arXiv subjects

J. E. Geach

Publications and source records attributed to J. E. Geach.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

The JWST Emission Line Survey (JELS): The sizes and merger fraction of star-forming galaxies during the Epoch of Reionization

We used observations from the JWST Emission Line Survey (JELS) to measure the half-light radii ($r_{e}$) of 23 H$α$-emitting star-forming (SF) galaxies at $z=6.1$ in the PRIMER/COSMOS field. Galaxy sizes were measured in JWST Near-infrared Camera observations in rest-frame H$α$ (tracing recent star formation) with the F466N and F470N narrowband filters from JELS, and compared against rest-$R$-band, $V$-band (tracing established stellar populations) and near-ultraviolet sizes. We find a size-stellar mass ($r_{e}-M_{*}$) relationship with a slope that is consistent with literature values at lower redshifts, though offset to lower sizes. We observe a large scatter in $r_{e}$ at low stellar mass ($M_{*}<10^{8.4}$ M$_{\odot}$) which we believe is the result of bursty star formation histories (SFHs) of SF galaxies at the Epoch of Reionization (EoR). We find that the stellar and ionised gas components are similar in size at $z=6.1$. The evidence of already-established stellar components in these H$α$ emitters (HAEs) indicates previous episodes of star formation have occurred. As such, following other JELS studies finding our HAEs are undergoing a current burst of star formation, we believe our results indicate that SF galaxies at the end of the EoR have already experienced a bursty SFH. From our $r_{e}-M_{*}$ relationship, we find $r_{e, \text{F444W}}=0.76\pm0.46$ kpc for fixed stellar mass $M_{*}=10^{9.25}$ M$_{\odot}$, which is in agreement with other observations and simulations of star forming galaxies in the literature. We find a close-pair (major) merger fraction of ($f_{\text{maj. merger}}=0.44\pm0.22$) $f_{\text{merger}}=0.43\pm0.11$ for galaxy separations $d\lesssim25$ kpc, which is in agreement with other $z\approx6$ studies.

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arXiv2025

The JWST Emission Line Survey (JELS): An untargeted search for H$α$ emission line galaxies at $z > 6$ and their physical properties

We present the first results of the JWST Emission Line Survey (JELS). Utilising the first NIRCam narrow-band imaging at 4.7$μ$m, over 63 arcmin$^{2}$ in the PRIMER/COSMOS field, we identified 609 emission line galaxy candidates. From these, we robustly selected 35 H$α$ star-forming galaxies at $z \sim 6.1$, with H$α$ star-formation rates ($\rm{SFR_{Hα}}$) $\sim0.9-15\ \rm{M_{\odot} \ yr^{-1}}$. Combining our unique H$α$ sample with the exquisite panchromatic data in the field, we explored their physical properties and star-formation histories, and compared these to a broad-band selected sample at $z\sim 6$ which offered vital new insights into the nature of high-redshift galaxies. UV-continuum slopes ($β$) were considerably redder for our H$α$ sample ($\langleβ\rangle\sim-1.92$) compared to the broad-band sample ($\langleβ\rangle\sim-2.35$). This was not due to dust attenuation as our H$α$ sample was relatively dust-poor (median $A_V=0.23$); instead, we argued the reddened slopes could be due to nebular continuum. We compared $\rm{SFR_{Hα}}$ and the UV-continuum-derived $\rm{SFR_{UV}}$ to SED-fitted measurements averaged over canonical timescales of 10 and 100 Myr ($\rm{SFR_{10}}$ and $\rm{SFR_{100}}$). We found an increase in recent SFR for our sample of H$α$ emitters, particularly at lower stellar masses ($<10^9 \ \rm{M_{\odot}}$). We also found $\rm{SFR_{Hα}}$ strongly traced SFR averaged over 10 Myr timescales, whereas the UV-continuum over-predicts SFR on 100 Myr timescales at low stellar masses. These results point to our H$α$ sample undergoing `bursty' star formation. Our F356W $z \sim 6$ sample showed a larger scatter in $\rm{SFR_{10}/SFR_{100}}$ across all stellar masses, which highlighted how narrow-band photometric selections of H$α$ emitters are key to quantifying the burstiness of star-formation activity.

