We present the first direct comparison between Balmer line and panchromatic SED-based SFRs for z \sim 2 galaxies .
For this comparison we used 17 star-forming galaxies selected from the MOSFIRE Deep Evolution Field ( MOSDEF ) survey , with 3 \sigma detections for H \alpha and at least two IR bands ( Spitzer /MIPS 24 \mu m and Herschel /PACS 100 and 160 \mu m , and in some cases Herschel /SPIRE 250 , 350 , and 500 \mu m ) .
The galaxies have total IR ( 8 - 1000 \mu m ) luminosities of \sim 10 ^ { 11.4 } -10 ^ { 12.4 } \textrm { L } _ { \odot } and star-formation rates ( SFRs ) of \sim 30 - 250 \textrm { M } _ { \odot } \mathrm { yr ^ { -1 } } .
We fit the UV-to-far-IR SEDs with flexible stellar population synthesis ( FSPS ) models – which include both stellar and dust emission – and compare the inferred SFRs with the SFR ( H \alpha , H \beta ) values corrected for dust attenuation using Balmer decrements .
The two SFRs agree with a scatter of 0.17 dex .
Our results imply that the Balmer decrement accurately predicts the obscuration of the nebular lines and can be used to robustly calculate SFRs for star-forming galaxies at z \sim 2 with SFRs up to \sim 200 { M _ { \odot } } { { yr ^ { -1 } } } .
We also use our data to assess SFR indicators based on modeling the UV-to-mid-IR SEDs or by adding SFR ( UV ) and SFR ( IR ) , for which the latter is based on the mid-IR only or on the full IR SED .
All these SFRs show a poorer agreement with SFR ( H \alpha , H \beta ) and in some cases large systematic biases are observed .
Finally , we show that the SFR and dust attenuation derived from the UV-to-near-IR SED alone are unbiased when assuming a delayed exponentially declining star-formation history .