ALMA observations of lensed Herschel sources: testing the dark matter halo paradigm

With the advent of wide-area submillimetre surveys, a large number of high-redshift gravitationally lensed dusty star-forming galaxies have been revealed. Because of the simplicity of the selection criteria for candidate lensed sources in such surveys, identified as those with S500 μm > 100 mJy, uncertainties associated with the modelling of the selection function are expunged. The combination of these attributes makes submillimetre surveys ideal for the study of strong lens statistics. We carried out a pilot study of the lensing statistics of submillimetre-selected sources by making observations with the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) of a sample of strongly lensed sources selected from surveys carried out with the Herschel Space Observatory. We attempted to reproduce the distribution of image separations for the lensed sources using a halo mass function taken from a numerical simulation that contains both dark matter and baryons. We used three different density distributions, one based on analytical fits to the haloes formed in the EAGLE simulation and two density distributions [Singular Isothermal Sphere (SIS) and SISSA] that have been used before in lensing studies. We found that we could reproduce the observed distribution with all three density distributions, as long as we imposed an upper mass transition of ∼1013 M⊙ for the SIS and SISSA models, above which we assumed that the density distribution could be represented by a Navarro–Frenk–White profile. We show that we would need a sample of ∼500 lensed sources to distinguish between the density distributions, which is practical given the predicted number of lensed sources in the Herschel surveys

The faint end of the 250 μm luminosity function at z < 0.5

Aims. We aim to study the 250 μm luminosity function (LF) down to much fainter luminosities than achieved by previous efforts. Methods. We developed a modified stacking method to reconstruct the 250 μm LF using optically selected galaxies from the SDSS survey and Herschel maps of the GAMA equatorial fields and Stripe 82. Our stacking method not only recovers the mean 250 μm luminosities of galaxies that are too faint to be individually detected, but also their underlying distribution functions. Results. We find very good agreement with previous measurements in the overlapping luminosity range. More importantly, we are able to derive the LF down to much fainter luminosities (~ 25 times fainter) than achieved by previous studies. We find strong positive luminosity evolution L*250(z)∝(1+z)4.89±1.07 and moderate negative density evolution Φ*250(z)∝(1+z)-1.02±0.54 over the redshift range 0.0

The extended counterpart of submm source Lockman850.1

The IRAM Plateau de Bure mm interferometer and deep K-band imaging have been used to identify the brightest submm source detected in the Lockman field of the UK 8mJy SCUBA survey. The near infrared counterpart is an extended (20-30kpc), clumpy, and extremely red object. The spectral energy distribution suggests it to be a dusty star forming object at a redshift of about 3 (2-4). Its star formation rate and near-infrared properties are consistent with Lockman850.1 being a massive elliptical in formation.Comment: 4 ps/eps figures. To appear in A&

The evolution of the dust and gas content in galaxies

We use deep Herschel observations taken with both PACS and SPIRE imaging cameras to estimate the dust mass of a sample of galaxies extracted from the GOODS-S, GOODS-N and the COSMOS fields. We divide the redshift–stellar mass (M star )–star formation rate (SFR) parameter space into small bins and investigate average properties over this grid. In the first part of the work we investigate the scaling relations between dust mass, stellar mass and SFR out to z = 2.5. No clear evolution of the dust mass with redshift is observed at a given SFR and stellar mass. We find a tight correlation between the SFR and the dust mass, which, under reasonable assumptions, is likely a consequence of the Schmidt-Kennicutt (S-K) relation. The previously observed correlation between the stellar content and the dust content flattens or sometimes disappears when considering galaxies with the same SFR. Our finding suggests that most of the correlation between dust mass and stellar mass obtained by previous studies is likely a consequence of the correlation between the dust mass and the SFR combined with the main sequence, i.e., the tight relation observed between the stellar mass and the SFR and followed by the majority of star-forming galaxies. We then investigate the gas content as inferred from dust mass measurements. We convert the dust mass into gas mass by assuming that the dust-to-gas ratio scales linearly with the gas metallicity (as supported by many observations). For normal star-forming galaxies (on the main sequence) the inferred relation between the SFR and the gas mass (integrated S-K relation) broadly agrees with the results of previous studies based on CO measurements, despite the completely different approaches. We observe that all galaxies in the sample follow, within uncertainties, the same S-K relation. However, when investigated in redshift intervals, the S-K relation shows a moderate, but significant redshift evolution. The bulk of the galaxy population at z ∼ 2 converts gas into stars with an efficiency (star formation efficiency, SFE = SFR/M gas , equal to the inverse of the depletion time) about 5 times higher than at z ∼ 0. However, it is not clear what fraction of such variation of the SFE is due to an intrinsic redshift evolution and what fraction is simply a consequence of high-z galaxies having, on average, higher SFR, combined with thesuper-linear slope of the S-K relation (whileother studies finda linear slope). We confirm that the gas fraction (f gas = M gas /(M gas + M star )) decreases with stellar mass and increases with the SFR. We observe no evolution with redshift once M star and SFR are fixed. We explain these trends by introducing a universal relation between gas fraction, stellar mass and SFR that does not evolve with redshift, at least out to z ∼ 2.5. Galaxies move across this relation as their gas content evolves across the cosmic epochs. We use the 3D fundamental f gas –M star –SFR relation, along with the evolution of the main sequence with redshift, to estimate the evolution of the gas fraction in the average population of galaxies as a function of redshift and as a function of stellar mass: we find that M star > ∼ 10 11 M ? galaxies show the strongest evolution at z > ∼ 1.3 and a flatter trend at lower redshift, while f gas decreases more regularly over the entire redshift range probed in M star < ∼ 10 11 Mo galaxies, in agreement with a downsizing scenario

