Multiwavelength analysis of high-redshift far-IR galaxies detected by the Herschel space observatory in the South ecliptic pole field

In the last years, more and more studies demonstrated the existence of a coevolution between active galactic nuclei and host galaxies. Starbursts are often accompanied by an enhanced nucleus activity and the physical properties of the two physical mechanisms seems to be correlated. Given the dusty nature of the region in which such mechanisms take place, their direct observation is strongly affected by extinction. The hidden UV and optical emission has been for a long time a big limitation to these studies for both the difficulty in detecting a consistent fraction of such sources and for the estimation of their intrinsic emission. However, the energy absorbed at shorter wavelengths is re-emitted by the heated dust, in the mid and far infrared (MIR and FIR). In this picture, the observations obtained with the Herschel and Spitzer space observatories play a major role. Exploring the spectral region spanning from the peak of stellar emission to the peak of dust emission, they allow to constrain the total amount of energy emitted by the underlying physical mechanisms and, consequently, their relative and absolute strength. Herschel and Spitzer observations are however necessary but not sufficient for these kind of studies. Reliable photometric redshifts can only be computed with a good spectra coverage at optical wavelengths. Moreover, when studying the AGN activity, keeping into account the mid-IR spectral region, where the dusty torus emission dominates, become crucial. The mid-IR spectral region can be explored, e.g. by the Akari space observatory With the work summarized in this thesis, we contributed to the study of the connection between AGN and host galaxy under different aspects. Our analysis focuses on the south ecliptic pole (SEP) area, that given its position, is subject to a low cirrus emission. First, we reduced a large dataset of optical images taken in the SEP field. The resulting mosaics are now available for further studies both in the same and different topics. Second, starting from our optical images, and other pubblicly and private available images and catalogs, we built a multiwavelength catalog of sources covering 7 square degrees in the SEP area. The photometric coverage of this catalog spans from the optical to the far-IR of the Herschel-SPIRE bands. Spitzer-IRAC and MIPS bands, beside Akari-IRC observations are also included. This catalog is already available for the scientific community. Our third contribution to the research in this field is represented by our analysis on a sub-sample of far-IR selected sources. Using SED fitting techniques, we analyzed the main properties of these galaxies (redshifts, stellar masses, star formation and AGN activity). Then we studied the contribution of each single physical mechanism (stars, AGN, star formation) to the total emission at different wavelengths. Finally we discussed the relations among these properties. Our multiwavelength results complement literature analysis undertaken in the X-rays, pointing toward the existence of a double ``main sequence'', one in the stellar mass (M*) versus SFR space and the other in the M* versus black hole accretion rate (BHAR) space. We conclude with the estimation of the M*-BHAR main sequence slope at z<0.5

Galaxy Nurseries: Crowdsourced analysis of slitless spectroscopic data

We present the results of Galaxy Nurseries project, which was designed to enable crowdsourced analysis of slitless spectroscopic data by volunteer citizen scientists using the Zooniverse online interface. The dataset was obtained by the WFC3 Infrared Spectroscopic Parallel (WISP) Survey collaboration and comprises NIR grism (G102 and G141) and direct imaging. Volunteers were instructed to evaluate indicated spectral features and decide whether it was a genuine emission line or more likely an artifact. Galaxy Nurseries was completed in only 40 days, gathering 414,360 classifications from 3003 volunteers for 27,333 putative emission lines. The results of Galaxy Nurseries demonstrate the feasibility of identifying genuine emission lines in slitless spectra by citizen scientists. Volunteer responses for each subject were aggregated to compute $f_{\mathrm{Real}}$, the fraction of volunteers who classified the corresponding emission line as "Real". To evaluate the accuracy of volunteer classifications, their aggregated responses were compared with independent assessments provided by members of the WISP Survey Science Team (WSST). Overall, there is a broad agreement between the WSST and volunteers' classifications, although we recognize that robust scientific analyses typically require samples with higher purity and completeness than raw volunteer classifications provide. Nonetheless, choosing optimal threshold values for $f_{\mathrm{Real}}$ allows a large fraction of spurious lines to be vetoed, substantially reducing the timescale for subsequent professional analysis of the remaining potential lines.Comment: Accepted for publication in Research Notes of the AA

