A Systematic Search for Reddest Far-infrared and Sub-millimeter Galaxies: revealing dust-embedded starbursts at high redshifts

TL;DR

This study systematically identifies the reddest far-infrared and submillimeter galaxies using Herschel and SCUBA2 data, revealing dusty starbursts at high redshifts that could significantly contribute to early universe star formation.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive method to select the reddest FIR/sub-mm galaxies, expanding the known population of high-redshift dusty starbursts and estimating their surface densities.

Findings

629 500 μm risers identified over 106.5 deg²

95 SPIRE dropouts detected over 2.98 deg²

High-redshift ($z>6$) candidates have a surface density of 5.5 deg$^{-2}$

Abstract

We present the results of our systematic search for the reddest far-infrared (FIR) and submillimeter (sub-mm) galaxies using the data from the Herschel Multi-tiered Extragalactic Survey (HerMES) and the SCUBA2 Cosmological Legacy Survey (S2CLS). The red FIR galaxies are "500~$\mu$m risers," whose spectral energy distributions increase with wavelength across the three FIR passbands of the Spectral and Photometric Imaging REceiver (SPIRE) of Herschel. Within 106.5 deg$^2$ of the HerMES fields, we have selected 629 500 $\mu$m risers. The red sub-mm galaxies are "SPIRE dropouts," which are prominent detections in the S2CLS 850 $\mu$m data but are extremely weak or invisible in the SPIRE bands. Within the 2.98 deg$^2$ common area of HerMES and S2CLS, we have selected 95 such objects. These very red sources could be dusty starbursts at high redshifts ($z\gtrsim 4$-6) because the peak of their cold-dust emission heated by star formation is shifted to the reddest FIR/sub-mm bands. The surface density of 500 $\mu$m risers is $\sim$8.2 deg$^{-2}$ at the $\geq 20$ mJy level in 500 $\mu$m, while that of SPIRE dropouts is $\sim$19.3 deg$^{-2}$ at the $\geq 5$ mJy level in 850 $\mu$m. Both type of objects could span a wide range of redshifts, however. Using deep radio data in these fields to further select the ones likely at the highest redshifts, we find that the surface density of $z>6$ candidates is 5.5 deg$^{-2}$ among 500 $\mu$m risers and is 0.8-13.6 deg$^{-2}$ among SPIRE dropouts. If this is correct, the dust-embedded star formation processes in such objects could contribute comparably as Lyman-break galaxies to the global SFR density at $z>6$.