The local luminosity function of star-forming galaxies derived from the Planck Early Release Compact Source Catalogue

TL;DR

This paper derives the local luminosity functions of star-forming galaxies at multiple sub-millimetre wavelengths using Planck ERCSC data, providing new insights into galaxy luminosity distributions unaffected by cosmological evolution.

Contribution

It presents the first accurate local luminosity functions at several sub-millimetre wavelengths from Planck data, addressing issues like source separation and CO emission correction.

Findings

Luminosity functions agree with previous surveys at high luminosities.

Results are higher than previous estimates at lower luminosities.

Good agreement with Herschel survey data at certain wavelengths.

Abstract

The Planck Early Release Compact Source Catalog (ERCSC) has offered the first opportunity to accurately determine the luminosity function of dusty galaxies in the very local Universe (i.e. distances <~ 100 Mpc), at several (sub-)millimetre wavelengths, using blindly selected samples of low redshift sources, unaffected by cosmological evolution. This project, however, requires careful consideration of a variety of issues including the choice of the appropriate flux density measurement, the separation of dusty galaxies from radio sources and from Galactic sources, the correction for the CO emission, the effect of density inhomogeneities, and more. We present estimates of the local luminosity functions at 857 GHz (350 microns), 545 GHz (550 microns) and 353 GHz (850 microns) extending across the characteristic luminosity L_star, and a preliminary estimate over a limited luminosity range at 217 GHz (1382 microns). At 850 microns and for luminosities L >~ L_star our results agree with previous estimates, derived from the SCUBA Local Universe Galaxy Survey (SLUGS), but are higher than the latter at L <~ L_star. We also find good agreement with estimates at 350 and 500 microns based on preliminary Herschel survey data.