Skip to main content

Research Repository

Advanced Search

An ALMA survey of sub-millimetre Galaxies in the Extended Chandra Deep Field South: the far-infrared properties of SMGs

Swinbank, A.M.; Simpson, J.M.; Smail, I.; Harrison, C.M.; Hodge, J.A.; Karim, A.; Walter, F.; Alexander, D.M.; Brandt, W.N.; de Breuck, C.; da Cunha, E.; Chapman, S.C.; Coppin, K.E.K.; Danielson, A.L.R.; Dannerbauer, H.; Decarli, R.; Greve, T.R.; Ivison, R.J.; Knudsen, K.K.; Lagos, C.D.P.; Schinnerer, E.; Thomson, A.P.; Wardlow, J.L.; Weiß, A.; van der Werf, P.

An ALMA survey of sub-millimetre Galaxies in the Extended Chandra Deep Field South: the far-infrared properties of SMGs Thumbnail


Authors

J.M. Simpson

C.M. Harrison

J.A. Hodge

A. Karim

F. Walter

W.N. Brandt

C. de Breuck

E. da Cunha

S.C. Chapman

K.E.K. Coppin

A.L.R. Danielson

H. Dannerbauer

R. Decarli

T.R. Greve

R.J. Ivison

K.K. Knudsen

C.D.P. Lagos

E. Schinnerer

A.P. Thomson

J.L. Wardlow

A. Weiß

P. van der Werf



Abstract

We exploit Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) 870 μm observations of sub-millimetre sources in the Extended Chandra Deep Field South to investigate the far-infrared properties of high-redshift sub-millimetre galaxies (SMGs). Using the precisely located 870 μm ALMA positions of 99 SMGs, together with 24μm and radio imaging, we deblend the Herschel/SPIRE imaging to extract their far-infrared fluxes and colours. The median redshifts for ALMA LESS (ALESS) SMGs which are detected in at least two SPIRE bands increases with wavelength of the peak in their spectral energy distributions (SEDs), with z = 2.3 ± 0.2, 2.5 ± 0.3 and 3.5 ± 0.5 for the 250, 350 and 500 μm peakers, respectively. 34 ALESS SMGs do not have a >3σ counterpart at 250, 350 or 500 μm. These galaxies have a median photometric redshift derived from the rest-frame UV–mid-infrared SEDs of z = 3.3 ± 0.5, which is higher than the full ALESS SMG sample; z = 2.5 ± 0.2. We estimate the far-infrared luminosities and characteristic dust temperature of each SMG, deriving LIR = (3.0 ± 0.3) × 1012 L⊙ (SFR = 300 ± 30 M⊙ yr−1) and Td = 32 ± 1 K. The characteristic dust temperature of these high-redshift SMGs is ΔTd = 3–5 K lower than comparably luminous galaxies at z = 0, reflecting the more extended star formation in these systems. We show that the contribution of S870 μm ≥ 1 mJy SMGs to the cosmic star formation budget is 20 per cent of the total over the redshift range z ∼ 1–4. Adopting an appropriate gas-to-dust ratio, we estimate a typical molecular mass of the ALESS SMGs of MH2 = (4.2 ± 0.4) × 1010 M⊙. Finally, we show that SMGs with S870 μm > 1 mJy (LIR ≳ 1012 L⊙) contain ∼ 10 per cent of the z ∼ 2 volume-averaged H2 mass density.

Citation

Swinbank, A., Simpson, J., Smail, I., Harrison, C., Hodge, J., Karim, A., …van der Werf, P. (2014). An ALMA survey of sub-millimetre Galaxies in the Extended Chandra Deep Field South: the far-infrared properties of SMGs. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 438(2), 1267-1287. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stt2273

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Nov 21, 2013
Online Publication Date Dec 17, 2013
Publication Date Feb 21, 2014
Deposit Date Apr 15, 2014
Publicly Available Date Jun 20, 2014
Journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Print ISSN 0035-8711
Electronic ISSN 1365-2966
Publisher Royal Astronomical Society
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 438
Issue 2
Pages 1267-1287
DOI https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stt2273
Keywords Galaxies: evolution, Galaxies: high-redshift, Galaxies: starburst.

Files

Published Journal Article (8.4 Mb)
PDF

Copyright Statement
This article has been accepted for publication in Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society © 2013 The Authors Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Royal Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.





You might also like



Downloadable Citations