Star-galaxy separation in the AKARI NEP Deep Field

Context: It is crucial to develop a method for classifying objects detected in deep surveys at infrared wavelengths. We specifically need a method to separate galaxies from stars using only the infrared information to study the properties of galaxies, e.g., to estimate the angular correlation function, without introducing any additional bias. Aims. We aim to separate stars and galaxies in the data from the AKARI North Ecliptic Pole (NEP) Deep survey collected in nine AKARI / IRC bands from 2 to 24 {\mu}m that cover the near- and mid-infrared wavelengths (hereafter NIR and MIR). We plan to estimate the correlation function for NIR and MIR galaxies from a sample selected according to our criteria in future research. Methods: We used support vector machines (SVM) to study the distribution of stars and galaxies in the AKARIs multicolor space. We defined the training samples of these objects by calculating their infrared stellarity parameter (sgc). We created the most efficient classifier and then tested it on the whole sample. We confirmed the developed separation with auxiliary optical data obtained by the Subaru telescope and by creating Euclidean normalized number count plots. Results: We obtain a 90% accuracy in pinpointing galaxies and 98% accuracy for stars in infrared multicolor space with the infrared SVM classifier. The source counts and comparison with the optical data (with a consistency of 65% for selecting stars and 96% for galaxies) confirm that our star/galaxy separation methods are reliable. Conclusions: The infrared classifier derived with the SVM method based on infrared sgc- selected training samples proves to be very efficient and accurate in selecting stars and galaxies in deep surveys at infrared wavelengths carried out without any previous target object selection.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figure

The North Ecliptic Pole Wide survey of AKARI: a near- and mid-infrared source catalog

We present a photometric catalog of infrared (IR) sources based on the North Ecliptic PoleWide field (NEP-Wide) survey of AKARI, which is an infrared space telescope launched by Japan. The NEP-Wide survey covered 5.4 deg2 area, a nearly circular shape centered on the North Ecliptic Pole, using nine photometric filter-bands from 2 - 25 {\mu}m of the Infrared Camera (IRC). Extensive efforts were made to reduce possible false objects due to cosmic ray hits, multiplexer bleeding phenomena around bright sources, and other artifacts. The number of detected sources varied depending on the filter band: with about 109,000 sources being cataloged in the near-IR bands at 2 - 5 {\mu}m, about 20,000 sources in the shorter parts of the mid-IR bands between 7 - 11 {\mu}m, and about 16,000 sources in the longer parts of the mid-IR bands, with \sim 4,000 sources at 24 {\mu}m. The estimated 5? detection limits are approximately 21 magnitude (mag) in the 2 - 5 {\mu}m bands, 19.5 - 19 mag in the 7 - 11 {\mu}m, and 18.8 - 18.5 mag in the 15 - 24 {\mu}m bands in the AB magnitude scale. The completenesses for those bands were evaluated as a function of magnitude: the 50% completeness limits are about 19.8 mag at 3 {\mu}m, 18.6 mag at 9 {\mu}m, and 18 mag at 18 {\mu}m band, respectively. To construct a reliable source catalog, all of the detected sources were examined by matching them with those in other wavelength data, including optical and ground-based near-IR bands. The final band-merged catalog contains about 114,800 sources detected in the IRC filter bands. The properties of the sources are presented in terms of the distributions in various color-color diagrams.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A, 23 pages, 27 figure

Clustering of the AKARI NEP deep field 24<i>μ</i>m selected galaxies

Aims. We present a method of selection of 24 μm galaxies from the AKARI north ecliptic pole (NEP) deep field down to 150 μJy and measurements of their two-point correlation function. We aim to associate various 24 μm selected galaxy populations with present day galaxies and to investigate the impact of their environment on the direction of their subsequent evolution. Methods. We discuss using of Support Vector Machines (SVM) algorithm applied to infrared photometric data to perform star-galaxy separation, in which we achieve an accuracy higher than 80%. The photometric redshift information, obtained through the CIGALE code, is used to explore the redshift dependence of the correlation function parameter (r0) as well as the linear bias evolution. This parameter relates galaxy distribution to the one of the underlying dark matter. We connect the investigated sources to their potential local descendants through a simplified model of the clustering evolution without interactions. Results. We observe two different populations of star-forming galaxies, at zmed ∼ 0.25, zmed ∼ 0.9. Measurements of total infrared luminosities (LTIR) show that the sample at zmed ∼ 0.25 is composed mostly of local star-forming galaxies, while the sample at zmed ∼ 0.9 is composed of luminous infrared galaxies (LIRGs) with LTIR ∼ 1011.62 L⨀. We find that dark halo mass is not necessarily correlated with the LTIR: for subsamples with LTIR = 1011.15 L⨀ at zmed ∼ 0.7 we observe a higher clustering length (r0 = 6.21 ± 0.78 [h−1Mpc]) than for a subsample with mean LTIR = 1011.84 L⨀ at zmed ∼ 1.1 (r0 = 5.86 ± 0.69 h−1Mpc). We find that galaxies at zmed ∼ 0.9 can be ancestors of present day L∗ early type galaxies, which exhibit a very high r0 ∼ 8h−1 Mpc.</p

Clustering of far-infrared galaxies in the AKARI All-Sky Survey North

We present the measurements of the angular two-point correlation function for AKARI 90-µm point sources, detected outside the Milky Way plane and other regions characterized by high Galactic extinction in the northern Galactic hemisphere, and categorized as extragalactic sources according to our far-infrared-color based criterion. Together with our previous work this is the first measurement of the large-scale angular clustering of galaxies selected in the far-infrared after IRAS. We present the first attempt to estimate the spatial clustering properties of AKARI All-Sky galaxies and we conclude that they are mostly a very nearby (z ≤ 0.1) population of moderately clustered galaxies. We measure their correlation length r 0 ∼ 4.5 h −1 Mpc, which is consistent with the assumption that the FIS AKARI All-Sky surveys observes mostly a nearby star-forming population of galaxies