FAR-IR/SUBMILLIMETER SPECTROSCOPIC COSMOLOGICAL SURVEYS: PREDICTIONS OF INFRARED LINE LUMINOSITY FUNCTIONS FOR z < 4 GALAXIES
- Istituto di Fisica dello Spazio Interplanetario, INAF, Via Fosso del Cavaliere 100, I-00133 Roma (Italy)
- Laboratoire AIM, CEA/DSM-CNRS-Universite Paris Diderot, Irfu/Service d'Astrophysique, CEA Saclay, F-91191 Gif-sur-Yvette (France)
- Dipartimento di Astronomia, Universita di Padova, Vicolo dell'Osservatorio 5, 35122 Padova (Italy)
- Osservatorio Astronomico di Bologna-INAF, Via Ranzani 1, 40127 Bologna (Italy)
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of British Columbia, 6224 Agricultural Road, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1 (Canada)
- ESA Research and Scientific Support Department-ESTEC, Keplerlaan 1, 2200 AG Noordwijk (Netherlands)
Star formation and accretion onto supermassive black holes in the nuclei of galaxies are the two most energetic processes in the universe, producing the bulk of the observed emission throughout its history. We simulated the luminosity functions of star-forming and active galaxies for spectral lines that are thought to be good spectroscopic tracers of either phenomenon, as a function of redshift. We focused on the infrared (IR) and submillimeter domains, where the effects of dust obscuration are minimal. Using three different and independent theoretical models for galaxy formation and evolution, constrained by multi-wavelength luminosity functions, we computed the number of star-forming and active galaxies per IR luminosity and redshift bin. We converted the continuum luminosity counts into spectral line counts using relationships that we calibrated on mid- and far-IR spectroscopic surveys of galaxies in the local universe. Our results demonstrate that future facilities optimized for survey-mode observations, i.e., the Space Infrared telescope for Cosmology and Astrophysics and the Cerro Chajnantor Atacama Telescope, will be able to observe thousands of z > 1 galaxies in key fine-structure lines, e.g., [Si II], [O I], [O III], [C II], in a half-square-degree survey, with 1 hr integration time per field of view. Fainter lines such as [O IV], [Ne V], and H{sub 2} (0-0)S1 will be observed in several tens of bright galaxies at 1 < z < 2, while diagnostic diagrams of active nucleus versus star formation activity will be feasible even for normal z {approx} 1 galaxies. We discuss the new parameter space that these future telescopes will cover and that strongly motivates their construction.
- OSTI ID:
- 22011875
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 745, Issue 2; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0004-637X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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