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Mark Halpern

Publications and source records attributed to Mark Halpern.

150 records · Page 9Linked to original sources

A SCUBA Scanmap of the HDF: Measuring the bright end of the sub-mm source counts

Using the 850 micron SCUBA camera on the JCMT and a scanning technique different from other sub-mm surveys, we have obtained a 125 square arcminute map centered on the Hubble Deep Field. The one-sigma sensitivity to point sources is roughly 3 mJy and thus our map probes the brighter end of the sub-mm source counts. We find 6 sources with a flux greater than about 12 mJy (>4 sigma) and, after a careful accounting of incompleteness and flux bias, estimate the integrated density of bright sources N(>12 mJy)= 164 (+77/-58) per square degree (68 per cent confidence bounds).

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Known and unknown SCUBA sources

Summary and discussion of some projects to use SCUBA to target sources selected at other wavebands, as well as to find new sub-mm galaxies in `blank fields': FIRBACK galaxies; Lyman break galaxies and `the Blob'; HDF flanking fields and the Groth Strip; survey of lensing cluster fields.

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The brighter side of sub-mm source counts: a SCUBA scan-map of the Hubble Deep Field

We present an 11 X 11 arcminute map centred on the Hubble Deep Field taken at 850 microns with the SCUBA camera on the JCMT. The map has an average one-sigma sensitivity to point sources of about 2.3 mJy and thus probes the brighter end of the sub-mm source counts. We find 7 sources with a flux greater than 9 mJy (roughly 4 sigma), and therefore estimate N(>9 mJy)= 208 (+90/-72) per degree. This result is consistent with work from other groups, but improves the statistics at the bright end, and is suggestive of a steepening of the counts.

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A search for the submillimetre counterparts to Lyman break galaxies

We have carried out targetted sub-mm observations as part of a programme to explore the connection between the rest-frame UV and far-IR properties of star-forming galaxies at high redshift, which is currently poorly understood. On the one hand the Lyman break technique is very effective at selecting z~3 galaxies. On the other hand `blank field' imaging in the sub-mm seems to turn up sources routinely, amongst which some are star forming galaxies at similar redshifts. Already much work has been done searching for optical identifications of objects detected using the SCUBA instrument. Here we have taken the opposite approach, performing sub-mm photometry for a sample of Lyman break galaxies whose UV properties imply high star formation rates. The total signal from our Lyman break sample is undetected in the sub-mm, at an RMS level of 0.5 mJy, which implies that the population of Lyman break galaxies does not constitute a large part of the recently detected blank-field sub-mm sources. However, our one detection suggests that with reasonable SCUBA integrations we might expect to detect those few LBGs that are far-IR brightest.

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First detections of FIRBACK sources with SCUBA

The FIRBACK (Far InfraRed BACKground) survey represents the deepest extensive 170 micron images obtained by the ISO satellite. The sources detected comprise about 10% of the Cosmic IR Background (CIB) seen by COBE, and, importantly, were observed at a wavelength near the peak of the CIB. Detailed follow-up of these sources should help pin down the redshifts, Hubble types, and other properties of the galaxies which constitute this background. We have used the Submillimetre Common-User Bolometer Array (SCUBA) instrument on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) to search for sub-mm emission from a sample of 10 galaxies which are bright at 170 microns and for which we had accurate radio positions. Statistically we detect this sample at both 450 microns (~4 sigma) and 850 microns (~ 7 sigma); individual objects are convincingly detected in four cases at 850 microns, and one case at 450 microns. Fits to simple spectral energy distributions suggest a range of low to moderate redshifts, perhaps z=0 to 1.5 for this FIRBACK sub-sample.

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