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arXiv2025

The JWST Emission Line Survey (JELS): Extending rest-optical narrow-band emission line selection into the Epoch of Reionization

We present the JWST Emission Line Survey (JELS), a JWST imaging programme exploiting the wavelength coverage and sensitivity of NIRCam to extend narrow-band rest-optical emission line selection into the epoch of reionization (EoR) for the first time, and to enable unique studies of the resolved ionised gas morphology in individual galaxies across cosmic history. The primary JELS observations comprise $\sim4.7μ$m narrow-band imaging over $\sim63$ arcmin$^{2}$ designed to enable selection of H$α$ emitters at z~6.1 and a host of novel emission-line samples, including [OIII] ($z\sim8.3$) and Paschen $α/β$ ($z\sim1.5/2.8$). For the F466N/F470N narrow-band observations, the emission-line sensitivities achieved are up to $\sim2\times$ more sensitive than current slitless spectroscopy surveys (5$σ$ limits of 0.8-1.2$\times10^{-18}\,\text{erg s}^{-1}\text{cm}^{-2}$), corresponding to unobscured H$α$ star-formation rates (SFRs) of 0.9-1.3 $\text{M}_{\odot}\text{yr}^{-1}$ at z~6.1, extending emission-line selections in the EoR to fainter populations. Simultaneously, JELS also adds F200W broadband and F212N narrow-band imaging (H$α$ at z~2.23) that probes SFRs $\gtrsim5\times$ fainter than previous ground-based narrow-band studies ($\sim0.2\text{M}_{\odot}\text{yr}^{-1}$), offering an unprecedented resolved view of star formation at cosmic noon. We present the detailed JELS survey design, key data processing steps specific to the survey observations, and demonstrate the exceptional data quality and imaging sensitivity achieved. We then summarise the key scientific goals of JELS, demonstrate the precision and accuracy of the expected redshift and measured emission line recovery through detailed simulations, and present examples of spectroscopically confirmed H$α$ and [OIII] emitters discovered by JELS that illustrate the novel parameter space probed.

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arXiv2023

Polarized thermal emission from dust in a galaxy at redshift 2.6

Magnetic fields are fundamental to the evolution of galaxies, playing a key role in the astrophysics of the interstellar medium and star formation. Large-scale ordered magnetic fields have been mapped in the Milky Way and nearby galaxies, but it is not known how early in the Universe such structures form. Here we report the detection of linearly polarized thermal emission from dust grains in a strongly lensed, intrinsically luminous galaxy that is forming stars at a rate more than a thousand times that of the Milky Way at redshift 2.6, within 2.5 Gyr of the Big Bang. The polarized emission arises from the alignment of dust grains with the local magnetic field. The median polarization fraction is of order one per cent, similar to nearby spiral galaxies. Our observations support the presence of a 5 kiloparsec-scale ordered magnetic field with a strength of around 500uG or lower, orientated parallel to the molecular gas disk. This confirms that such structures can be rapidly formed in galaxies, early in cosmic history.

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arXiv2023

The SCUBA-2 Large eXtragalactic Survey: 850um map, catalogue and the bright-end number counts of the XMM-LSS field

We present 850um imaging of the XMM-LSS field observed for 170 hours as part of the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope SCUBA-2 Large eXtragalactic Survey (S2LXS). S2LXS XMM-LSS maps an area of 9 square degrees, reaching a moderate depth of 1-sigma ~ 4 mJy/beam. This is the largest contiguous area of extragalactic sky mapped by JCMT at 850um to date. The wide area of the S2LXS XMM-LSS survey allows us to probe the ultra-bright (S_850um > 15 mJy), yet rare submillimetre population. We present the S2LXS XMM-LSS catalogue, which comprises 40 sources detected at >5-sigma significance, with deboosted flux densities in the range of 7 mJy to 48 mJy. We robustly measure the bright-end of the 850um number counts at flux densities >7 mJy, reducing the Poisson errors compared to existing measurements. The S2LXS XMM-LSS observed number counts show the characteristic upturn at bright fluxes, expected to be motivated by local sources of submillimetre emission and high-redshift strongly lensed galaxies. We find that the observed 850um number counts are best reproduced by model predictions that include either strong lensing or source blending from a 15 arcsec beam, indicating that both may make an important contribution to the observed over-abundance of bright single dish 850um selected sources. We make the S2LXS XMM-LSS 850um map and >5-sigma catalogue presented here publicly available.

