SHELS: OPTICAL SPECTRAL PROPERTIES OF WISE 22 {mu}m SELECTED GALAXIES
- Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States)
We use a dense, complete redshift survey, the Smithsonian Hectospec Lensing Survey (SHELS), covering a 4 deg{sup 2} region of a deep imaging survey, the Deep Lens Survey (DLS), to study the optical spectral properties of Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) 22 {mu}m selected galaxies. Among 507 WISE 22 {mu}m selected sources with (S/N){sub 22{mu}m} {>=} 3 ( Almost-Equal-To S{sub 22{mu}m} {approx}> 2.5 mJy), we identify the optical counterparts of 481 sources ({approx}98%) at R < 25.2 in the very deep, DLS R-band source catalog. Among them, 337 galaxies at R < 21 have SHELS spectroscopic data. Most of these objects are at z < 0.8. The infrared (IR) luminosities are in the range 4.5 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup 8}(L{sub Sun }) {approx}< L{sub IR} {approx}< 5.4 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup 12}(L{sub Sun }). Most 22 {mu}m selected galaxies are dusty star-forming galaxies with a small (<1.5) 4000 A break. The stacked spectra of the 22 {mu}m selected galaxies binned in IR luminosity show that the strength of the [O III] line relative to H{beta} grows with increasing IR luminosity. The optical spectra of the 22 {mu}m selected galaxies also show that there are some ({approx}2.8%) unusual galaxies with very strong [Ne III] {lambda}3869, 3968 emission lines that require hard ionizing radiation such as active galactic nuclei (AGNs) or extremely young massive stars. The specific star formation rates (sSFRs) derived from the 3.6 and 22 {mu}m flux densities are enhanced if the 22 {mu}m selected galaxies have close late-type neighbors. The sSFR distribution of the 22 {mu}m selected galaxies containing AGNs is similar to the distribution for star-forming galaxies without AGNs. We identify 48 dust-obscured galaxy candidates with large ({approx}> 1000) mid-IR to optical flux density ratio. The combination of deep photometric and spectroscopic data with WISE data suggests that WISE can probe the universe to z {approx} 2.
- OSTI ID:
- 22092106
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 758, Issue 1; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0004-637X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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