A K{sub S} AND IRAC SELECTION OF HIGH-REDSHIFT EXTREMELY RED OBJECTS

Journal Article · Tue Jan 10 04:00:00 EST 2012 · Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/744/2/155· OSTI ID:22004209

Wang, Wei-Hao ^[1]; Barger, Amy J ^[2]; Cowie, Lennox L ^[3]

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1. Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, P.O. Box 23-141, Taipei 10617, Taiwan (China)
2. Department of Astronomy, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 475 North Charter Street, Madison, WI 53706 (United States)
3. Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii, 2680 Woodlawn Drive, Honolulu, HI 96822 (United States)

In order to find the most extreme dust-hidden high-redshift galaxies, we select 196 extremely red objects in the K{sub S} and Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) bands (KIEROs, [K{sub s} - 4.5 {mu}m]{sub AB} > 1.6) in the 0.06 deg{sup 2} Great Observatories Origins Deep Surveys-North (GOODS-N) region. This selection avoids the Balmer breaks of galactic spectra at z < 4 and picks up red galaxies with strong dust extinction. The photometric redshifts of KIEROs are between 1.5 and 5, with {approx}70% at z {approx} 2-4. KIEROs are very massive, with M{sub *} {approx} 10{sup 10}-10{sup 12} M{sub Sun }. They are optically faint and usually cannot be picked out by the Lyman break selection. On the other hand, the KIERO selection includes approximately half of the known millimeter and submillimeter galaxies in the GOODS-N. Stacking analyses in the radio, millimeter, and submillimeter all show that KIEROs are much more luminous than average 4.5 {mu}m-selected galaxies. Interestingly, the stacked fluxes for Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS)-undetected KIEROs in these wave bands are 2.5-5 times larger than those for ACS-detected KIEROs. With the stacked radio fluxes and the local radio-FIR correlation, we derive mean infrared luminosities of (2-7) Multiplication-Sign 10{sup 12} L{sub Sun} and mean star formation rates (SFRs) of 400-1200 M{sub Sun} yr{sup -1} for KIEROs with redshifts. We do not find evidence of a significant subpopulation of passive KIEROs. The large stellar masses and SFRs imply that KIEROs are z > 2 massive galaxies in rapid formation. Our results show that a large sample of dusty ultraluminous sources can be selected in this way and that a large fraction of high-redshift star formation is hidden by dust.

• OSTI ID: 22004209
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Journal Name: Astrophysical Journal Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 744; ISSN ASJOAB; ISSN 0004-637X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
CAMERAS
COSMOLOGY
DUSTS
GALACTIC EVOLUTION
GALAXIES
LUMINOSITY
MASS
RED SHIFT
STARS