF) is primarily triggered by interactions. However, at intermediate redshift, a large fraction of LIRGs are disk galaxies with little sign of recent merger activity. The question arises whether the intermediate redshift LIRGs are “triggered” or experiencing “normal”, if elevated, SF. Understanding these SF processes is important since this type of systems may have contributed to 20% or more of the cosmic SFR in the early Universe. In order to address this issue we study similar systems in the Local Universe, that is isolated late-type galaxies displaying LIRG activity. We use different observational techniques in order to trace the star-forming history of these systems. Here we present preliminary results.