arXiv subjects

J. L. Wardlow

Publications and source records attributed to J. L. Wardlow.

50 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2013

An ALMA Survey of Submillimeter Galaxies in the Extended Chandra Deep Field South: The AGN Fraction and X-ray Properties of Submillimeter Galaxies

The large gas and dust reservoirs of submm galaxies (SMGs) could potentially provide ample fuel to trigger an Active Galactic Nucleus (AGN), but previous studies of the AGN fraction in SMGs have been controversial largely due to the inhomogeneity and limited angular resolution of the available submillimeter surveys. Here we set improved constraints on the AGN fraction and X-ray properties of the SMGs with ALMA and Chandra observations in the Extended Chandra Deep Field-South (E-CDF-S). This study is the first among similar works to have unambiguously identified the X-ray counterparts of SMGs; this is accomplished using the fully submm-identified, statistically reliable SMG catalog with 99 SMGs from the ALMA LABOCA E-CDF-S Submillimeter Survey (ALESS). We found 10 X-ray sources associated with SMGs (median redshift z = 2.3), of which 8 were identified as AGNs using several techniques that enable cross-checking. The other 2 X-ray detected SMGs have levels of X-ray emission that can be plausibly explained by their star-formation activity. 6 of the 8 SMG-AGNs are moderately/highly absorbed, with N_H > 10e23 cm-2. An analysis of the AGN fraction, taking into account the spatial variation of X-ray sensitivity, yields an AGN fraction of 17+16-6% for AGNs with rest-frame 0.5-8 keV absorption-corrected luminosity >7.8x10e42 erg s-1; we provide estimated AGN fractions as a function of X-ray flux and luminosity. ALMA's high angular resolution also enables direct X-ray stacking at the precise positions of SMGs for the first time, and we found 4 potential SMG-AGNs in our stacking sample.

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arXiv2013

The rapid assembly of an elliptical galaxy of 400 billion solar masses at a redshift of 2.3

Stellar archeology shows that massive elliptical galaxies today formed rapidly about ten billion years ago with star formation rates above several hundreds solar masses per year (M_sun/yr). Their progenitors are likely the sub-millimeter-bright galaxies (SMGs) at redshifts (z) greater than 2. While SMGs' mean molecular gas mass of 5x10^10 M_sun can explain the formation of typical elliptical galaxies, it is inadequate to form ellipticals that already have stellar masses above 2x10^11 M_sun at z ~ 2. Here we report multi-wavelength high-resolution observations of a rare merger of two massive SMGs at z = 2.3. The system is currently forming stars at a tremendous rate of 2,000 M_sun/yr. With a star formation efficiency an order-of-magnitude greater than that of normal galaxies, it will quench the star formation by exhausting the gas reservoir in only ~200 million years. At a projected separation of 19 kiloparsecs, the two massive starbursts are about to merge and form a passive elliptical galaxy with a stellar mass of ~4x10^11 M_sun. Our observations show that gas-rich major galaxy mergers, concurrent with intense star formation, can form the most massive elliptical galaxies by z ~ 1.5.

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arXiv2013

An ALMA survey of submillimeter galaxies in the Extended Chandra Deep Field South: Source catalog and multiplicity

We present an Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) Cycle 0 survey of 126 submillimeter sources from the LABOCA ECDFS Submillimeter Survey (LESS). Our 870 micron survey with ALMA (ALESS) has produced maps ~3X deeper and with a beam area ~200X smaller than the original LESS observations, doubling the current number of interferometrically-observed submillimeter sources. The high resolution of these maps allows us to resolve sources that were previously blended and accurately identify the origin of the submillimeter emission. We discuss the creation of the ALESS submillimeter galaxy (SMG) catalog, including the main sample of 99 SMGs and a supplementary sample of 32 SMGs. We find that at least 35% (possibly up to 50%) of the detected LABOCA sources have been resolved into multiple SMGs, and that the average number of SMGs per LESS source increases with LESS flux density. Using the (now precisely known) SMG positions, we empirically test the theoretical expectation for the uncertainty in the single-dish source positions. We also compare our catalog to the previously predicted radio/mid-infrared counterparts, finding that 45% of the ALESS SMGs were missed by this method. Our ~1.6" resolution allows us to measure a size of ~9 kpc X 5 kpc for the rest-frame ~300 um emission region in one resolved SMG, implying a star formation rate surface density of 80 M_sol yr^-1 kpc^-2, and we constrain the emission regions in the remaining SMGs to be <10 kpc. As the first statistically reliable survey of SMGs, this will provide the basis for an unbiased multiwavelength study of SMG properties.

