Dusty Star Forming Galaxies at High Redshift
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Dusty Star Forming Galaxies at High Redshift Caitlin M. Casey1;2, Desika Narayanan3, Asantha Cooray1 1Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697 2Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawai’i, 2680 Woodlawn Dr, Honolulu, HI 96822 3Department of Physics and Astronomy, Haverford College, 370 Lancaster Avenue, Haverford, PA 19041 Abstract Far-infrared and submillimeter wavelength surveys have now established the important role of dusty, star-forming galaxies (DSFGs) in the assembly of stellar mass and the evolution of massive galaxies in the Universe. The brightest 13 of these galaxies have infrared luminosities in excess of 10 L with implied star-formation rates of thousands of solar masses per year. They represent the most intense starbursts in the Universe, yet many are completely optically obscured. Their easy detection at submm wavelengths is due to dust heated by ultraviolet radiation of newly forming stars. When summed up, all of the dusty, star-forming galaxies in the universe produce an infrared radiation field that has an equal energy density as the direct starlight emission from all galaxies visible at ultraviolet and optical wavelengths. The bulk of this infrared extragalactic background light emanates from galaxies as diverse as gas-rich disks to mergers of intense starbursting galaxies. Major advances in far-infrared instrumentation in recent years, both space-based and ground-based, has led to the detection of nearly a million DSFGs, yet our understanding of the underlying astrophysics that govern the start and end of the dusty starburst phase is still in nascent stage. This review is aimed at summarizing the current status of DSFG studies, focusing especially on the detailed characterization of the best-understood subset (submillimeter galaxies, who were summarized in the last review of this field over a decade ago, Blain et al. 2002), but also the selection and characterization of newer DSFG populations. We review DSFG population statistics, their physical properties including dust, gas and stellar contents, their environments, and current theoretical models related to the formation and evolution of these galaxies. Keywords: Galaxies, Cosmology, Galaxy evolution, Galaxy formation, Infrared galaxies Contents 1 Introduction 4 2 Selection of Distant Infrared-Luminous Galaxies 7 2.1 Local Infrared-Luminous Galaxies . 7 2.2 The negative K-correction . 7 2.3 Dusty Galaxy Selection from ∼8–2000µm................................ 10 2.3.1 Facilities and Instruments Discovering DSFGs . 12 2.3.2 Notable surveys focused on DSFG Discovery . 17 2.4 Selection biases and Sensitivity . 18 2.4.1 Intrinsic Variation in SEDs . 18 2.4.2 Identifying Multiwavelength Counterparts . 19 2.5 DSFG Multiplicity . 23 3 Submillimeter Number Counts 24 3.1 Confusion Noise . 24 3.2 Using Monte Carlo Simulations in Number Counts Analysis . 24 3.2.1 Estimating Deboosted Flux Densities . 26 3.2.2 Estimating Positional Accuracy . 26 Preprint submitted to Physics Reports December 9, 2013 3.2.3 Estimating Sample Contamination & Completeness . 26 3.3 Number Counts . 28 3.4 Parametrizing Number Counts . 28 3.5 Bright-End Counts: Gravitationally Lensed DSFGs . 32 3.6 The Cosmic Infrared Background . 32 4 Redshifts and Spectral Energy Distributions of Infrared-Luminous Galaxies 35 4.1 Acquiring Spectroscopic or Photometric Redshifts . 35 4.1.1 Far-Infrared Spectroscopic Redshifts . 36 4.1.2 Millimetric Photometric Redshifts . 36 4.1.3 Redshift Distributions of 24 µm selected DSFG populations . 36 4.1.4 Redshift Distributions of 850µm–1.4 mm-selected DSFG populations . 37 4.1.5 Redshift Distributions of 250µm–500 mm-selected DSFG populations . 39 4.2 Infrared SED Fitting for DSFGs . 41 4.2.1 Employing dust radiative transfer models and empirical templates . 42 4.2.2 Direct greybody SED modeling . 44 4.3 Measuring LIR, Tdust and Mdust from an SED . 46 4.4 Luminosity Functions . 47 4.5 Contribution to Cosmic Star Formation Rate Density . 48 5 Physical Characterization 52 5.1 Star Formation History & Dynamical Time . 53 5.2 Dust Characterization . 53 5.3 Stellar Masses . 54 5.4 Stellar IMF . 56 5.5 Rest-frame Ultraviolet & Optical Spectral Characterization . 57 5.6 AGN Content . 58 5.7 Mid-Infrared Spectral Diagnostics . 60 5.8 Mid-Infrared Spitzer-selected Populations . 61 5.9 Kinematics . 62 5.10 Physical Size and Morphology . 62 5.11 Relationship to Normal Galaxies: the Infrared Main Sequence . 65 5.12 The FIR/Radio Correlation . 66 6 Detailed Studies of Individual Dusty Star-Forming Galaxies 68 6.1 SMM J2135-0102: the Cosmic Eyelash . 68 6.2 GN20 . 70 6.3 Lensed Herschel Galaxies . 70 6.4 Highest redshift SMGs . 72 6.4.1 HDF850.1 . 72 6.4.2 J1148+5251 . 73 6.4.3 HFLS3 . 73 6.4.4 HLS J0918+5142 . 74 6.4.5 Lensed SPT sources . 74 7 Clustering and Environment 75 7.1 Environments of DSFGs . 75 7.2 Clustering of DSFGs . 75 7.3 Clustering of Faint, Unresolved DSFGs through the CIB Anisotropy Power Spectrum . 79 7.4 Cosmic Magnification of Submm Sources . 81 7.5 DSFGs as a tracer of the CMB lensing potential . 82 2 8 Molecular Gas and Star Formation 84 8.1 Basic Definitions . 84 8.2 Deriving H2 Gas Masses from High-Redshift Galaxies . 84 8.3 Star Formation Laws and Efficiencies . 88 8.4 The Role of Dense Molecular Gas . 91 8.4.1 Physics Learned from the Milky Way and Local Galaxies . 91 8.4.2 Dense Gas at High-Redshift . 93 8.5 CO Excitation and Spectral Line Energy Distributions . 94 8.6 Molecular Gas Fractions . 96 8.7 Molecular Gas Morphology and Dynamics . 97 9 Far-IR Spectroscopy 101 9.1 The [CII]-FIR deficit in Galaxies . 101 9.2 [CII] as a Star Formation Rate Indicator . 102 9.3 [CII] Morphologies and Dynamics . 102 10 The Theory of forming Dusty Galaxies 105 10.1 Overview of Dusty Galaxy Modeling Methods . 105 10.1.1 Semi-Analytic Models . 105 10.1.2 Cosmological Hydrodynamic Simulations . 106 10.1.3 Idealized and Hybrid Models . 107 10.1.4 Empirical Methods . 107 10.2 Main Results from Theories of Dusty Galaxies . 108 10.2.1 Semi-Analytic Methods . 108 10.2.2 Cosmological Hydrodynamic Simulations . 111 10.2.3 Idealized and Hybrid Simulations . 112 10.3 Testable Predictions and Key Differences between Models . 114 11 Future directions 116 12 Glossary of terms associated with Dusty, Star-Forming Galaxies 118 3 1. Introduction Understanding the origins of the cosmic background radiation, from the X-ray to the radio, has led to detailed analysis of distant galaxy populations and their formation and evolution. While astronomers have made significant progress in studying the stellar mass content of galaxies, the growth and assembly of stellar populations, the physics surrounding supermassive black holes in galactic centers, and the ubiquity of galaxies in the early Universe−all from optical, X-ray and radio observations−it has become increasingly evident that a significant portion of galaxies’ light is.