V. Buat

GOODS–Herschel: an infrared main sequence for star-forming galaxies

We present the deepest 100 to 500 μm far-infrared observations obtained with the Herschel Space Observatory as part of the GOODS-Herschel key program, and examine the infrared (IR) 3–500 μm spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of galaxies at 0 < z < 2.5, supplemented by a local reference sample from IRAS, ISO, Spitzer, and AKARI data. We determine the projected star formation densities of local galaxies from their radio and mid-IR continuum sizes. We find that the ratio of total IR luminosity to rest-frame 8 μm luminosity, IR8 (≡ L_(IR)^(tot)/L_8), follows a Gaussian distribution centered on IR8 = 4 (σ = 1.6) and defines an IR main sequence for star-forming galaxies independent of redshift and luminosity. Outliers from this main sequence produce a tail skewed toward higher values of IR8. This minority population (  3 × 10^(10) L_⊙ kpc^(-2)) and a high specific star formation rate (i.e., starbursts). The rest-frame, UV-2700 A size of these distant starbursts is typically half that of main sequence galaxies, supporting the correlation between star formation density and starburst activity that is measured for the local sample. Locally, luminous and ultraluminous IR galaxies, (U)LIRGs (L_(IR)^(tot)≥ 10^(11) L_☉), are systematically in the starburst mode, whereas most distant (U)LIRGs form stars in the “normal” main sequence mode. This confusion between two modes of star formation is the cause of the so-called “mid-IR excess” population of galaxies found at z > 1.5 by previous studies. Main sequence galaxies have strong polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) emission line features, a broad far-IR bump resulting from a combination of dust temperatures (T_(dust) ~ 15–50 K), and an effective T_(dust)  ~ 31 K, as derived from the peak wavelength of their infrared SED. Galaxies in the starburst regime instead exhibit weak PAH equivalent widths and a sharper far-IR bump with an effective T_(dust)~ 40 K. Finally, we present evidence that the mid-to-far IR emission of X-ray active galactic nuclei (AGN) is predominantly produced by star formation and that candidate dusty AGNs with a power-law emission in the mid-IR systematically occur in compact, dusty starbursts. After correcting for the effect of starbursts on IR8, we identify new candidates for extremely obscured AGNs.

An Ultraviolet-to-Radio Broadband Spectral Atlas of Nearby Galaxies

The ultraviolet-to-radio continuum spectral energy distributions are presented for all 75 galaxies in the Spitzer Infrared Nearby Galaxies Survey (SINGS). A principal component analysis of the sample shows that most of the samples spectral variations stem from two underlying components, one representative of a galaxy with a low infrared-to-ultraviolet ratio and one representative of a galaxy with a high infrared-to-ultraviolet ratio. The influence of several parameters on the infrared-to-ultraviolet ratio is studied (e.g., optical morphology, disk inclination, far-infrared color, ultraviolet spectral slope, and star formation history). Consistent with our understanding of normal star-forming galaxies, the SINGS sample of galaxies in comparison to more actively star-forming galaxies exhibits a larger dispersion in the infrared-to-ultraviolet versus ultraviolet spectral slope correlation. Early-type galaxies, exhibiting low star formation rates and high optical surface brightnesses, have the most discrepant infrared-to-ultraviolet correlation. These results suggest that the star formation history may be the dominant regulator of the broadband spectral variations between galaxies. Finally, a new discovery shows that the 24 μm morphology can be a useful tool for parameterizing the global dust temperature and ultraviolet extinction in nearby galaxies. The dust emission in dwarf/irregular galaxies is clumpy and warm accompanied by low ultraviolet extinction, while in spiral galaxies there is typically a much larger diffuse component of cooler dust and average ultraviolet extinction. For galaxies with nuclear 24 μm emission, the dust temperature and ultraviolet extinction are relatively high compared to disk galaxies.