A population of z> 2 far-infrared Herschel-spire-selected starbursts

We present spectroscopic observations for a sample of 36 Herschel-SPIRE 250-500um selected galaxies (HSGs) at 2<z<5 from the Herschel Multi-tiered Extragalactic Survey (HerMES). Redshifts are confirmed as part of a large redshift survey of Herschel-SPIRE-selected sources covering ~0.93deg^2 in six extragalactic legacy fields. Observations were taken with the Keck I Low Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (LRIS) and the Keck II DEep Imaging Multi-Object Spectrograph (DEIMOS). Precise astrometry, needed for spectroscopic follow-up, is determined by identification of counterparts at 24um or 1.4GHz using a cross-identification likelihood matching method. Individual source luminosities range from log(L_IR/Lsun)=12.5-13.6 (corresponding to star formation rates 500-9000Msun/yr, assuming a Salpeter IMF), constituting some of the most intrinsically luminous, distant infrared galaxies yet discovered. We present both individual and composite rest-frame ultraviolet spectra and infrared spectral energy distributions (SEDs). The selection of these HSGs is reproducible and well characterized across large areas of sky in contrast to most z>2 HyLIRGs in the literature which are detected serendipitously or via tailored surveys searching only for high-z HyLIRGs; therefore, we can place lower limits on the contribution of HSGs to the cosmic star formation rate density at (7+-2)x10^(-3)Msun/yr h^3Mpc^(-3) at z~2.5, which is >10% of the estimated total star formation rate density (SFRD) of the Universe from optical surveys. The contribution at z~4 has a lower limit of 3x10^(-3)Msun/yr h^3 Mpc^(-3), ~>20% of the estimated total SFRD. This highlights the importance of extremely infrared-luminous galaxies with high star formation rates to the build-up of stellar mass, even at the earliest epochs.Comment: 25 pages, 10 figures; ApJ accepte

HERUS: the far-IR/submm spectral energy distributions of local ULIRGs and photometric atlas

We present the Herschel-SPIRE photometric atlas for a complete flux limited sample of 43 local ultraluminous infrared galaxies (ULIRGs), selected at 60 μm by IRAS, as part of the HERschel ULIRG Survey (HERUS). Photometry observations were obtained using the SPIRE instrument at 250, 350, and 500 μm. We describe these observations, present the results, and combine the new observations with data from IRAS to examine the far-infrared spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of these sources. We fit the observed SEDs of HERUS objects with a simple parametrized modified blackbody model, where temperature and emissivity β are free parameters. We compare the fitted values to those of non-ULIRG local galaxies, and find, in agreement with earlier results, that HERUS ULIRGs have warmer dust (median temperature T = 37.9 ± 4.7 K compared to 21.3 ± 3.4 K) but a similar β distribution (median β = 1.7 compared to 1.8) to the Herschel reference sample (HRS, Cortese et al. 2014) galaxies. Dust masses are found to be in the range of 107.5–109 M⊙, significantly higher than that of HRS sources. We compare our results for local ULIRGs with higher redshift samples selected at 250 and 850 μm. These latter sources generally have cooler dust and/or redder 100-to-250  μm colours than our 60 μm-selected ULIRGs. We show that this difference may in part be the result of the sources being selected at different wavelengths rather than being a simple indication of rapid evolution in the properties of the population

