arXiv subjects

William I. Cowley

Publications and source records attributed to William I. Cowley.

8 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2021

NOEMA confirmation of an optically dark ALMA-AzTEC submillimetre galaxy at $z=5.24$. A late-stage starburst prior to quenching

We have obtained 1 and 3 mm spectral scans of ASXDF1100.053.1 using NOEMA. ASXDF1100.053.1 is an unlensed optically dark millimetre-bright SMG with $K_{\rm AB}>25.7$ ($2σ$), which was expected to lie at $z=$5-7 based on its radio-submm photo-$z$. Our data detected line emission due to $^{12}$CO($J=$5-4) and ($J=$6-5), providing a $z_{\rm CO}= 5.2383\pm0.0005$. Energy-coupled SED modelling indicates properties of $L_{\rm IR}=8.3^{+1.5}_{-1.4}\times10^{12}$ L$_{\odot}$, SFR $=630^{+260}_{-380}$ M$_{\odot}$ yr$^{-1}$, $M_{\rm dust}=4.4^{+0.4}_{-0.3}\times10^{8}$ M$_{\odot}$, $M_{\rm stellar}=3.5^{+3.6}_{-1.4}\times10^{11}$ M$_{\odot}$, and $T_{\rm dust}=37.4^{+2.3}_{-1.8}$ K. The CO luminosity allows us to estimate a gas mass $M_{\rm gas}=3.1\pm0.3\times10^{10}$ M$_{\odot}$, suggesting a gas-to-dust mass ratio of around 70, fairly typical for $z\sim2$ SMGs. ASXDF1100.053.1 has $R_{\rm e, mm}=1.0^{+0.2}_{-0.1}$ kpc, so its surface $L_{\rm IR}$ density $Σ_{\rm IR}$ is $1.2^{+0.1}_{-0.2}\times10^{12}$ L$_{\odot}$ kpc$^{-2}$. These properties indicate that ASXDF1100.053.1 is a massive dusty star-forming (SF) galaxy with an unusually compact starburst. It lies close to the SF main sequence at $z\sim5$, with low $M_{\rm gas}$/$M_{\rm stellar}=0.09$, SFR/SFR$_{\rm MS} (R_{\rm SB})=0.6$, and a gas-depletion time $τ_{\rm dep}$ of $\approx 50$ Myr, modulo assumptions about the stellar initial mass function in such objects. ASXDF1100.053.1 has extreme values of $M_{\rm gas}/M_{\rm stellar}$, $R_{\rm SB}$, and $τ_{\rm dep}$ compared to SMGs at $z\sim$2-4, and those of ASXDF1100.053.1 are the smallest among SMGs at $z>5$. ASXDF1100.053.1 is likely a late-stage dusty starburst prior to passivisation. The number of $z=$5.1-5.3 unlensed SMGs now suggests a number density $dN/dz=30.4\pm19.0$ deg$^{-2}$, barely consistent with the latest cosmological simulations.

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arXiv2019

The Stellar-to-Halo Mass Ratios of Passive and Star-Forming Galaxies at z~2-3 from the SMUVS survey

In this work, we use measurements of galaxy stellar mass and two-point angular correlation functions to constrain the stellar-to-halo mass ratios (SHMRs) of passive and \np\ galaxies at $z\sim2-3$, as identified in the \emph{Spitzer} Matching Survey of the UltraVISTA ultra-deep Stripes (SMUVS). We adopt a sophisticated halo modeling approach to statistically divide our two populations into central and satellite galaxies. For central galaxies, we find that the normalization of the SHMR is greater for our passive population. Through the modeling of $Λ$ cold dark matter halo mass accretion histories, we show that this can only arise if the conversion of baryons into stars was more efficient at higher redshifts and additionally that passive galaxies can be plausibly explained as residing in halos with the highest formation redshifts (i.e., those with the lowest accretion rates) at a given halo mass. At a fixed stellar mass, satellite galaxies occupy host halos with a greater mass than central galaxies, and we find further that the fraction of passive galaxies that are satellites is higher than for the combined population. This, and our derived satellite quenching timescales, combined with earlier estimates from the literature, support dynamical/environmental mechanisms as the dominant process for satellite quenching at $z\lesssim3$.

