The SCUBA Half-Degree Extragalactic Survey (SHADES) - VIII. The Nature of Faint Submm Galaxies in SHADES, SWIRE and SXDF Surveys

TL;DR

This study analyzes the spectral energy distributions of faint submillimetre galaxies from the SHADES survey, revealing that starburst activity predominantly powers their luminosity, with minimal AGN contribution, and suggesting galaxy 'downsizing' at lower redshifts.

Contribution

It provides detailed SED fitting and redshift estimates for faint submm galaxies, clarifying their nature and the role of dust heating mechanisms, which was not well understood before.

Findings

Most sources are powered by starburst activity with Arp220 or M82 templates.

AGN contribute minimally to the bolometric luminosity of these galaxies.

Evidence of galaxy 'downsizing' with lower mass hosts at lower redshifts.

Abstract

We present the optical-to-submm spectral energy distributions for 33 radio & mid-IR identified submillimetre galaxies discovered via the SHADES 850 micron SCUBA imaging in the Subaru-XMM Deep Field (SXDF). Optical data for the sources comes from the Subaru-XMM Deep Field (SXDF) and mid- and far-IR fluxes from SWIRE. We obtain photometric redshift estimates for our sources using optical and IRAC 3.6 and 4.5 micron fluxes. We then fit spectral energy distribution (SED) templates to the longer wavelength data to determine the nature of the far-IR emission that dominates the bolometric luminosity of these sources. The infrared template fits are also used to resolve ambiguous identifications and cases of redshift aliasing. The redshift distribution obtained broadly matches previous results for submm sources and on the SHADES SXDF field. Our template fitting finds that AGN, present in about 10% of sources, do not contribute significantly to their bolometric luminosity. Dust heating by starbursts, with either Arp220 or M82 type SEDs, appears to be responsible for the luminosity in most sources (23/33 are fitted by Arp220 templates, 2/33 by the warmer M82 templates). 8/33 sources, in contrast, are fit by a cooler cirrus dust template, suggesting that cold dust has a role in some of these highly luminous objects. Three of our sources appear to have multiple identifications or components at the same redshift, but we find no statistical evidence that close associations are common among our SHADES sources. Examination of rest-frame K -band luminosity suggests that 'downsizing' is underway in the submm galaxy population, with lower redshift systems lying in lower mass host galaxies. Of our 33 identifications six are found to be of lower reliability but their exclusion would not significantly alter our conclusions.