Herschel-ATLAS: properties of dusty massive galaxies at low and high redshifts

Rowlands, K.; Dunne, L.; Dye, S.; Aragón-Salamanca, A.; Maddox, S.; da Cunha, E.; Smith, D.J.B.; Bourne, N.; Eales, S.; Gomez, H.L.; Smail, I.; Alpaslan, M.; Clark, C.J.R.; Driver, S.; Ibar, E.; Ivison, R.J.; Robotham, A.; Smith, M.W.L.; Valiante, E.

Abstract

We present a comparison of the physical properties of a rest-frame 250-μm-selected sample of massive, dusty galaxies from 0 < z < 5.3. Our sample comprises 29 high-redshift submillimetre galaxies (SMGs) from the literature and 843 dusty galaxies at z < 0.5 from the Herschel-Astrophysical TeraHertz Large Area Survey (H-ATLAS), selected to have a similar stellar mass to the SMGs. The z > 1 SMGs have an average star formation rate (SFR) of 390+80−70 M⊙ yr−1, which is 120 times that of the low-redshift sample matched in stellar mass to the SMGs (SFR = 3.3 ± 0.2 M⊙ yr−1). The SMGs harbour a substantial mass of dust (1.2+0.3−0.2×109 M⊙), compared to (1.6 ± 0.1) × 108  M⊙ for low-redshift dusty galaxies. At low redshifts, the dust luminosity is dominated by the diffuse interstellar medium, whereas a large fraction of the dust luminosity in SMGs originates from star-forming regions. At the same dust mass, SMGs are offset towards a higher SFR compared to the low-redshift H-ATLAS galaxies. This is not only due to the higher gas fraction in SMGs but also because they are undergoing a more efficient mode of star formation, which is consistent with their bursty star formation histories. The offset in SFR between SMGs and low-redshift galaxies is similar to that found in CO studies, suggesting that dust mass is as good a tracer of molecular gas as CO.

Citation

Rowlands, K., Dunne, L., Dye, S., Aragón-Salamanca, A., Maddox, S., da Cunha, E., …Valiante, E. (2014). Herschel-ATLAS: properties of dusty massive galaxies at low and high redshifts. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 441(2), 1017-1039. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stu510

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Jun 21, 2014
• Deposit Date: Nov 17, 2014
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 24, 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: 441
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 1017-1039
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stu510
• Keywords: Dust, Extinction, Galaxies: evolution, Galaxies: fundamental parameters, Galaxies: high-redshift, Galaxies: ISM, Submillimetre: galaxies.
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1441889