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arXiv2022

Ammonia in the interstellar medium of a starbursting disc at z=2.6

We report the detection of the ground state rotational emission of ammonia, ortho-NH$_3$ $(J_K=1_0\rightarrow0_0)$ in a gravitationally lensed, intrinsically hyperluminous, star-bursting galaxy at $z=2.6$. The integrated line profile is consistent with other molecular and atomic emission lines which have resolved kinematics well-modelled by a 5 kpc-diametre rotating disc. This implies that the gas responsible for NH$_3$ emission is broadly tracing the global molecular reservoir, but likely distributed in pockets of high density ($n\gtrsim5\times10^4$ cm$^{-3}$). With a luminosity of $2.8\times10^{6}$ $L_\odot$, the NH$_3$ emission represents $2.5\times10^{-7}$ of the total infrared luminosity of the galaxy, comparable to the ratio observed in the Kleinmann-Low nebula in Orion and consistent with sites of massive star formation in the Milky Way. If $L_{\rm NH_3}/L_{\rm IR}$ serves as a proxy for the 'mode' of star formation, this hints that the nature of star formation in extreme starbursts in the early Universe is similar to that of Galactic star-forming regions, with a large fraction of the cold interstellar medium in this state, plausibly driven by a storm of violent disc instabilities in the gas-dominated disc. This supports the 'full of Orions' picture of star formation in the most extreme galaxies seen close to the peak epoch of stellar mass assembly.

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arXiv2022

An Orientation Bias in Observations of Submillimetre Galaxies

Recent high-resolution interferometric images of submillimetre galaxies (SMGs) reveal fascinatingly complex morphologies. This raises a number of questions: how does the relative orientation of a galaxy affect its observed submillimetre emission, and does this result in an `orientation bias' in the selection and analysis of such galaxies in flux-limited cosmological surveys? We investigated these questions using the \textsc{Simba} cosmological simulation paired with the dust radiative transfer code \textsc{Powderday}. We selected eight simulated SMGs ($S_{850}\gtrsim2$ mJy) at $z = 2$, and measured the variance of their `observed' emission over 50 random orientations. Each galaxy exhibits significant scatter in its emission close to the peak of the thermal dust emission, with variation in flux density of up to a factor of 2.7. This results in an appreciable dispersion in the inferred dust temperatures and infrared luminosities ($16^{\mathrm{th}}-84^{\mathrm{th}}$ percentile ranges of 5\,K and 0.1\,dex, respectively) and therefore a fundamental uncertainty in derived parameters such as dust mass and star formation rate ($\sim$30% for the latter using simple calibrations). Using a Monte Carlo simulation we also assessed the impact of orientation on flux-limited surveys, finding a bias in the selection of SMGs towards those with face--on orientations, as well as those at lower redshifts. We predict that the orientation bias will affect flux-limited single-dish surveys, most significantly at THz frequencies, and this bias should be taken into account when placing the results of targeted follow--up studies in a statistical context.

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arXiv2021

The ramp-up of interstellar medium enrichment at z>4

Fluorine is one of the most interesting elements for nuclear and stellar astrophysics. Fluorine abundance was first measured for stars other than the Sun in 1992, then for a handful metal-poor stars, which are likely to have formed in the early Universe. The main production sites of fluorine are under debate and include asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars, $ν$-process in core-collapse supernovae, and Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars. Due to the difference in the mass and lifetime of progenitor stars, high redshift observations of fluorine can help constrain the mechanism of fluorine production in massive galaxies. Here, we report the detection of HF (S/N = 8) in absorption in a gravitationally lensed dusty star-forming galaxy at redshift z=4.4 with $N_{\rm HF}$/$N_{\rm{H_2}}$ as high as $\sim2\times10^{-9}$, indicating a very quick ramp-up of the chemical enrichment in this high-z galaxy. At z=4.4, AGB stars of a few solar masses are very unlikely to dominate the enrichment. Instead, we show that WR stars are required to produce the observed fluorine abundance at this time, with other production mechanisms becoming important at later times. These observations therefore provide an insight into the underlying processes driving the `ramp-up' phase of chemical enrichment alongside rapid stellar mass assembly in a young massive galaxy.

