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Abstract:

We study the link between observed ultraviolet (UV) luminosity, stellar mass and dust attenuation within rest-frame UV-selected samples at z ~ 4, ~ 3 and ~1.5.We measure by stacking at 250, 350 and 500 μm in the Herschel/Spectral and Photometric Imaging Receiver images from the Herschel Multi-Tiered Extragalactic Survey (HerMES) program the average infrared luminosity as a function of stellar mass and UV luminosity. We find that dust attenuation is mostly correlated with stellarmass. There is also a secondary dependence with UV luminosity: at a given UV luminosity, dust attenuation increases with stellar mass, while at a given stellar mass it decreases with UV luminosity. We provide new empirical recipes to correct for dust attenuation given the observed UV luminosity and the stellar mass. Our results also enable us to put new constraints on the average relation between star formation rate (SFR) and stellar mass at z ~ 4, ~3 and ~1.5. The SFR-stellar mass relations are well described by power laws (SFR α M0.7*), with the amplitudes being similar at z ~ 4 and ~3, and decreasing by a factor of 4 at z ~ 1.5 at a given stellar mass. We further investigate the evolution with redshift of the specific SFR. Our results are in the upper range of previous measurements, in particular at z ~ 3, and are consistent with a plateau at 3 < z < 4. Current model predictions (either analytic, semi-analytic or hydrodynamic) are inconsistent with these values, as they yield lower predictions than the observations in the redshift range we explore. We use these results to discuss the star formation histories of galaxies in the framework of the main sequence of star-forming galaxies. Our results suggest that galaxies at high redshift (2.5 < z < 4) stay around 1 Gyr on the main sequence. With decreasing redshift, this time increases such that z = 1 main-sequence galaxies with 108 M*M⊙ 1010 stay on the main sequence until z = 0. © 2013 The Authors Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Abstract:

We perform a stacking analysis of Herschel Astrophysical Terahertz Large Area Survey (H-ATLAS) data in order to obtain isothermal dust temperatures and rest-frame luminosities at 250 μm (L250), for a well-defined sample of 1599 radio sources over the H-ATLAS Phase 1/Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA) area. The radio sample is generated using a combination of NRAO VLA Sky Survey data and K-band United Kingdom Infrared Telescope Deep Sky Survey-Large Area Survey data, over the redshift range 0.01 < z < 0.8. The far-infrared(FIR) properties of the sample are investigated as a function of 1.4-GHz luminosity, redshift, projected radio-source size and radio spectral index. In order to search for stellar mass-dependent relations, we split the parent sample into those sources which are below and above 1.5 L*K.After correcting for stellar mass and redshift, we find no relation between the 250-μm luminosity and the 1.4-GHz radio luminosity of radio active galactic nuclei. This implies thata galaxy's nominal radio luminosity has little or no bearing on the star formation rate (SFR)and/or dust mass content of the host system, although this does not mean that other variables(e.g. radio source size) related to the jets do not have an effect. The L250 of both the radio detected and non-radio-detected galaxies (defined as those sources not detected at 1.4 GHz but detected in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey with r< 22) rises with increasing redshift. Compact radio sources (<30 kpc) are associated with higher 250 μm luminosities and dust temperatures than their more extended (>30 kpc) counterparts. The higher dust temperature suggests that this may be attributed to enhanced SFRs in compact radio galaxies, but whether this is directly or indirectly due to radio activity (e.g. jet-induced or merger-driven star formation) is as yet unknown.For matched samples in LK and g-r, sub-1.5 L*K and super-1.5 L*K radio-detected galaxies have 0.89±0.18 and 0.49±0.12 times the 250μm luminosity of their non-radio-detected counterparts. Thus, while no difference in L250 is observed in sub-1.5 L*K radio-detected galaxies, a strong deficit is observed in super-1.5 L*K radio-detected galaxies. We explain these results in terms of the hotter, denser and richer halo environments massive radio galaxies maintain and are embedded in. These environments are expected to quench the cold gas and dust supply needed for further star formation and therefore dust production. Our results indicate that all massive radio galaxies (>1.5 L*K) may have systematically lower FIR luminosities(~25 per cent) than their colour-matched non-radio-detected counterparts. Finally, no relation between radio spectral index and L250 is found for the subset of 1.4-GHz radio sources with detections at 330 MHz. © 2013 The Authors Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Abstract:

