A summary of starburst luminosities based on PAH features is given for 243 starburst galaxies with 0 < z < 2.5 , observed with the Spitzer Infrared Spectrograph .
Luminosity \nu L _ { \nu } ( 7.7 \mu m ) for the peak luminosity of the 7.7 \mu m PAH emission feature is found to scale as log [ \nu L _ { \nu } ( 7.7 \mu m ) ] = 44.63 ( \pm 0.09 ) + 2.48 ( \pm 0.28 ) log ( 1+z ) for the most luminous starbursts observed .
Empirical calibrations of \nu L _ { \nu } ( 7.7 \mu m ) are used to determine bolometric luminosity L _ { ir } and the star formation rate ( SFR ) for these starbursts .
The most luminous starbursts found in this sample have log L _ { ir } = 45.4 ( \pm 0.3 ) + 2.5 ( \pm 0.3 ) log ( 1+z ) , in ergs s ^ { -1 } , and the maximum star formation rates for starbursts in units of M _ { \odot } yr ^ { -1 } are log ( SFR ) = 2.1 ( \pm 0.3 ) + 2.5 ( \pm 0.3 ) log ( 1+z ) , up to z = 2.5 .
The exponent for pure luminosity evolution agrees with optical and radio studies of starbursts but is flatter than previous results based in infrared source counts .
The maximum star formation rates are similar to the maxima determined for submillimeter galaxies ; the most luminous individual starburst included within the sample has log L _ { ir } = 46.9 , which gives a SFR = 3.4 x 10 ^ { 3 } M _ { \odot } yr ^ { -1 } .