Herschel-ATLAS: The connection between star formation and AGN activity in radio-loud and radio-quiet active galaxies

Date of Acceptance: 06/07/2015We examine the relationship between star formation and active galactic nuclei (AGN) activity by constructing matched samples of local (0 < z < 0.6) radio-loud and radio-quiet AGN in the Herschel-Astrophysical Terahertz Large Area Survey fields. Radio-loud AGN are classified as high-excitation and low-excitation radio galaxies using their emission lines and WISE 22-μm luminosity. AGN accretion and jet powers in these active galaxies are traced by [O III] emission-line and radio luminosity, respectively. Star formation rates (SFRs) and specific star formation rates (SSFRs) were derived using Herschel 250-μm luminosity and stellar mass measurements from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey–Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics-John Hopkins University catalogue. In the past, star formation studies of AGN have mostly focused on high-redshift sources to observe the thermal dust emission that peaks in the far-infrared, which limited the samples to powerful objects. However, withHerschel we can expand this to low redshifts. Our stacking analyses show that SFRs and SSFRs of both radio-loud and radio-quiet AGN increase with increasing AGN power but that radio-loud AGN tend to have lower SFR. Additionally, radio-quiet AGN are found to have approximately an order of magnitude higher SSFRs than radio-loud AGN for a given level of AGN power. The difference between the star formation properties of radio-loud and -quiet AGN is also seen in samples matched in stellar massPeer reviewe

Specific star-formation and the relation to stellar mass from 0<z<2 as seen in the far-infrared at 70 and 160mu

We use the Spitzer Wide-area InfraRed Extragalactic Legacy Survey (SWIRE) to explore the specific star-formation activity of galaxies and their evolution near the peak of the cosmic far-infrared (FIR) background at 70 and 160um. We use a stacking analysis to determine the mean FIR properties of well defined subsets of galaxies at flux levels well below the FIR catalogue detection limits of SWIRE and other Spitzer surveys. We tabulate the contribution of different subsets of galaxies to the FIR background at 70um and 160um. These long wavelengths provide a good constraint on the bolometric, obscured emission. The large area provides good constraints at low z and in finer redshift bins than previous work. At all redshifts we find that the specific FIR Luminosity (sLFIR) decreases with increasing mass, following a trend L_FIR/M* propto M_* ^beta with beta =-0.38\pm0.14. This is a more continuous change than expected from the {Delucia2007} semi-analytic model suggesting modifications to the feedback prescriptions. We see an increase in the sLFIR by about a factor of ~100 from 0<z<2 and find that the sLFIR evolves as (1+z)^alpha with alpha=4.4\pm0.3 for galaxies with 10.5 < log M*/Msun < 12. This is considerably steeper than the {Delucia2007} semi-analytic model (alpha \sim 2.5). When separating galaxies into early and late types on the basis of the optical/IR spectral energy distributions we find that the decrease in sLFIR with stellar mass is stronger in early type galaxies (beta ~ -0.46), while late type galaxies exhibit a flatter trend (beta \sim -0.15). The evolution is strong for both classes but stronger for the early type galaxies. The early types show a trend of decreasing strength of evolution as we move from lower to higher masses while the evolution of the late type galaxies has little dependence on stellar mass. We suggest that in late-type galaxies we are seeing a consistently declining sSFR..Comment: v2 Update doesn't change the content of the paper, but now includes data files for the plots Fig 5-13 (all.plotdat, spi.plotdat and ell.plotdat on arXiv package

A far-infrared spectroscopic survey of intermediate redshift (ultra) luminous infrared galaxies

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 (LIR >1011.5 L_). With these measurements, we trace the dust continuum, far-IR atomic line emission, in particular [C ii] 157.7μm, 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 LCii/LFIR 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 LCii−LFIR 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 LCii/LFIR ratio and the far-IR color L60/L100 observed in the local universe holds over a broad range of redshifts and luminosities, in the sense that warmer sources exhibit lower LC ii/LFIR 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 LC ii/LFIR ratios, the moderate star formation efficiencies (LIR/L _COor LIR/MH2 ), 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