HerMES: The SPIRE confusion limit

We report on the sensitivity of SPIRE photometers on the Herschel Space Observatory. Specifically, we measure the confusion noise from observations taken during the Science Demonstration Phase of the Herschel Multi-tiered Extragalactic Survey. Confusion noise is defined to be the spatial variation of the sky intensity in the limit of infinite integration time, and is found to be consistent among the different fields in our survey at the level of 5.8, 6.3 and 6.8 mJy/beam at 250, 350 and 500 microns, respectively. These results, together with the measured instrument noise, may be used to estimate the integration time required for confusion-limited maps, and provide a noise estimate for maps obtained by SPIRE.

Dust attenuation in the nearby universe: a comparison between galaxies selected in the ultraviolet and in the far-infrared

We compare the dust attenuation properties of two samples of galaxies purely selected in the Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) near-ultraviolet band (NUV; 1750-2750 A, λmean = 2310 A) and in the far-infrared (FIR) at 60 μm. These samples are built using the GALEX and IRAS sky surveys over ~600 deg2. The NUV-selected sample contains 95 galaxies detected down to NUV = 16 mag (AB system). Eighty-three galaxies in this sample are spiral or irregular, and only two of them are not detected at 60 μm. The FIR-selected sample is built from the IRAS PSCz survey, which is complete down to 0.6 Jy. Among the 163 sources, we select 118 star-forming galaxies that are well measured by IRAS; all but one are detected in NUV, and 14 galaxies are not detected in the far-ultraviolet band (FUV; 1350-1750 A, λmean = 1530 A). The dust-to-ultraviolet (NUV and FUV) flux ratio is calibrated to estimate the dust attenuation at both wavelengths. The median value of the attenuation in NUV is found to be ~1 mag for the NUV-selected sample, versus ~2 mag for the FIR-selected one. Within both samples, the dust attenuation is found to correlate with the luminosity of the galaxies. Almost all the NUV-selected galaxies and two-thirds of the FIR-selected sample exhibit a lower dust attenuation than expected from the tight relation found previously for starburst galaxies between dust attenuation and the slope of the ultraviolet continuum. The situation is reversed for the remaining third of the FIR-selected galaxies: their extinction is higher than that deduced from their FUV - NUV color and the relation for starbursts.

The Herschel view of the dominant mode of galaxy growth from z = 4 to the present day

We present an analysis of the deepest Herschel images in four major extragalactic fields GOODS–North, GOODS–South, UDS, and COSMOS obtained within the GOODS–Herschel and CANDELS–Herschel key programs. The star formation picture provided by a total of 10 497 individual far-infrared detections is supplemented by the stacking analysis of a mass complete sample of 62 361 star-forming galaxies from the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) H band-selected catalogs of the CANDELS survey and from two deep ground-based Ks band-selected catalogs in the GOODS–North and the COSMOS-wide field to obtain one of the most accurate and unbiased understanding to date of the stellar mass growth over the cosmic history. We show, for the first time, that stacking also provides a powerful tool to determine the dispersion of a physical correlation and describe our method called “scatter stacking”, which may be easily generalized to other experiments. The combination of direct UV and far-infrared UV-reprocessed light provides a complete census on the star formation rates (SFRs), allowing us to demonstrate that galaxies at z = 4 to 0 of all stellar masses (M∗) follow a universal scaling law, the so-called main sequence of star-forming galaxies. We find a universal close-to-linear slope of the log 10(SFR)–log 10(M∗) relation, with evidence for a flattening of the main sequence at high masses (log 10(M∗/M⊙) > 10.5) that becomesless prominent with increasing redshift and almost vanishes by z ≃ 2. This flattening may be due to the parallel stellar growth of quiescent bulges in star-forming galaxies, which mostly happens over the same redshift range. Within the main sequence, we measure a nonvarying SFR dispersion of 0.3 dex: at a fixed redshift and stellar mass, about 68% of star-forming galaxies form stars at a universal rate within a factor 2. The specific SFR (sSFR = SFR/M∗) of star-forming galaxies is found to continuously increase from z = 0 to 4. Finally we discuss the implications of our findings on the cosmic SFR history and on the origin of present-day stars: more than two-thirds of present-day stars must have formed in a regime dominated by the “main sequence” mode. As a consequence we conclude that, although omnipresent in the distant Universe, galaxy mergers had little impact in shaping the global star formation history over the last 12.5 billion years.