We study the mid- to far-IR properties of a 24 ?m-selected flux-limited sample (S 24 5mJy) of 154 intermediate redshift (z ? 0.15), infrared luminous galaxies, drawn from the 5 Milli-Jansky Unbiased Spitzer Extragalactic Survey. By combining existing mid-IR spectroscopy and new Herschel SPIRE submm photometry from the Herschel Multi-tiered Extragalactic Survey, we derived robust total infrared luminosity (LIR) and dust mass (Mdust) estimates and infered the relative contribution of the AGN to the infrared energy budget of the sources. We found that the total (8?1000 ?m) infrared emission of galaxies with weak 6.2 ?m PAH emission (EW6.2 ? 0.2 ?m) is dominated by AGN activity, while for galaxies with EW6.2 0.2 ?m more than 50% of the LIR arises from star formation. We also found that for galaxies detected in the 250-500 ?m Herschel bands an AGN has a statistically insignificant effect on the temperature of the cold dust and the far-IR colours of the host galaxy, which are primarily shaped by star formation activity. For star-forming galaxies we reveal an anti-correlation between the LIR-to-rest-frame 8 ?m luminosity ratio, IR8 ? LIR/L8 and the strength of PAH features. We found that this anti-correlation is primarily driven by variations in the PAHs emission, and not by variations in the 5?15 ?m mid-IR continuum emission. Using the [Ne iii]/[Ne ii] line ratio as a tracer of the hardness of the radiation field, we confirm that galaxies with harder radiation fields tend to exhibit weaker PAH features, and found that they have higher IR8 values and higher dust-mass-weighted luminosities (LIR/Mdust), the latter being a proxy for the dust temperature (Td). We argue that these trends originate either from variations in the environment of the star-forming regions or are caused by variations in the age of the starburst. Finally, we provide scaling relations that will allow estimating LIR, based on single-band observations with the mid-infrared instrument, on board the upcoming James Webb Space Telescope. © ESO 2013.

Abstract:

Using Herschel data from the deepest SPIRE and PACS surveys (HerMES and PEP) in COSMOS, GOODS-S and GOODS-N, we examine the dust properties of infrared (IR)- luminous (LIR gt; 1010 L⊙) galaxies at 0.1 lt; z lt; 2 and determine how these evolve with cosmic time. The unique angle of this work is the rigorous analysis of survey selection effects, making this the first study of the star-formation-dominated, IR-luminous population within a framework almost entirely free of selection biases. We find that IR-luminous galaxies have spectral energy distributions (SEDs) with broad far-IR peaks characterized by cool/extended dust emission and average dust temperatures in the 25-45 K range. Hot (T gt; 45 K) SEDs and cold (T lt; 25 K), cirrus-dominated SEDs are rare, with most sources being within the range occupied by warm starbursts such as M82 and cool spirals such as M51. We observe a luminosity-temperature (L-T ) relation, where the average dust temperature of log [LIR/L⊙] ~ 12.5 galaxies is about 10 K higher than that of their log [LIR/L⊙] ~ 10.5 counterparts. However, although the increased dust heating in more luminous systems is the driving factor behind the L-T relation, the increase in dust mass and/or starburst size with luminosity plays a dominant role in shaping it. Our results show that the dust conditions in IR-luminous sources evolve with cosmic time: at high redshift, dust temperatures are on average up to 10 K lower than what is measured locally (z ≲ 0.1). This is manifested as a flattening of the L-T relation, suggesting that (ultra)luminous infrared galaxies [(U)LIRGs] in the early Universe are typically characterized by a more extended dust distribution and/or higher dust masses than local equivalent sources. Interestingly, the evolution in dust temperature is luminosity dependent, with the fraction of LIRGs with T lt; 35 K showing a two-fold increase from z ~ 0 to z ~ 2, whereas that of ULIRGs with T lt; 35 K shows a six-fold increase. Our results suggest a greater diversity in the IR-luminous population at high redshift, particularly for ULIRGs. © 2013 The Authors Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Abstract:

We exploit the deep and extended far-IR data sets (at 70, 100 and 160 μm) of the Herschel Guaranteed Time Observation (GTO) PACS Evolutionary Probe (PEP) Survey, in combination with the Herschel Multi-tiered Extragalactic Survey data at 250, 350 and 500 μm, to derive the evolution of the rest-frame 35-, 60-, 90- and total infrared (IR) luminosity functions (LFs) up to z ~ 4.We detect very strong luminosity evolution for the total IR LF (LIR α (1 + z)3.55 ± 0.10 up to z ~ 2, and α (1 + z)1.62 ± 0.51 at 2 < z 4) combined with a density evolution (α (1 + z)-0.57 ± 0.22 up to z ~ 1 and α (1 + z)-3.92 ± 0.34 at 1 < z 4). In agreement with previous findings, the IR luminosity density (ρIR) increases steeply to z ~ 1, then flattens between z ~ 1 and z ~ 3 to decrease at z 3. Galaxies with different spectral energy distributions, masses and specific star formation rates (SFRs) evolve in very different ways and this large and deep statistical sample is the first one allowing us to separately study the different evolutionary behaviours of the individual IR populations contributing to ρIR. Galaxies occupying the well-established SFR-stellar mass main sequence (MS) are found to dominate both the total IR LF and ρIR at all redshifts, with the contribution from off-MS sources (≥0.6 dex above MS) being nearly constant (~20 per cent of the total ρIR) and showing no significant signs of increase with increasing z over the whole 0.8 < z < 2.2 range. Sources with mass in the range 10 ≤ log(M/M⊙) ≤ 11 are found to dominate the total IR LF, with more massive galaxies prevailing at the bright end of the high-z (2) LF. A two-fold evolutionary scheme for IR galaxies is envisaged: on the one hand, a starburst-dominated phase in which the Super Massive Black Holes (SMBH) grows and is obscured by dust (possibly triggered by a major merging event), is followed by an AGN-dominated phase, then evolving towards a local elliptical. On the other hand, moderately star-forming galaxies containing a low-luminosity AGN have various properties suggesting they are good candidates for systems in a transition phase preceding the formation of steady spiral galaxies. © 2013 The Authors Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society.