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arXiv2021

ALMA Observations of Lyman-alpha Blob 1: Multiple major-mergers and widely distributed interstellar media

We present observations of a giant Lyman-alpha blob in the SSA22 proto-cluster at z=3.1, SSA22-LAB1, taken with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). Dust continuum, along with [C II]158um, and CO(4-3) line emission have been detected in LAB1, showing complex morphology and kinematics across a ~100 kpc central region. Seven galaxies at z=3.0987-3.1016 in the surroundings are identified in [C II] and dust continuum emission, with two of them potential companions or tidal structures associated with the most massive galaxies. Spatially resolved [C II] and infrared luminosity ratios for the widely distributed media (L[C II]/LIR~0.01-0.001) suggest that the observed extended interstellar media are likely to have originated from star-formation activity and the contribution from shocked gas is probably not dominant. LAB1 is found to harbour a total molecular gas mass Mmol=(8.7+/-2.0)e+10 Msun, concentrated in the core region of the Ly-alpha-emitting area. While (primarily obscured) star-formation activity in the LAB1 core is one of the most plausible power sources for the Ly-alpha emission, multiple major-mergers found in the core may also play a role in making LAB1 exceptionally bright and extended in Ly-alpha as a result of cooling radiation induced by gravitational interactions.

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arXiv2021

Low-frequency radio spectra of submillimetre galaxies in the Lockman Hole

We investigate the radio properties of a sample of 53 sources selected at 850 $μ$m from the SCUBA-2 Cosmology Legacy Survey using new deep, low-frequency radio imaging of the Lockman Hole field from the Low Frequency Array. Combining these data with additional radio observations from the GMRT and the JVLA, we find a variety of radio spectral shapes and luminosities within our sample despite their similarly bright submillimetre flux densities. We characterise their spectral shapes in terms of multi-band radio spectral indices. Finding strong spectral flattening at low frequencies in ~20% of sources, we investigate the differences between sources with extremely flat low-frequency spectra and those with `normal' radio spectral indices. As there are no other statistically significant differences between the two subgroups of our sample as split by the radio spectral index, we suggest that any differences are undetectable in galaxy-averaged properties that we can observe with our unresolved images, and likely relate to galaxy properties that we cannot resolve, on scales $\lesssim$ 1 kpc. We attribute the observed spectral flattening in the radio to free-free absorption, proposing that those sources with significant low-frequency spectral flattening have a clumpy distribution of star-forming gas. We estimate an average spatial extent of absorbing material of at most several hundred parsecs to produce the levels of absorption observed in the radio spectra. This estimate is consistent with the highest-resolution observations of submillimetre galaxies in the literature, which find examples of non-uniform dust distributions on scales of ~100 pc, with evidence for clumps and knots in the interstellar medium. Additionally, we find two bright (> 6 mJy) submm sources undetected at all other wavelengths. We speculate that these objects may be very high redshift sources, likely residing at z > 4.

