The space density of luminous dusty star-forming galaxies at z > 4: SCUBA-2 and LABOCA imaging of ultrared galaxies from Herschel-ATLAS
- European Southern Observatory, Karl-Schwarzschild-Straße 2, D-85748 Garching (Germany)
- Institute for Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, Royal Observatory, Blackford Hill, Edinburgh EH9 3HJ (United Kingdom)
- Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie, Auf dem Hügel 69, D-53121 Bonn (Germany)
- UK Astronomy Technology Centre, Royal Observatory, Blackford Hill, Edinburgh EH9 3HJ (United Kingdom)
- School of Physics and Astronomy, Cardiff University, Queen’s Buildings, The Parade, Cardiff CF24 3AA (United Kingdom)
- Leiden Observatory, Leiden University, P.O. Box 9513, NL-2300 RA Leiden (Netherlands)
- UPMC Univ Paris 06, UMR 7095, IAP, F-75014, Paris (France)
- IAC, E-38200 La Laguna, Tenerife (Spain)
- Centre for Extragalactic Astronomy, Department of Physics, Durham University, South Road, Durham DH1 3LE (United Kingdom)
- Argelander-Institute for Astronomy, Bonn University, Auf dem Hügel 71, D-53121 Bonn (Germany)
- H. H. Wills Physics Laboratory, University of Bristol, Tyndall Avenue, Bristol BS8 1TL (United Kingdom)
- Astronomy Department, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853 (United States)
- CAS Key Laboratory for Research in Galaxies and Cosmology, Department of Astronomy, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026 (China)
- Astrophysics Group, Imperial College London, Blackett Laboratory, Prince Consort Road, London SW7 2AZ (United Kingdom)
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697 (United States)
- SISSA, Via Bonomea 265, I-34136, Trieste (Italy)
Until recently, only a handful of dusty, star-forming galaxies (DSFGs) were known at z > 4, most of them significantly amplified by gravitational lensing. Here, we have increased the number of such DSFGs substantially, selecting galaxies from the uniquely wide 250, 350, and 500 μm Herschel-ATLAS imaging survey on the basis of their extremely red far-infrared colors and faint 350 and 500 μm flux densities, based on which, they are expected to be largely unlensed, luminous, rare, and very distant. The addition of ground-based continuum photometry at longer wavelengths from the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope and the Atacama Pathfinder Experiment allows us to identify the dust peak in their spectral energy distributions (SEDs), with which we can better constrain their redshifts. We select the SED templates that are best able to determine photometric redshifts using a sample of 69 high-redshift, lensed DSFGs, then perform checks to assess the impact of the CMB on our technique, and to quantify the systematic uncertainty associated with our photometric redshifts, σ = 0.14 (1 + z), using a sample of 25 galaxies with spectroscopic redshifts, each consistent with our color selection. For Herschel-selected ultrared galaxies with typical colors of S {sub 500}/S {sub 250} ∼ 2.2 and S {sub 500}/S {sub 350} ∼ 1.3 and flux densities, S {sub 500} ∼ 50 mJy, we determine a median redshift, z-hat {sub phot}=3.66, an interquartile redshift range, 3.30–4.27, with a median rest-frame 8–1000 μm luminosity, L-hat {sub IR}, of 1.3 × 10{sup 13} L {sub ⊙}. A third of the galaxies lie at z > 4, suggesting a space density, ρ {sub z > 4}, of ≈6 × 10{sup −7} Mpc{sup −3}. Our sample contains the most luminous known star-forming galaxies, and the most overdense cluster of starbursting proto-ellipticals found to date.
- OSTI ID:
- 22868443
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 832, 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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