A study of the infrared emission for a sample of 191 spiral, S0, and elliptical galaxies was performed in order to determine the level of nuclear star formation and investigate the factors that may modulate it. The near-infrared luminosity was found to be a tracer of the mass for the nuclei of normal galaxies. A mean of 0.7 solar mass/solar luminosity was obtained from the combination of near-infrared and nuclear velocity dispersion data. The 1-2 micron luminosity function exhibits an exceptionally sharp cutoff which is independent of Hubble type and corresponds to a limiting stellar mass density of about 200 solar mass/cu pc over the central 500 pc. Ten micron emission was observed in the nuclei of spiral galaxies of all Hubble types, but with no obvious dependence on the cluster environment, the presence of a stellar bar, or the depth of the central potential. The data showed that the level of far-infrared emission in late-type spirals is typically twice that of the early types and that there is little difference between the Virgo and field spiral galaxies.
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Devereux et al. (1987) studied this question.