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arXiv2012

A Comprehensive View of a Strongly Lensed Planck-Associated Submillimeter Galaxy

We present high-resolution maps of stars, dust, and molecular gas in a strongly lensed submillimeter galaxy (SMG) at z = 3.259. HATLAS12--00 is selected from the Herschel-Astrophysical Terahertz Large Area Survey (H-ATLAS) as a strong lens candidate mainly based on its unusually high 500um flux density (~300 mJy). It is the only high-redshift Planck detection in the 130 deg^2 H-ATLAS Phase 1 area. Keck Adaptive Optics images reveal a quadruply imaged galaxy in the K-band while the Submillimeter Array and the Extended Very Large Array show doubly imaged 880um and CO(1-0) sources, indicating differentiated distributions of the various components in the galaxy. In the source plane, the stars reside in three major kpc-scale clumps extended over ~1.6 kpc, the dust in a compact (~1 kpc) region ~3 kpc north of the stars, and the cold molecular gas in an extended (~7 kpc) disk ~5 kpc northeast of the stars. The emission from the stars, dust, and gas are magnified by ~17, 8, and 7 times, respectively, by four lensing galaxies at z ~ 1. Intrinsically, the lensed galaxy is a warm (T_dust ~ 40-65 K), hyper-luminous (L_IR ~ 1.7e13 Lsun; SFR ~ 2000 Msun/yr), gas-rich (M_gas/M_baryon ~ 70%), young (M_stellar/SFR ~ 20 Myr), and short-lived (M_gas/SFR ~ 40 Myr) starburst, without a significant active galactic nucleus. With physical properties similar to unlensed z > 2 SMGs, HATLAS12--00 offers a detailed view of a typical SMG through a powerful cosmic microscope.

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arXiv2012

HerMES: A Statistical Measurement of the Redshift Distribution of Herschel-SPIRE Sources Using the Cross-correlation Technique

The wide-area imaging surveys with the {\it Herschel} Space Observatory at sub-mm wavelengths have now resulted in catalogs of order one hundred thousand dusty, star-burst galaxies. We make a statistical estimate of $N(z)$ using a clustering analysis of sub-mm galaxies detected at each of 250, 350 and 500 $μ$m from the Herschel Multi-tiered Extragalactic Survey (HerMES) centered on the Boötes field. We cross-correlate {\it Herschel} galaxies against galaxy samples at optical and near-IR wavelengths from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), the NOAO Deep Wide Field Survey (NDWFS) and the Spitzer Deep Wide Field Survey (SDWFS). We create optical and near-IR galaxy samples based on their photometric or spectroscopic redshift distributions and test the accuracy of those redshift distributions with similar galaxy samples defined with catalogs of the Cosmological Evolution Survey (COSMOS), as the COSMOS field has superior spectroscopy coverage. We model-fit the clustering auto and cross-correlations of {\it Herschel} and optical/IR galaxy samples to estimate $N(z)$ and clustering bias factors. The $S_{350} > 20$ mJy galaxies have a bias factor varying with redshift as $b(z)=1.0^{+1.0}_{-0.5}(1+z)^{1.2^{+0.3}_{-0.7}}$. This bias and the redshift dependence is broadly in agreement with galaxies that occupy dark matter halos of mass in the range of 10$^{12}$ to 10$^{13}$ M$_{\sun}$. We find that the redshift distribution peaks around $z \sim 0.5$ to 1 for galaxies selected at 250 $μ$m with an average redshift of $< z > = 1.8 \pm 0.2$. For 350 and 500 $μ$m-selected SPIRE samples the peak shifts to higher redshift, but the average redshift remains the same with a value of $1.9 \pm 0.2$.

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arXiv2012

On the nature of high X-ray luminosities in SDSS galaxies

Surveys have revealed a class of object displaying both high X-ray luminosities (Lx > 10^42 erg/s), and a lack of a discernible active galactic nucleus (AGN) in the optical band. If these sources are powered by star formation activity alone, they would be the most extreme X-ray luminosity star forming galaxies known. We have investigated the mechanism driving the X-ray luminosities of such galaxies by studying the X-ray emission of three moderate redshift (z ~ 0.1) examples of this class, selected from a cross-correlation of the SDSS-DR5 and 2XMMp-DR0 catalogues. X-ray spatial and long-term variability diagnostics of these sources suggest that they are compact X-ray emitters. This result is supported by the detection of rapid short term variability in an observation of one of the sources. The X-ray spectra of all three sources are best fitted with a simple absorbed power-law model, thus betraying no significant signs of star formation. These results indicate that the X-ray emission is powered by AGN activity. But why do these sources not display optical AGN signatures? We show that the most likely explanation is that the optical AGN emission lines are being diluted by star formation signatures from within their host galaxies.