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arXiv2021

Cosmic evolution of the H2 mass density and the epoch of molecular gas

We present new empirical constraints on the evolution of $ρ_{\rm H_2}$, the cosmological mass density of molecular hydrogen, back to $z\approx2.5$. We employ a statistical approach measuring the average observed $850μ{\rm m}$ flux density of near-infrared selected galaxies as a function of redshift. The redshift range considered corresponds to a span where the $850μ{\rm m}$ band probes the Rayleigh-Jeans tail of thermal dust emission in the rest-frame, and can therefore be used as an estimate of the mass of the interstellar medium (ISM). Our sample comprises of ${\approx}150,000$ galaxies in the UKIDSS-UDS field with near-infrared magnitudes $K_{\rm AB}\leq25$ mag and photometric redshifts with corresponding probability distribution functions derived from deep 12-band photometry. With a sample approximately 2 orders of magnitude larger than in previous works we significantly reduce statistical uncertainties on $ρ_{\rm H_2}$ to $z\approx2.5$. Our measurements are in broad agreement with recent direct estimates from blank field molecular gas surveys, finding that the epoch of molecular gas coincides with the peak epoch of star formation with $ρ_{\rm H_2}\approx2\times10^7\,{\rm M_\odot}\,{\rm Mpc^{-3}}$ at $z\approx2$. We demonstrate that $ρ_{\rm H_2}$ can be broadly modelled by inverting the star-formation rate density with a fixed or weakly evolving star-formation efficiency. This 'constant efficiency' model shows a similar evolution to our statistically derived $ρ_{\rm H_2}$, indicating that the dominant factor driving the peak star formation history at $z\approx2$ is a larger supply of molecular gas in galaxies rather than a significant evolution of the star-formation rate efficiency within individual galaxies.

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arXiv2021

An ALMA survey of the SCUBA-2 Cosmology Legacy SurveyUKIDSS/UDS Field: Halo Masses for Submillimetre Galaxies

We present an analysis of the spatial clustering of a large sample of high-resolution, interferometically identified, submillimetre galaxies (SMGs). We measure the projected cross-correlation function of ~350 SMGs in the UKIDSS Ultra Deep-Survey Field across a redshift range of $z=1.5-3$ utilising a method that incorporates the uncertainties in the redshift measurements for both the SMGs and cross-correlated galaxies through sampling their full probability distribution functions. By measuring the absolute linear bias of the SMGs we derive halo masses of $\log_{10}(M_{\rm halo}[{h^{-1}\,\rm M_{\odot}}])\sim12.8$ with no evidence of evolution in the halo masses with redshift, contrary to some previous work. From considering models of halo mass growth rates we predict that the SMGs will reside in haloes of mass $\log_{10}(M_{\rm halo}[{h^{-1}\,\rm M_{\odot}}])\sim13.2$ at $z=0$, consistent with the expectation that the majority of $z=1.5-3$ SMGs will evolve into present-day spheroidal galaxies. Finally, comparing to models of stellar-to-halo mass ratios, we show that SMGs may correspond to systems that are maximally efficient at converting their gas reservoirs into stars. We compare them to a simple model for gas cooling in halos that suggests that the unique properties of the SMG population, including their high levels of star-formation and their redshift distribution, are a result of the SMGs being the most massive galaxies that are still able to accrete cool gas from their surrounding intragalactic medium.

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arXiv2020

[NII] fine-structure emission at 122 and 205um in a galaxy at z=2.6: a globally dense star-forming interstellar medium

We present new observations with the Atacama Large Millimeter/sub-millimeter Array of the 122um and 205um fine-structure line emission of singly-ionised nitrogen in a strongly lensed starburst galaxy at z=2.6. The 122/205um [NII] line ratio is sensitive to electron density, n_e, in the ionised interstellar medium, and we use this to measure n_e~300cm^-3 averaged across the galaxy. This is over an order of magnitude higher than the Milky Way average, but comparable to localised Galactic star-forming regions. Combined with observations of the atomic carbon (CI(1-0)) and carbon monoxide (CO(4-3)) in the same system, we reveal the conditions in this intensely star-forming system. The majority of the molecular interstellar medium has been driven to high density, and the resultant conflagration of star formation produces a correspondingly dense ionised phase, presumably co-located with myriad HII regions that litter the gas-rich disk.