Origins Space Telescope: predictions for far-IR spectroscopic surveys

We illustrate the extraordinary potential of the (far-IR) Origins Survey Spectrometer (OSS) on board the Origins Space Telescope (OST) to address a variety of open issues on the co-evolution of galaxies and AGNs. We present predictions for blind surveys, each of 1000 h, with different mapped areas (a shallow survey covering an area of 10 deg$^{2}$ and a deep survey of 1 deg$^{2}$) and two different concepts of the OST/OSS: with a 5.9 m telescope (Concept 2, our reference configuration) and with a 9.1 m telescope (Concept 1, previous configuration). In 1000 h, surveys with the reference concept will detect from $\sim 1.9 \times 10^{6}$ to $\sim 8.7 \times 10^{6}$ lines from $\sim 4.8 \times 10^{5}$-$2.7 \times 10^{6}$ star-forming galaxies and from $\sim 1.4 \times 10^{4}$ to $\sim 3.8 \times 10^{4}$ lines from $\sim 1.3 \times 10^{4}$-$3.5 \times 10^{4}$ AGNs. The shallow survey will detect substantially more sources than the deep one; the advantage of the latter in pushing detections to lower luminosities/higher redshifts turns out to be quite limited. The OST/OSS will reach, in the same observing time, line fluxes more than one order of magnitude fainter than the SPICA/SMI and will cover a much broader redshift range. In particular it will detect tens of thousands of galaxies at $z \geq 5$, beyond the reach of that instrument. The polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons lines are potentially bright enough to allow the detection of hundreds of thousands of star-forming galaxies up to $z \sim 8.5$, i.e. all the way through the re-ionization epoch. The proposed surveys will allow us to explore the galaxy-AGN co-evolution up to $z\sim 5.5-6$ with very good statistics. OST Concept 1 does not offer significant advantages for the scientific goals presented here.Comment: 24 pages, 20 figures, 2 tables, accepted for publication in PAS

HST Grism-derived Forecasts for Future Galaxy Redshift Surveys

The mutually complementary Euclid and Roman galaxy redshift surveys will use Hα- and [O III]-selected emission-line galaxies (ELGs) as tracers of the large-scale structure at 0.9 ≾ z ≾ 1.9 (Hα) and 1.5 ≾ z ≾ 2.7 ([O III]). It is essential to have a reliable and sufficiently precise knowledge of the expected numbers of Hα-emitting galaxies in the survey volume in order to optimize these redshift surveys for the study of dark energy. Additionally, these future samples of ELGs will, like all slitless spectroscopy surveys, be affected by a complex selection function that depends on galaxy size and luminosity, line equivalent width (EW), and redshift errors arising from the misidentification of single ELGs. Focusing on the specifics of the Euclid survey, we combine two slitless spectroscopic WFC3-IR data sets—3D-HST+AGHAST and the WFC3 Infrared Spectroscopic Parallel survey—to construct a Euclid-like sample that covers an area of 0.56 deg² and includes 1277 ELGs. We detect 1091 (~3270 deg⁻²) Hα+[N II]-emitting galaxies in the range 0.9 ≤ z ≤ 1.6 and 162 (~440 deg⁻²) [O III] λ5007 emitters over 1.5 ≤ z ≤ 2.3 with line fluxes ≥2 × 10⁻¹⁶ erg s⁻¹ cm⁻². The median of the Hα+[N II] EW distribution is ~250 Å, and the effective radii of the continuum and Hα+[N II] emission are correlated with a median of ~0.”38 and significant scatter (σ ~ 0.”2–0.”35). Finally, we explore the prevalence of redshift misidentification in future Euclid samples, finding potential contamination rates of ~14%–20% and ~6% down to 2 × 10⁻¹⁶ erg s⁻¹ cm−2 and 6 × 10⁻¹⁷ erg s⁻¹ cm⁻², respectively, although with increased wavelength coverage these percentages drop to nearly zero