HerMES : SPIRE galaxy number counts at 250, 350, and 500 μm

Emission at far-infrared wavelengths makes up a significant fraction of the total light detected from galaxies over the age of Universe. Herschel provides an opportunity for studying galaxies at the peak wavelength of their emission. Our aim is to provide a benchmark for models of galaxy population evolution and to test pre-existing models of galaxies. With the Herschel Multi-tiered Extra-galactic survey, HerMES, we have observed a number of fields of different areas and sensitivity using the SPIRE instrument on Herschel. We have determined the number counts of galaxies down to ~20 mJy. Our constraints from directly counting galaxies are consistent with, though more precise than, estimates from the BLAST fluctuation analysis. We have found a steep rise in the Euclidean normalised counts <100 mJy. We have directly resolved ~15% of the infrared extra-galactic background at the wavelength near where it peaks.

The Herschel Reference Survey

The Herschel Reference Survey is a Herschel guaranteed time key project and will be a benchmark study of dust in the nearby universe. The survey will complement a number of other Herschel key projects including large cosmological surveys that trace dust in the distant universe. We will use Herschel to produce images of a statistically-complete sample of 323 galaxies at 250, 350, and 500 μm. The sample is volume-limited, containing sources with distances between 15 and 25 Mpc and flux limits in the K band to minimize the selection effects associated with dust and with young high-mass stars and to introduce a selection in stellar mass. The sample spans the whole range of morphological types (ellipticals to late-type spirals) and environments (from the field to the center of the Virgo Cluster) and as such will be useful for other purposes than our own. We plan to use the survey to investigate (i) the dust content of galaxies as a function of Hubble type, stellar mass, and environment; (ii) the connection between the dust content and composition and the other phases of the interstellar medium; and (iii) the origin and evolution of dust in galaxies. In this article, we describe the goals of the survey, the details of the sample and some of the auxiliary observing programs that we have started to collect complementary data. We also use the available multifrequency data to carry out an analysis of the statistical properties of the sample.

RADIAL DISTRIBUTION OF STARS, GAS, AND DUST IN SINGS GALAXIES. II. DERIVED DUST PROPERTIES

We present a detailed analysis of the radial distribution of dust properties in the SINGS sample, performed on a set of ultraviolet (UV), infrared (IR), and Hi surface brightness profiles, combined with published molecular gas profiles and metallicity gradients. The internal extinction, derived from the total-IR (TIR)-to-far-UV (FUV) luminosity ratio, decreases with radius, and is larger in Sb-Sbc galaxies. The TIR-to-FUV ratio correlates with the UV spectral slope β, following a sequence shifted to redder UV colors with respect to that of starbursts. The star formation history (SFH) is identified as the main driver of this departure. Both L_TIR)/L_FUV and β correlate well with metallicity, especially in moderately face-on galaxies. The relation shifts to redder colors with increased scatter in more edge-on objects. By applying physical dust models to our radial spectral energy distributions, we have derived radial profiles of the total dust mass surface density, the fraction of the total dust mass contributed by polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and the intensity of the radiation field heating the grains. The dust profiles are exponential, their radial scale length being constant from Sb to Sd galaxies (only ~ 10% larger than the stellar scale length). Many S0/a-Sab galaxies have central depressions in their dust radial distributions. The PAH abundance increases with metallicity for 12 + log(O/H) < 9, and at larger metallicities the trend flattens and even reverses, with the SFH being a plausible underlying driver for this behavior. The dust-to-gas ratio is also well correlated with metallicity and therefore decreases with galactocentric radius. Although most of the total emitted IR power (especially in the outer regions of disks) is contributed by dust grains heated by diffuse starlight with a similar intensity as the local Milky Way radiation field, a small amount of the dust mass (~ 1%) is required to be exposed to very intense starlight in order to reproduce the observed fluxes at 24 μ m, accounting for ~ 10% of the total integrated IR power.