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arXiv2020

An ALMA survey of the SCUBA-2 CLS UDS field: Physical properties of 707 Sub-millimetre Galaxies

We analyse the physical properties of a large, homogeneously selected sample of ALMA-located sub-mm galaxies (SMGs). This survey, AS2UDS, identified 707 SMGs across the ~1 sq.deg. field, including ~17 per cent, which are undetected at $K$>~25.7 mag. We interpret their ultraviolet-to-radio data using MAGPHYS and determine a median redshift of z=2.61+-0.08 (1$σ$ range of z=1.8-3.4) with just ~6 per cent at z>4. Our survey provides a sample of massive dusty galaxies at z>~1, with median dust and stellar masses of $M_d$=(6.8+-0.3)x10$^{8}$M$_\odot$ (thus, gas masses of ~10$^{11}$M$_\odot$) and $M_\ast=$(1.26+-0.05)x10$^{11}$M$_\odot$. We find no evolution in dust temperature at a constant far-infrared luminosity across z~1.5-4. The gas mass function of our sample increases to z~2-3 and then declines at z>3. The space density and masses of SMGs suggest that almost all galaxies with $M_\ast$>~3x10$^{11}$M$_\odot$ have passed through an SMG-like phase. The redshift distribution is well fit by a model combining evolution of the gas fraction in halos with the growth of halo mass past a threshold of $M_h$~6x10$^{12}$M$_\odot$, thus SMGs may represent the highly efficient collapse of gas-rich massive halos. We show that SMGs are broadly consistent with simple homologous systems in the far-infrared, consistent with a centrally illuminated starburst. Our study provides strong support for an evolutionary link between the active, gas-rich SMG population at z>1 and the formation of massive, bulge-dominated galaxies across the history of the Universe.

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arXiv2020

An ALMA survey of the S2CLS UDS field: Optically invisible submillimetre galaxies

We analyse a robust sample of 30 near-infrared-faint (K>25.3, 5 sigma) submillimetre galaxies selected across a 0.96 deg^2 field, to investigate their properties and the cause of their lack of detectable optical/near-infrared emission. Our analysis exploits precise identifications based on ALMA 870um continuum imaging, combined with the very deep near-infrared imaging from the UKIDSS-UDS survey. We estimate that K>25.3 submillimetre galaxies represent 15+/-2 per cent of the total population brighter than S870=3.6mJy, with an expected surface density of ~450/deg^2 above S870>1mJy. As such they pose a source of contamination in surveys for both high-redshift "quiescent" galaxies and very-high-redshift Lyman-break galaxies. We show that these K-faint submillimetre galaxies are simply the tail of the broader submillimetre population, with comparable dust and stellar masses to K<25.3 mag submillimetre galaxies, but lying at significantly higher redshifts (z=3.44+/-0.06 versus z=2.36+/-0.11) and having higher dust attenuation (Av=5.2+/-0.3 versus Av=2.9+/-0.1). We investigate the origin of the strong dust attenuation and find indications that these K-faint galaxies have smaller dust continuum sizes than the K<25.3 galaxies, as measured by ALMA, which suggests their high attenuation is related to their compact sizes. We find a correlation of dust attenuation with star-formation rate surface density (Sigma_SFR), with the K-faint submillimetre galaxies representing the higher-Sigma_SFR and highest-Av galaxies. The concentrated, intense star-formation activity in these systems is likely to be associated with the formation of spheroids in compact galaxies at high redshifts, but as a result of their high obscuration these are completely missed in UV, optical and even near-infrared surveys.

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arXiv2020

An ALMA survey of the SCUBA-2 Cosmology Legacy Survey UKIDSS/UDS field: Dust attenuation in high-redshift Lyman break Galaxies

We analyse 870um Atacama Large Millimetre Array (ALMA) dust continuum detections of 41 canonically-selected z~3 Lyman-break galaxies (LBGs), as well as 209 ALMA-undetected LBGs, in follow-up of SCUBA-2 mapping of the UKIDSS Ultra Deep Survey (UDS) field. We find that our ALMA-bright LBGs lie significantly off the locally calibrated IRX-beta relation and tend to have relatively bluer rest-frame UV slopes (as parametrised by beta), given their high values of the 'infrared excess' (IRX=L_IR/L_UV), relative to the average 'local' IRX-beta relation. We attribute this finding in part to the young ages of the underlying stellar populations but we find that the main reason behind the unusually blue UV slopes are the relatively shallow slopes of the corresponding dust attenuation curves. We show that, when stellar masses are being established via SED fitting, it is absolutely crucial to allow the attenuation curves to vary (rather than fixing it on Calzetti-like law), where we find that the inappropriate curves may underestimate the resulting stellar masses by a factor of ~2-3x on average. In addition, we find these LBGs to have relatively high specific star-formation rates (sSFRs), dominated by the dust component, as quantified via the fraction of obscured star formation ( f_obs = SFR_IR/SFR_(UV+IR)). We conclude that the ALMA-bright LBGs are, by selection, massive galaxies undergoing a burst of a star formation (large sSFRs, driven, for example, by secular or merger processes), with a likely geometrical disconnection of the dust and stars, responsible for producing shallow dust attenuation curves.

