Hot-Dust (690K) Luminosity Density and its Evolution in the last 7.5Gyr

TL;DR

This study investigates the evolution of hot-dust luminosity density in galaxies over the last 7.5 billion years using Spitzer-IRAC data, revealing how hot-dust emission correlates with galaxy type, stellar mass, and redshift.

Contribution

It provides new insights into hot-dust luminosity density evolution, its relation to galaxy properties, and the role of AGN, based on detailed mid-infrared analysis across cosmic time.

Findings

Hot-dust luminosity density decreases more steeply than cold-dust since z~1.

Hot-dust and PAH emissions are stronger in more massive, non-AGN galaxies at lower redshifts.

AGN contribute significantly to hot-dust luminosity density at z<1, especially at higher luminosities.

Abstract

[Abridged] We study the contribution of hot-dust to the luminosity density of galaxies and its evolution with cosmic time. Using the Spitzer-IRAC data in the COSMOS field, we estimate the contribution from hot-dust at rest-frame 4.2um (from ~0 < z < ~0.2 up to ~0.5 < z < ~0.9). This wavelength corresponds to black-body temperature of ~690K. The contribution due to stellar emission is estimated from the rest-frame 1.6um luminosity (assumed to result from stellar emission alone) and subtracted from the mid-infrared luminosity of galaxies to measure hot-dust emission. In order to attempt the study of the 3.3um-PAH feature, we use the rest-frame 4.2um to infer the hot-dust flux at 3.3um. This study is performed for different spectral types of galaxies: early-type, late-type, starburst, and IR-selected AGN. We find that: (a) the decrease of the hot-dust luminosity density since ~0.5 < z < ~1 is steeper (by at least ~0.5dex) compared to that of the cold-dust, giving support to the scenario where galaxy obscuration increases with redshift, as already proposed in the literature; (b) hot-dust and PAH emission evolution seems to be correlated with stellar mass, where rest-frame 1.6um luminous non-AGN galaxies (i.e., massive systems) show a stronger decrement (with decreasing redshift) in hot-dust and PAH emission than the less luminous (less massive) non-AGN galaxies; (c) despite comprising < ~3% of the total sample, AGN contribute as much as a third to the hot-dust luminosity density at z < 1 and clearly dominate the bright-end of the total hot-dust Luminosity Density Function at ~0.5 < z < ~0.9; (d) the average dust-to-total luminosity ratio increases with redshift, while PAH-to-total luminosity ratio remains fairly constant; (e) at M_1.6 > -25, the dust-to-total and PAH-to-total luminosity ratios increase with decreasing luminosity, but deeper data is required to confirm this result.