TY - JOUR
T1 - The comoving infrared luminosity density
T2 - Domination of cold galaxies across 0 < z < 1
AU - Seymour, N.
AU - Symeonidis, M.
AU - Page, M. J.
AU - Huynh, M.
AU - Dwelly, T.
AU - McHardy, I. M.
AU - Rieke, G.
PY - 2010/3
Y1 - 2010/3
N2 - In this paper, we examine the contribution of galaxies with different infrared (IR) spectral energy distributions (SEDs) to the comoving IR luminosity density (IRLD), a proxy for the comoving star formation rate (SFR) density. We characterize galaxies as having either a cold or hot IR SED depending on whether the rest-frame wavelength of their peak IR energy output is above or below 90 μm. Our work is based on a far-IR selected sample both in the local Universe and at high redshift, the former consisting of IRAS60 μm-selected galaxies at z < 0.07 and the latter of Spitzer70 μm selected galaxies across0.1 < z≤ 1. We find that the total IR luminosity densities for each redshift/luminosity bin agree well with results derived from other deep mid-/far-IR surveys. Atz < 0.07, we observe the previously known results that moderate luminosity galaxies(LIR < 1011 L⊙) dominate the total luminosity density and that the fraction of cold galaxies decreases with increasing luminosity, becoming negligible at the highest luminosities. Conversely, abovez= 0.1, we find that luminous IR galaxies(LIR > 1011 L⊙), the majority of which are cold, dominate the IRLD. We therefore infer that cold galaxies dominate the IRLD across the whole0 < z < 1 range, hence appear to be the main driver behind the increase in SFR density up toz∼ 1 whereas local luminous galaxies are not, on the whole, representative of the high-redshift population.
AB - In this paper, we examine the contribution of galaxies with different infrared (IR) spectral energy distributions (SEDs) to the comoving IR luminosity density (IRLD), a proxy for the comoving star formation rate (SFR) density. We characterize galaxies as having either a cold or hot IR SED depending on whether the rest-frame wavelength of their peak IR energy output is above or below 90 μm. Our work is based on a far-IR selected sample both in the local Universe and at high redshift, the former consisting of IRAS60 μm-selected galaxies at z < 0.07 and the latter of Spitzer70 μm selected galaxies across0.1 < z≤ 1. We find that the total IR luminosity densities for each redshift/luminosity bin agree well with results derived from other deep mid-/far-IR surveys. Atz < 0.07, we observe the previously known results that moderate luminosity galaxies(LIR < 1011 L⊙) dominate the total luminosity density and that the fraction of cold galaxies decreases with increasing luminosity, becoming negligible at the highest luminosities. Conversely, abovez= 0.1, we find that luminous IR galaxies(LIR > 1011 L⊙), the majority of which are cold, dominate the IRLD. We therefore infer that cold galaxies dominate the IRLD across the whole0 < z < 1 range, hence appear to be the main driver behind the increase in SFR density up toz∼ 1 whereas local luminous galaxies are not, on the whole, representative of the high-redshift population.
KW - Galaxies: evolution
KW - Galaxies: starburst
KW - Infrared: galaxies
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U2 - 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2009.16083.x
DO - 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2009.16083.x
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:77950950655
VL - 402
SP - 2666
EP - 2670
JO - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
JF - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
SN - 0035-8711
IS - 4
ER -