Infrared Spectral Energy Distributions of z~0.7 Star-Forming Galaxies

TL;DR

This study characterizes the infrared spectral energy distributions of approximately 600 star-forming galaxies at z~0.7, revealing that their dust temperatures are lower than local counterparts, with implications for galaxy evolution and IR modeling.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed analysis of IR SEDs for a large sample of z~0.7 galaxies, highlighting differences in dust temperature and geometry compared to local galaxies.

Findings

IR SEDs of z~0.7 galaxies are similar to local templates.

Dust temperature at fixed IR luminosity is lower at z~0.7.

Star formation geometry differs, affecting dust heating.

Abstract

We analyze the infrared (IR) spectral energy distributions (SEDs) for 10micron < lambda(rest) < 100micron for ~600 galaxies at z~0.7 in the extended Chandra Deep Field South by stacking their Spitzer 24, 70 and 160micron images. We place interesting constraints on the average IR SED shape in two bins: the brightest 25% of z~0.7 galaxies detected at 24micron, and the remaining 75% of individually-detected galaxies. Galaxies without individual detections at 24micron were not well-detected at 70micron and 160micron even through stacking. We find that the average IR SEDs of z~0.7 star-forming galaxies fall within the diversity of z~0 templates. While dust obscuration Lir/Luv seems to be only a function of star formation rate (SFR; ~ Lir+Luv), not of redshift, the dust temperature of star-forming galaxies (with SFR ~ 10 solar mass per year) at a given IR luminosity was lower at z~0.7 than today. We suggest an interpretation of this phenomenology in terms of dust geometry: intensely star-forming galaxies at z~0 are typically interacting, and host dense centrally-concentrated bursts of star formation and warm dust temperatures. At z~0.7, the bulk of intensely star-forming galaxies are relatively undisturbed spirals and irregulars, and we postulate that they have large amounts of widespread lower-density star formation, yielding lower dust temperatures for a given IR luminosity. We recommend what IR SEDs are most suitable for modeling intermediate redshift galaxies with different SFRs.