A far-infrared spectroscopic survey of intermediate redshift (ultra) luminous infrared galaxies
- Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Keble Road, Oxford OX1 3RH (United Kingdom)
- Physics Department, Imperial College London, South Kensington Campus, London SW7 2AZ (United Kingdom)
- National Astronomical Observatories of China, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100012 (China)
- Department of Physics, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061 (United States)
- RAL Space, Science, and Technology Facilities Council, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Didcot OX11 0QX (United Kingdom)
- Instituto de Fisica de Cantabria, CSIC-UC, E-39006 Santander (Spain)
- California Institute of Technology, 1200 East California Boulevard, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States)
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109 (United States)
- School of Physics and Astronomy, Cardiff University, Queens Buildings, The Parade, Cardiff CF24 3AA (United Kingdom)
- Astronomy Centre, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9QH (United Kingdom)
- Instituto de Astrofsica de Canarias (IAC), 38200, La Laguna, Tenerife (Spain)
- Department of Astronomy, Cornell University, 220 Space Sciences Building, Ithaca, NY 14853 (United States)
- Institute for Astronomy, Astrophysics, Space Applications and Remote Sensing, National Observatory of Athens, GR-15236 Athens (Greece)
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of British Columbia, 6224 Agricultural Road, Vancouver, BC V6T1Z1 (Canada)
- Herschel Science Centre, European Space Astronomy Centre, Villanueva de la Canada, E-28691 Madrid (Spain)
We present Herschel far-IR photometry and spectroscopy as well as ground-based CO observations of an intermediate redshift (0.21 ≤ z ≤ 0.88) sample of Herschel-selected (ultra)-luminous infrared galaxies (L {sub IR} > 10{sup 11.5} L {sub ☉}). With these measurements, we trace the dust continuum, far-IR atomic line emission, in particular [C II] 157.7 μm, as well as the molecular gas of z ∼ 0.3 luminous and ultraluminous infrared galaxies (LIRGs and ULIRGs) and perform a detailed investigation of the interstellar medium of the population. We find that the majority of Herschel-selected intermediate redshift (U)LIRGs have L {sub C} {sub II}/L {sub FIR} ratios that are a factor of about 10 higher than that of local ULIRGs and comparable to that of local normal and high-z star-forming galaxies. Using our sample to bridge local and high-z [C II] observations, we find that the majority of galaxies at all redshifts and all luminosities follow an L {sub C} {sub II}–L {sub FIR} relation with a slope of unity, from which local ULIRGs and high- z active-galactic-nucleus-dominated sources are clear outliers. We also confirm that the strong anti-correlation between the L {sub C} {sub II}/L {sub FIR} ratio and the far-IR color L {sub 60}/L {sub 100} observed in the local universe holds over a broad range of redshifts and luminosities, in the sense that warmer sources exhibit lower L {sub C} {sub II}/L {sub FIR} at any epoch. Intermediate redshift ULIRGs are also characterized by large molecular gas reservoirs and by lower star formation efficiencies compared to that of local ULIRGs. The high L {sub C} {sub II}/L {sub FIR} ratios, the moderate star formation efficiencies (L {sub IR}/L{sub CO}{sup ′} or L {sub IR}/M{sub H{sub 2}}), and the relatively low dust temperatures of our sample (which are also common characteristics of high-z star-forming galaxies with ULIRG-like luminosities) indicate that the evolution of the physical properties of (U)LIRGs between the present day and z > 1 is already significant by z ∼ 0.3.
- OSTI ID:
- 22369996
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 796, 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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