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arXiv2019

The East Asian Observatory SCUBA--2 survey of the COSMOS field: unveiling 1147 bright sub-millimeter sources across 2.6 square degrees

We present sensitive 850$μ$m imaging of the COSMOS field using 640hr of new and archival observations taken with SCUBA-2 at the East Asian Observatory's James Clerk Maxwell Telescope. The SCUBA-2 COSMOS survey (S2COSMOS) achieves a median noise level of $σ_{850μ{\mathrm{m}}}$=1.2mJy/beam over an area of 1.6 sq. degree (MAIN; HST/ACS footprint), and $σ_{850μ{\mathrm{m}}}$=1.7mJy/beam over an additional 1 sq. degree of supplementary (SUPP) coverage. We present a catalogue of 1020 and 127 sources detected at a significance level of >4$σ$ and >4.3$σ$ in the MAIN and SUPP regions, respectively, corresponding to a uniform 2% false-detection rate. We construct the single-dish 850$μ$m number counts at $S_{850}$>2mJy and show that these S2COSMOS counts are in agreement with previous single-dish surveys, demonstrating that degree-scale fields are sufficient to overcome the effects of cosmic variance in the $S_{850}$=2-10mJy population. To investigate the properties of the galaxies identified by S2COSMOS sources we measure the surface density of near-infrared-selected galaxies around their positions and identify an average excess of 2.0$\pm$0.2 galaxies within a 13$''$ radius (~100kpc at $z$~2). The bulk of these galaxies represent near-infrared-selected SMGs and/or spatially-correlated sources and lie at a median photometric redshift of $z$=2.0$\pm$0.1. Finally, we perform a stacking analysis at sub-millimeter and far-infrared wavelengths of stellar-mass-selected galaxies ($M_{\star}$=10$^{10}$-10$^{12}{\rm M_{\odot}}$) from $z$=0-4, obtaining high-significance detections at 850um in all subsets (SNR=4-30), and investigate the relation between far-infrared luminosity, stellar mass, and the peak wavelength of the dust SED. The publication of this survey adds a new deep, uniform sub-millimeter layer to the wavelength coverage of this well-studied COSMOS field.

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arXiv2019

The evolving far-IR galaxy luminosity function and dust-obscured star-formation rate density out to z~5

We present a new measurement of the evolving galaxy far-IR luminosity function (LF) extending out to redshifts z~5, with resulting implications for the level of dust-obscured star-formation density in the young Universe. To achieve this we have exploited recent advances in sub-mm/mm imaging with SCUBA-2 on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) and the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA), which together provide unconfused imaging with sufficient dynamic range to provide meaningful coverage of the luminosity-redshift plane out to z>4. Our results support previous indications that the faint-end slope of the far-IR LF is sufficiently flat that comoving luminosity-density is dominated by bright objects (~L*). However, we find that the number-density/luminosity of such sources at high redshifts has been severely over-estimated by studies that have attempted to push the highly-confused Herschel SPIRE surveys beyond z~2. Consequently we confirm recent reports that cosmic star-formation density is dominated by UV-visible star formation at z>4. Using both direct (1/Vmax) and maximum likelihood determinations of the LF, we find that its high-redshift evolution is well characterized by continued positive luminosity evolution coupled with negative density evolution (with increasing redshift). This explains why bright sub-mm sources continue to be found at z>5, even though their integrated contribution to cosmic star-formation density at such early times is very small. The evolution of the far-IR galaxy LF thus appears similar in form to that already established for active galactic nuclei, possibly reflecting a similar dependence on the growth of galaxy mass.

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