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arXiv2017

SCUBA-2 Ultra Deep Imaging EAO Survey (STUDIES): Faint-End Counts at 450 um

The SCUBA-2 Ultra Deep Imaging EAO Survey (STUDIES) is a three-year JCMT Large Program aiming at reaching the 450 $μ$m confusion limit in the COSMOS-CANDELS region, to study a representative sample of the high-redshift far-infrared galaxy population that gives rise to the bulk of the far-infrared background. We present the first-year data from STUDIES. We have reached a 450 $μ$m noise level of 0.91~mJy for point sources at the map center, covered an area of 151 arcmin$^2$, and detected 98 and 141 sources at 4.0 and 3.5 $σ$, respectively. Our derived counts are best constrained in the 3.5-25 mJy regime using directly detected sources. Below the detection limits, our fluctuation analysis further constrains the slope of the counts down to 1 mJy. The resulting counts at 1-25 mJy are consistent with a power law having a slope of $-2.59$ ($\pm0.10$ for 3.5-25 mJy, and $^{+0.4}_{-0.7}$ for 1-3.5 mJy). There is no evidence of a faint-end termination or turn-over of the counts in this flux density range. Our counts are also consistent with previous SCUBA-2 blank-field and lensing cluster surveys. The integrated surface brightness from our counts down to 1 mJy is $90.0\pm17.2$ Jy deg$^{-2}$, which can account for up to $83^{+15}_{-16}\%$ of the COBE 450 $μ$m background. We show that Herschel counts at 350 and 500 $μ$m are significantly higher than our 450 $μ$m counts, likely caused by its large beam and source clustering. High-angular resolution instruments like SCUBA-2 at 450 $μ$m are therefore highly beneficial for measuring the luminosity and spatial density of high-redshift dusty galaxies.

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arXiv2017

Blending bias impacts the host halo masses derived from a cross-correlation analysis of bright sub-millimetre galaxies

Placing bright sub-millimetre galaxies (SMGs) within the broader context of galaxy formation and evolution requires accurate measurements of their clustering, which can constrain the masses of their host dark matter halos. Recent work has shown that the clustering measurements of these galaxies may be affected by a `blending bias,' which results in the angular correlation function of the sources extracted from single-dish imaging surveys being boosted relative to that of the underlying galaxies. This is due to confusion introduced by the coarse angular resolution of the single-dish telescope and could lead to the inferred halo masses being significantly overestimated. We investigate the extent to which this bias affects the measurement of the correlation function of SMGs when it is derived via a cross-correlation with a more abundant galaxy population. We find that the blending bias is essentially the same as in the auto-correlation case and conclude that the best way to reduce its effects is to calculate the angular correlation function using SMGs in narrow redshift bins. Blending bias causes the inferred host halo masses of the SMGs to be overestimated by a factor of $\sim6$ when a redshift interval of $δz=3$ is used. However, this reduces to a factor of $\sim2$ for $δz=0.5$. The broadening of photometric redshift probability distributions with increasing redshift can therefore impart a mild halo `downsizing' effect onto the inferred host halo masses, though this trend is not as strong as seen in recent observational studies.