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arXiv2011

The LABOCA Survey of the Extended Chandra Deep Field South: Clustering of submillimetre galaxies

We present a measurement of the spatial clustering of submillimetre galaxies (SMGs) at z = 1-3. Using data from the 870 micron LESS survey, we employ a novel technique to measure the cross-correlation between SMGs and galaxies, accounting for the full probability distributions for photometric redshifts of the galaxies. From the observed projected two-point cross-correlation function we derive the linear bias and characteristic dark matter (DM) halo masses for the SMGs. We detect clustering in the cross-correlation between SMGs and galaxies at the > 4 sigma level. For the SMG autocorrelation we obtain r_0 = 7.7 (+1.8,-2.3) h^-1 Mpc, and derive a corresponding DM halo mass of log(M_halo [h^-1 M_sun]) = 12.8 (+0.3,-0.5). Based on the evolution of DM haloes derived from simulations, we show that that the z = 0 descendants of SMGs are typically massive (~2-3 L*) elliptical galaxies residing in moderate- to high-mass groups (log(M_halo [h^-1 M_sun]) = 13.3 (+0.3,-0.5). From the observed clustering we estimate an SMG lifetime of ~100 Myr, consistent with lifetimes derived from gas consumption times and star-formation timescales, although with considerable uncertainties. The clustering of SMGs at z ~ 2 is consistent with measurements for optically-selected quasi-stellar objects (QSOs), supporting evolutionary scenarios linking starbursts and QSOs. Given that SMGs reside in haloes of characteristic mass ~ 6 x 10^12 h^-1 M_sun, we demonstrate that the redshift distribution of SMGs can be described remarkably well by the combination of two effects: the cosmological growth of structure and the evolution of the molecular gas fraction in galaxies. We conclude that the powerful starbursts in SMGs likely represent a short-lived but universal phase in massive galaxy evolution, associated with the transition between cold gas-rich, star-forming galaxies and passively evolving systems. [Abridged]

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arXiv2011

Lensed galaxies in CANDELS

We present results from a search for gravitationally lensed galaxies present in the Hubble Space Telescope (HST)/Wide Field Camera-3 (WFC3) images of the Cosmic Assembly Near-IR Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey (CANDELS). We present one bona fide lens system in UDS and two compact lens candidates in the GOODS-S field. The lensing system in UDS involves two background galaxies, one at z=1.847 lensed to an arc and a counterimage, and the second at a photometric redshift of z=2.32^{+0.10}_{-0.06} lensed to a double image. We reconstruct the lensed sources in the source plane and find in each of the two cases the sources can be separated to a pair of galaxies. The sources responsible for the arc are compact with effective radii of 0.3 to 0.4 kpc in WFC3 J_{125}-band and a total stellar mass and a star-formation rate of 2.1_{-0.4}^{+2.4} times 10^7 M_sun and 2.3_{-1.7}^{+ 0.6} M_sun yr^{-1}, respectively.The abnormally high H_{160}-band flux of this source is likely due to OIII emission lines with a rest-frame equivalent width about 700 Angstroms for OIII 5007 Angstroms. The sources responsible for the double image have corresponding values of about 0.4 to 0.5 kpc, 1.4_{-0.8}^{+1.9} times 10^9 M_sun, and 8.7_{-7.0}^{+11.1} M_sun yr^{-1}. Once completed CANDELS is expected to contain about 15 lensing systems and will allow statistical studies on both lensing mass profiles and z ~ 2 lensed galaxies.