GOODS-HERSCHEL MEASUREMENTS OF THE DUST ATTENUATION OF TYPICAL STAR-FORMING GALAXIES AT HIGH REDSHIFT: OBSERVATIONS OF ULTRAVIOLET-SELECTED GALAXIES AT z ∼ 2*

We take advantage of the sensitivity and resolution of the Herschel Space Observatory at 100 and 160 mu m to directly image the thermal dust emission and investigate the infrared luminosities (L-IR) and dust obscuration of typical star-forming (L*) galaxies at high redshift. Our sample consists of 146 UV-selected galaxies with spectroscopic redshifts 1.5 \textless= z(spec) \textless 2.6 in the GOODS-North field. Supplemented with deep Very Large Array and Spitzer imaging, we construct median stacks at the positions of these galaxies at 24, 100, and 160 mu m, and 1.4 GHz. The comparison between these stacked fluxes and a variety of dust templates and calibrations implies that typical star-forming galaxies with UV luminosities L-UV greater than or similar to 10(10) L-circle dot at z similar to 2 are luminous infrared galaxies with a median L-IR = (2.2 +/- 0.3) x 10(11) L-circle dot. Their median ratio of L-IR to rest-frame 8 mu m luminosity (L-8) is L-IR/L-8 = 8.9 +/- 1.3 and is approximate to 80% larger than that found for most star-forming galaxies at z less than or similar to 2. This apparent redshift evolution in the L-IR/L-8 ratio may be tied to the trend of larger infrared luminosity surface density for z greater than or similar to 2 galaxies relative to those at lower redshift. Typical galaxies at 1.5 \textless= z \textless 2.6 have a median dust obscuration L-IR/L-UV = 7.1 +/- 1.1, which corresponds to a dust correction factor, required to recover the bolometric star formation rate (SFR) from the unobscured UV SFR, of 5.2 +/- 0.6. This result is similar to that inferred from previous investigations of the UV, H alpha, 24 mu m, radio, and X-ray properties of the same galaxies studied here. Stacking in bins of UV slope (beta) implies that L* galaxies with redder spectral slopes are also dustier and that the correlation between beta and dustiness is similar to that found for local starburst galaxies. Hence, the rest-frame similar or equal to 30 and 50 mu m fluxes validate on average the use of the local UV attenuation curve to recover the dust attenuation of typical star-forming galaxies at high redshift. In the simplest interpretation, the agreement between the local and high-redshift UV attenuation curves suggests a similarity in the dust production and stellar and dust geometries of starburst galaxies over the last 10 billion years.

Star formation and dust attenuation properties in galaxies from a statistical ultraviolet-to-far-infrared analysis

We study two galaxies samples selected in near-ultraviolet (NUV) and in far-infrared (FIR) for which the spectral energy distributions (SEDs) from the far-UV (FUV) to the FIR are available. We compared the observed SEDs to modelled SEDs with several star formation histories (SFHs; decaying star formation rate plus burst) and dust attenuation laws (power law + 2175 A bump). The Bayesian method allows one to estimate statistically the best parameters by comparing each observed SED to the full set of 82 800 models. We reach the conclusion that the UV dust attenuation cannot be estimated correctly from SED analysis if the FIR information is not used. The dispersion is larger than with the FIR data. The distribution is also not symmetrically distributed about zero: there is an overestimation for UV-selected galaxies and an underestimation for FIR-selected galaxies. The output from the analysis process suggests that UV-selected galaxies have attenuation laws in average similar to the Large Magellanic Cloud extinction law while FIR-selected galaxies attenuation laws resemble more the Milky Way extinction law. The dispersion about the average relation in the log (F dust /F FUV ) versus FUV-NUV diagram (once the main relation with FUV - NUV accounted for) is explained by two other parameters: the slope of the attenuation law and the instantaneous birthrate parameters b 0 for UV-selected galaxies and the same ones plus the strength of the bump for the FIR-selected galaxies. We propose a recipe to estimate the UV dust attenuation for UV galaxies only (that should only be used whenever the FIR information is not available because the resulting A FUV is poorly defined with an uncertainty of about 0.32): A FUV = 1.4168 (FUV - NUV) 2 + 0.3298 (NUV - I) 2 + 2.1207 (FUV - NUV) + 2.7465 (NUV - I) + 5.8408.