Published July 1, 2010 | Version Published
Journal Article Open

Far-infrared Properties of Spitzer-selected Luminous Starbursts

  • 1. ROR icon University of Minnesota
  • 2. ROR icon Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy
  • 3. ROR icon Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris
  • 4. ROR icon Sorbonne University
  • 5. ROR icon Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale
  • 6. ROR icon Infrared Processing and Analysis Center
  • 7. ROR icon University of California, San Diego
  • 8. ROR icon Max Planck Institute for Astronomy
  • 9. ROR icon University of Copenhagen
  • 10. ROR icon California Institute of Technology
  • 11. ROR icon International Research Institute for Radio Astronomy
  • 12. ROR icon European Southern Observatory
  • 13. ROR icon University of Sussex
  • 14. ROR icon National Radio Astronomy Observatory

Abstract

We present SHARC-2 350 μm data on 20 luminous z ~ 2 starbursts with S_(1.2 mm) > 2 mJy from the Spitzer-selected samples of Lonsdale et al. and Fiolet et al. All the sources were detected, with S_(350) μm > 25 mJy for 18 of them. With the data, we determine precise dust temperatures and luminosities for these galaxies using both single-temperature fits and models with power-law mass-temperature distributions. We derive appropriate formulae to use when optical depths are non-negligible. Our models provide an excellent fit to the 6 μm-2 mm measurements of local starbursts. We find characteristic single-component temperatures T_1 ≃ 35.5 ± 2.2 K and integrated infrared (IR) luminosities around 10^(12.9 ± 0.1) L_☉ for the SWIRE-selected sources. Molecular gas masses are estimated at ≃4 × 10^(10) M_☉, assuming κ_(850 μm) = 0.15 m^2 kg^(–1) and a submillimeter-selected galaxy (SMG)-like gas-to-dust mass ratio. The best-fit models imply ≳2 kpc emission scales. We also note a tight correlation between rest-frame 1.4 GHz radio and IR luminosities confirming star formation as the predominant power source. The far-IR properties of our sample are indistinguishable from the purely submillimeter-selected populations from current surveys. We therefore conclude that our original selection criteria, based on mid-IR colors and 24 μm flux densities, provides an effective means for the study of SMGs at z ~ 1.5-2.5.

Additional Information

© 2010 American Astronomical Society. Received 2009 December 21; accepted 2010 April 5; published 2010 June 7. The authors are extremely grateful to Tom Phillips for contributing extra observing time when we needed it most. The CSO is funded by the NSF Cooperative Agreement AST- 083826. The Dark Cosmology Centre is funded by the DNRF. T.R.G. acknowledges support from IDA. Facilities: CSO (SHARC-2)

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Identifiers

Eprint ID
19081
Resolver ID
CaltechAUTHORS:20100715-120432455

Funding

NSF
AST-083826
Danish National Research Foundation

Dates

Created
2010-07-19
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Updated
2021-11-08
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