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Kiloparsec-scale star formation law in M81 and M101 based on AKARI far-infrared observations

We assess the relationships between the surface densities of the gas and star formation rate (SFR) within spiral arms of the nearby late-type spiral galaxies M81 and M101. By analyzing these relationships locally, we derive empirically a kiloparsec scale Kennicutt-Schmidt Law. Both M81 and M101 were observed with the Far-Infrared Surveyor (FIS) aboard AKARI in four far-infrared bands at 65, 90, 140, and 160 um. The spectral energy distributions of the whole galaxies show the presence of the cold dust component (Tc~20 K) in addition to the warm dust component (Tw~60 K). We deconvolved the cold and warm dust emission components spatially by making the best use of the multi-band photometric capability of the FIS. The cold and warm dust components show power-law correlations in various regions, which can be converted into the gas mass and the SFR, respectively. We find a power-law correlation between the gas and SFR surface densities with significant differences in the power law index N between giant HII regions (N=1.0) and spiral arms (N=2.2) in M101. The power-law index for spiral arms in M81 is similar (N=1.9) to that of spiral arms in M101. Conclusions: The power-law index is not always constant within a galaxy. The difference in the power-law index can be attributed to the difference in the star formation processes on a kiloparsec scale. N~2 seen in the spiral arms in M81 and M101 supports the scenario of star formation triggered by cloud-cloud collisions enhanced by spiral density wave, while N~1 derived in giant HII regions in M101 suggests the star formation induced by the Parker instability triggered by high velocity HI gas infall. The present method can be applied to a large galaxy sample for which the AKARI All Sky Survey provides the same 4 far-infrared band data.