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arXiv2011

An H-alpha search for over-dense regions at z=2.23

We present the results of a narrow-band (H2S1, 2.121/0.021um) imaging search with WFCAM/UKIRT for H-alpha emitters around several potential signposts of rare (10^-7-10^-8 Mpc^-3) over-dense regions at z=2.23: an over-density of QSOs (2QZ cluster), a powerful, high-redshift radio galaxy (HzRG), and a concentration of submillimetre galaxies (SMGs) and optically faint radio galaxies (OFRGs). In total, we detect 137 narrow-band emitter candidates down to emission-line fluxes of 0.5-1 x 10^-16 erg s^-1 cm^-2, across a total area of 0.56 sq. degrees (2.1 x 10^5 comoving Mpc at z=2.23) in these fields. The BzK colours of the emitters suggest that at least 80% of our sample are likely to be H-alpha emitters (HAEs) at z=2.23. This is one of the largest HAE samples known at z>2. We find modest (~3-sigma) local over-densities of emitters associated with all the three targets. In the 2QZ cluster field, the emitters show a striking filamentary structure connecting four of the z=2.23 QSOs extending over 30Mpc (comoving). In the HzRG and SMG/OFRG fields, the structures appear to be smaller and seen only in the vicinities of the targets. The K-band magnitudes and the H-alpha equivalent widths of the emitters are weakly correlated with the over-density of the emitters: emitters in over-dense region are more evolved systems compared to those in under-dense regions at z=2.23. We find several examples of extended HAEs in our target fields, including a striking example with a spatial extent of 7.5 arcsec (60 kpc at z=2.23) in the 2QZ field, suggesting that these are relatively common in high-density regions. We conclude that narrow-band H-alpha surveys are efficient routes to map over-dense regions at high-z and thus to understand the relation between the growth of galaxies and their surrounding large-scale structures.

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arXiv2011

The BLAST 250-micron selected galaxy population in GOODS-South

We identify and investigate the nature of the 20 brightest 250-micron sources detected by the BLAST within the central 150 sq. arcmin of the GOODS-South field. Aided by the available deep VLA radio imaging, reaching S_1.4 = 30 micro-Jy, we have identified radio counterparts for 17/20 of the 250-micron sources. The resulting enhanced positional accuracy of ~1 arcsec has then allowed us to exploit the deep multi-frequency imaging of GOODS-South to establish secure galaxy counterparts for the 17 radio-identified sources, and plausible galaxy candidates for the 3 radio-unidentified sources. Confusion is a serious issue for this deep BLAST 250-micron survey, due to the large size of the beam. Nevertheless, we argue that our chosen counterparts are significant, and often dominant contributors to the measured BLAST flux densities. For all of these 20 galaxies we have been able to determine spectroscopic (8) or photometric (12) redshifts. The result is the first `complete' redshift distribution for a deep 250-micron selected galaxy sample. This reveals that 250-micron surveys reaching detection limits of ~30 mJy contain not only low-redshift spirals/LIRGs, but also the extreme z~2 dust-enshrouded starburst galaxies previously discovered at sub-millimetre wavelengths. Based on their IRAC colours, we find that virtually all of the BLAST galaxy identifications appear better described as analogues of the M82 starburst galaxy, or Sc star-forming discs rather than highly obscured ULIRGs. Inspection of the LABOCA 870-micron imaging of the GOODS-South field yields detections of 7/11 of the z>1 BLAST sources, and reveals 250/870 flux-density ratios consistent with a standard 40K modified black-body fit with a dust emissivity index beta=1.5.

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arXiv2010

The LABOCA survey of the Extended Chandra Deep Field South - radio and mid-infrared counterparts to submillimetre galaxies

We present radio and infrared (3.6-24um) counterparts to submillimetre galaxies (SMGs) detected in the Extended Chandra Deep Field South with the LABOCA 870-um bolometer camera on the 12-m Atacama Pathfinder Experiment. Using the Very Large Array at 1.4GHz and Spitzer we have identified secure counterparts to 79 of the 126 SMGs (SNR>3.7, S_870>4.4mJy) in the field, 62 via their radio and/or 24-um emission, the remainder using a colour-flux cut on IRAC 3.6- and 5.8-um sources chosen to maximise the number of secure, coincident radio and 24-um counterparts. In constructing our radio catalogue, we have corrected for the effects of `flux boosting', then used the corrected flux densities to estimate the redshifts of the SMGs based on the radio/submm spectral indices. The effect of the boosting correction is to increase the median redshift by 0.2 resulting in a value of z=2.2 (+0.7-0.8) (1-sigma errors) for the secure radio counterparts, in agreement with other studies, both spectroscopic and photometric.

