The Contribution of Thermally-Pulsing Asymptotic Giant Branch and Red Supergiant Starts to the Luminosities of the Magellanic Clouds at 1-24 micrometers
We present the near-through mid-infrared flux contribution of thermally-pulsing asymptotic giant branch (TP-AGB) and massive red supergiant (RSG) stars to the luminosities of the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds (LMC and SMC, respectively). Combined, the peak contribution from these cool evolved stars occurs at approx 3 - 4 micron, where they produce 32% of the SMC light, and 25% of the LMC flux. The TP-AGB star contribution also peaks at approx 3 - 4 micron and amounts to 21% in both galaxies. The contribution from RSG stars peaks at shorter wavelengths, 2.2 micron, where they provide 11% of the SMC flux, and 7% for the LMC. Both TP-AGB and RSG stars are short lived, and thus potentially impose a large stochastic scatter on the near-IR derived mass-to-light (M/L) ratios of galaxies at rest-frame 1 - 4 micron. To minimize their impact on stellar mass estimates, one can use the M/L ratio at shorter wavelengths (e.g., at 0.8 - 1 micron). At longer wavelengths (much > 8 micron), emission from dust in the interstellar medium dominates the flux. In the LMC, which shows strong polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) emission at 8 micron, TP-AGB and RSG contribute less than 4% of the 8 micron flux. However, 19% of the SMC 8 micron flux is from evolved stars, nearly half of which is produced by the rarest, dustiest, carbon-rich TP-AGB stars. Thus, star formation rates of galaxies, based on an 8 micron flux (e.g., observed-frame 24 micron at z = 2), may be biased modestly high, especially for galaxies with little PAH emission.