HST Grism-derived Forecasts for Future Galaxy Redshift Surveys

The mutually complementary Euclid and Roman galaxy redshift surveys will use Halpha- and [OIII]-selected emission line galaxies as tracers of the large scale structure at $0.9 \lesssim z \lesssim 1.9$ (Halpha) and $1.5 \lesssim z \lesssim 2.7$ ([OIII]). It is essential to have a reliable and sufficiently precise knowledge of the expected numbers of Halpha-emitting galaxies in the survey volume in order to optimize these redshift surveys for the study of dark energy. Additionally, these future samples of emission-line galaxies will, like all slitless spectroscopy surveys, be affected by a complex selection function that depends on galaxy size and luminosity, line equivalent width, and redshift errors arising from the misidentification of single emission-line galaxies. Focusing on the specifics of the Euclid survey, we combine two slitless spectroscopic WFC3-IR datasets -- 3D-HST+AGHAST and the WISP survey -- to construct a Euclid-like sample that covers an area of 0.56 deg$^2$ and includes 1277 emission line galaxies. We detect 1091 ($\sim$3270 deg$^{-2}$) Halpha+[NII]-emitting galaxies in the range $0.9\leq z \leq 1.6$ and 162 ($\sim$440 deg$^{-2}$) [OIII]$\lambda$5007-emitters over $1.5\leq z \leq 2.3$ with line fluxes $\geq 2 \times 10^{-16}$ erg s$^{-1}$ cm$^{-2}$. The median of the Halpha+[NII] equivalent width distribution is $\sim$250\r{A}, and the effective radii of the continuum and Halpha+[NII] emission are correlated with a median of $\sim$0.38" and significant scatter ($\sigma \sim$0.2"$-$0.35"). Finally, we explore the prevalence of redshift misidentification in future Euclid samples, finding potential contamination rates of $\sim$14-20% and $\sim$6% down to $2\times 10^{-16}$ and $6 \times 10^{-17}$ erg s$^{-1}$ cm$^{-2}$, respectively, though with increased wavelength coverage these percentages drop to nearly zero.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ. 27 pages, 17 figures, 3 table

A BRAIN study to tackle image analysis with artificial intelligence in the ALMA 2030 era

An ESO internal ALMA development study, BRAIN, is addressing the ill-posed inverse problem of synthesis image analysis employing astrostatistics and astroinformatics. These emerging fields of research offer interdisciplinary approaches at the intersection of observational astronomy, statistics, algorithm development, and data science. In this study, we provide evidence of the benefits of employing these approaches to ALMA imaging for operational and scientific purposes. We show the potential of two techniques, RESOLVE and DeepFocus, applied to ALMA calibrated science data. Significant advantages are provided with the prospect to improve the quality and completeness of the data products stored in the science archive and overall processing time for operations. Both approaches evidence the logical pathway to address the incoming revolution in data rates dictated by the planned electronic upgrades. Moreover, we bring to the community additional products through a new package, ALMASim, to promote advancements in these fields, providing a refined ALMA simulator usable by a large community for training and/or testing new algorithms.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures, MaxEnt2023 conferenc

AKARI Deep Field South: spectroscopic observations of infrared sources

We present a summary of our spectroscopic redshift catalogue of 404 sources in the AKARI Deep Field South (ADF-S). We have used the AAOmega spectrograph to target mid-infrared and far-infrared sources selected primarily from AKARI observations in this field for which we were able to obtain optical counterparts. Our sources with identified redshifts include 316 with Hα detections at z ≤ 0.345 and 15 sources at z > 1 with MgII or Lα emission lines. About 13% of our z ≤ 0.345 sources are dominated by active galactic nuclei (AGN) emission, although many show emission from both star formation and AGNs. The median Balmer decrement is 5.9. Ultra-luminous infrared galaxies (ULIRGs) were found only in the higher-redshift sources. Optical and near infrared data will be available shortly, enabling calibration of the line luminosities and spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting for these sources