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arXiv2010

The LABOCA survey of the Extended Chandra Deep Field South: A photometric redshift survey of submillimetre galaxies

[abridged] We derive photometric redshifts from 17-band optical to mid-IR photometry of 74 robust counterparts to 68 of the 126 submillimetre galaxies (SMGs) selected at 870um by LABOCA observations in the ECDFS. The median photometric redshift of identified SMGs is z=2.2\pm0.1, the interquartile range is z=1.8-2.7 and we identify 10 (~15%) high-redshift (z>3) SMGs. We derive a simple redshift estimator for SMGs based on the 3.6 and 8um fluxes, which is accurate to Delta_z~0.4 for SMGs at z<4. A statistical analysis of sources around unidentified SMGs identifies a population of likely counterparts with a redshift distribution peaking at z=2.5\pm0.3, which likely comprises ~60% of the unidentified SMGs. This confirms that the bulk of the undetected SMGs are coeval with those detected in the radio/mid-IR. We conclude that ~15% of all the SMGs are below the flux limits of our survey and lie at z>3 and hence ~30% of all SMGs have z>3. We estimate that the full S_870um>4mJy SMG population has a median redshift of 2.5\pm0.6. In contrast to previous suggestions we find no significant correlation between S_870um and redshift. The median stellar mass of the SMGs derived from SED fitting is (9.2\pm0.9)x10^10Msun and the interquartile range is (4.7-14)x10^10Msun, although we caution that uncertainty in the star-formation histories results in a factor of ~5 uncertainty in these stellar masses. The median characteristic dust temperature of SMGs is 35.9\pm1.4K and the interquartile range is 28.5-43.3K. The infrared luminosity function shows that SMGs at z=2-3 typically have higher far-IR luminosities and luminosity density than those at z=1-2. This is mirrored in the evolution of the star-formation rate density (SFRD) for SMGs which peaks at z~2. The maximum contribution of bright SMGs to the global SFRD (~5% for SMGs with S_870um>4mJy; ~50% for SMGs with S_870um>1mJy) also occurs at z~2.

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arXiv2009

An AzTEC 1.1-mm Survey for ULIRGs in the field of the Galaxy Cluster MS 0451.6-0305

We have undertaken a deep (sigma~1.1 mJy) 1.1-mm survey of the z=0.54 cluster MS 0451.6-0305 using the AzTEC camera on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope. We detect 36 sources with S/N>3.5 in the central 0.10 deg^2 and present the AzTEC map, catalogue and number counts. We identify counterparts to 18 sources (50%) using radio, mid-infrared, Spitzer IRAC and Submillimeter Array data. Optical, near- and mid-infrared spectral energy distributions are compiled for the 14 of these galaxies with detectable counterparts, which are expected to contain all likely cluster members. We then use photometric redshifts and colour selection to separate background galaxies from potential cluster members and test the reliability of this technique using archival observations of submillimetre galaxies. We find two potential MS 0451-03 members, which, if they are both cluster galaxies have a total star-formation rate (SFR) of ~100 solar masses per year -- a significant fraction of the combined SFR of all the other galaxies in MS 0451-03. We also examine the stacked rest-frame mid-infrared, millimetre and radio emission of cluster members below our AzTEC detection limit and find that the SFRs of mid-IR selected galaxies in the cluster and redshift-matched field populations are comparable. In contrast, the average SFR of the morphologically classified late-type cluster population is ~3 times less than the corresponding redshift-matched field galaxies. This suggests that these galaxies may be in the process of being transformed on the red-sequence by the cluster environment. Our survey demonstrates that although the environment of MS 0451-03 appears to suppress star-formation in late-type galaxies, it can support active, dust-obscured mid-IR galaxies and potentially millimetre-detected LIRGs.

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arXiv2009

The evolution of the red sequence slope in massive galaxy clusters

We investigate the evolution of the optical and near-infrared colour-magnitude relation in an homogeneous sample of massive clusters from z = 1 to the present epoch. By comparing deep Hubble Space Telescope ACS imaging of X-ray selected MACS survey clusters at z = 0.5 to the similarly selected LARCS sample at z = 0.1 we find that the rest-frame d(U -V)/dV slope of the colour-magnitude relation evolves with redshift which we attribute to the build up of the red sequence over time. This rest frame slope evolution is not adequately reproduced by that predicted from semi-analytic models based on the Millennium Simulation despite a prescription for the build up of the red sequence by in-falling galaxies, 'strangulation'. We observe no strong correlation between this slope and the cluster environment at a given redshift demonstrating that the observed evolution is not due to a secondary correlation. Also presented are near-infrared UKIRT WFCAM observations of the LARCS clusters which confirm and improve on the the result from Stott et al. (2007) finding that there has been a two-fold increase in faint MV > -20 galaxies on the red sequence since z = 0.5 to a significance of 5sigma.

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