SOFIA/HAWC+ detection of a gravitationally lensed starburst galaxy at $z$ = 1.03

TL;DR

This paper reports the detection of a gravitationally lensed starburst galaxy at redshift 1.03 using SOFIA/HAWC+, demonstrating the instrument's capability to study distant galaxies and analyze their star formation and AGN contributions.

Contribution

First detection of a lensed starburst galaxy at z=1.03 with SOFIA/HAWC+ and comparison of SED models to constrain AGN contribution and stellar mass uncertainties.

Findings

AGN contribution to IR luminosity is negligible.

Star formation history dominates stellar mass uncertainties.

SOFIA/HAWC+ effectively studies distant galaxy components.

Abstract

We present the detection at 89 $\mu$m (observed frame) of the {\it Herschel}-selected gravitationally lensed starburst galaxy HATLASJ1429-0028 (also known as G15v2.19) in 15 minutes with the High-resolution Airborne Wideband Camera-plus (HAWC+) onboard the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA). The spectacular lensing system consists of an edge-on foreground disk galaxy at $z$ = 0.22 and a nearly complete Einstein ring of an intrinsic ultra-luminous infrared galaxy at $z$ = 1.03. Is this high IR luminosity powered by pure star formation (SF) or also an active galactic nucleus (AGN)? Previous nebular line diagnostics indicate that it is star-formation dominated. We perform a 27-band multi-wavelength spectral energy distribution modeling (SED) including the new SOFIA/HAWC+ data to constrain the fractional AGN contribution to the total IR luminosity. The AGN fraction in the IR turns out to be negligible. In addition, J1429-0028 serves as a testbed for comparing SED results from different models/templates and SED codes (MAGPHYS, SED3FIT, and CIGALE). We stress that star formation history is the dominant source of uncertainty in the derived stellar mass (as high as a factor of $\sim$ 10) even in the case of extensive photometric coverage. Furthermore, the detection of a source at $z$ $\sim$ 1 with SOFIA/HAWC+ demonstrates the potential of utilizing this facility for distant galaxy studies including the decomposition of SF/AGN components, which cannot be accomplished with other current facilities.