THE EVOLUTION OF THE STAR FORMATION RATE OF GALAXIES AT 0.0 {<=} z {<=} 1.2
- Steward Observatory, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721 (United States)
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Texas A and M University, College Station, TX 77843-4242 (United States)
- Department of Astrophysical Sciences, 4 Ivy Lane, Peyton Hall, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544 (United States)
- Center for Astrophysics and Space Sciences, University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093 (United States)
- National Optical Astronomy Observatory, Tucson, AZ 85726 (United States)
- Department of Astronomy and Center for Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, Ohio State University, 140 W. 18th Ave., Columbus, OH 43210 (United States)
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Mail Stop 169-506, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109 (United States)
- Harvard/Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Mail Stop 67, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States)
- School of Physics, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria 3800 (Australia)
We present the 24 {mu}m rest-frame luminosity function (LF) of star-forming galaxies in the redshift range 0.0 {<=} z {<=} 0.6 constructed from 4047 spectroscopic redshifts from the AGN and Galaxy Evolution Survey of 24 {mu}m selected sources in the Booetes field of the NOAO Deep Wide-Field Survey. This sample provides the best available combination of large area (9 deg{sup 2}), depth, and statistically complete spectroscopic observations, allowing us to probe the evolution of the 24 {mu}m LF of galaxies at low and intermediate redshifts while minimizing the effects of cosmic variance. In order to use the observed 24 {mu}m luminosity as a tracer for star formation, active galactic nuclei (AGNs) that could contribute significantly at 24 {mu}m are identified and excluded from our star-forming galaxy sample based on their mid-IR spectral energy distributions or the detection of X-ray emission. Optical emission line diagnostics are considered for AGN identification, but we find that 24 {mu}m emission from optically selected AGNs is usually from star-forming activity and therefore should not be excluded. The evolution of the 24 {mu}m LF of star-forming galaxies for redshifts of z {<=} 0.65 is consistent with a pure luminosity evolution where the characteristic 24 {mu}m luminosity evolves as (1 + z){sup 3.8{+-}0.3}. We extend our evolutionary study to encompass 0.0 {<=} z {<=} 1.2 by combining our data with that of the Far-Infrared Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey. Over this entire redshift range, the evolution of the characteristic 24 {mu}m luminosity is described by a slightly shallower power law of (1 + z){sup 3.4{+-}0.2}. We find a local star formation rate density of (1.09 {+-} 0.21) x 10{sup -2} M {sub sun} yr{sup -1} Mpc{sup -3}, and that it evolves as (1 + z){sup 3.5{+-}0.2} over 0.0 {<=} z {<=} 1.2. These estimates are in good agreement with the rates using optical and UV fluxes corrected for the effects of intrinsic extinction in the observed sources. This agreement confirms that star formation at z {approx}< 1.2 is robustly traced by 24 {mu}m observations and that it largely occurs in obscured regions of galaxies.
- OSTI ID:
- 21455072
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 718, Issue 2; Other Information: DOI: 10.1088/0004-637X/718/2/1171; ISSN 0004-637X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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