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arXiv2017

The far infra-red SEDs of main sequence and starburst galaxies

We compare observed far infra-red/sub-millimetre (FIR/sub-mm) galaxy spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of massive galaxies ($M_{\star}\gtrsim10^{10}$ $h^{-1}$M$_{\odot}$) derived through a stacking analysis with predictions from a new model of galaxy formation. The FIR SEDs of the model galaxies are calculated using a self-consistent model for the absorption and re-emission of radiation by interstellar dust based on radiative transfer calculations and global energy balance arguments. Galaxies are selected based on their position on the specific star formation rate (sSFR) - stellar mass ($M_{\star}$) plane. We identify a main sequence of star-forming galaxies in the model, i.e. a well defined relationship between sSFR and $M_\star$, up to redshift $z\sim6$. The scatter of this relationship evolves such that it is generally larger at higher stellar masses and higher redshifts. There is remarkable agreement between the predicted and observed average SEDs across a broad range of redshifts ($0.5\lesssim z\lesssim4$) for galaxies on the main sequence. However, the agreement is less good for starburst galaxies at $z\gtrsim2$, selected here to have elevated sSFRs$>10\times$ the main sequence value. We find that the predicted average SEDs are robust to changing the parameters of our dust model within physically plausible values. We also show that the dust temperature evolution of main sequence galaxies in the model is driven by star formation on the main sequence being more burst-dominated at higher redshifts.

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arXiv2016

The SCUBA-2 Cosmology Legacy Survey: The clustering of submillimetre galaxies in the UKIDSS UDS field

Submillimetre galaxies (SMGs) are among the most luminous dusty galaxies in the Universe, but their true nature remains unclear; are SMGs the progenitors of the massive elliptical galaxies we see in the local Universe, or are they just a short-lived phase among more typical star-forming galaxies? To explore this problem further, we investigate the clustering of SMGs identified in the SCUBA-2 Cosmology Legacy Survey. We use a catalogue of submillimetre ($850μ$m) source identifications derived using a combination of radio counterparts and colour/IR selection to analyse a sample of 914 SMGs in the UKIDSS Ultra Deep Survey (UDS), making this the largest high redshift sample of these galaxies to date. Using angular cross-correlation techniques, we estimate the halo masses for this large sample of SMGs and compare them with passive and star-forming galaxies selected in the same field. We find that SMGs, on average, occupy high-mass dark matter halos (M$_{\text{halo}} >10^{13}$M$_{\odot}$) at redshifts $z > 2.5$, consistent with being the progenitors of massive quiescent galaxies in present-day galaxy clusters. We also find evidence of downsizing, in which SMG activity shifts to lower mass halos at lower redshifts. In terms of their clustering and halo masses, SMGs appear to be consistent with other star-forming galaxies at a given redshift.

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arXiv2016

The Clustering Evolution of Dusty Star-Forming Galaxies

We present predictions for the clustering of galaxies selected by their emission at far infra-red (FIR) and sub-millimetre wavelengths. This includes the first predictions for the effect of clustering biases induced by the coarse angular resolution of single-dish telescopes at these wavelengths. We combine a new version of the GALFORM model of galaxy formation with a self-consistent model for calculating the absorption and re-emission of radiation by interstellar dust. Model galaxies selected at $850$ $μ$m reside in dark matter halos of mass $M_{\rm halo}\sim10^{11.5}-10^{12}$ $h^{-1}$ M$_{\odot}$, independent of redshift (for $0.2\lesssim z\lesssim4$) or flux (for $0.25\lesssim S_{850μ\rm m}\lesssim4$ mJy). At $z\sim2.5$, the brightest galaxies ($S_{850μ\rm m}>4$ mJy) exhibit a correlation length of $r_{0}=5.5_{-0.5}^{+0.3}$ $h^{-1}$ Mpc, consistent with observations. We show that these galaxies have descendants with stellar masses $M_{\star}\sim10^{11}$ $h^{-1}$ M$_{\odot}$ occupying halos spanning a broad range in mass $M_{\rm halo}\sim10^{12}-10^{14}$ $h^{-1}$ M$_{\odot}$. The FIR emissivity at shorter wavelengths ($250$, $350$ and $500$ $μ$m) is also dominated by galaxies in the halo mass range $M_{\rm halo}\sim10^{11.5}-10^{12}$ $h^{-1}$ M$_{\odot}$, again independent of redshift (for $0.5\lesssim z\lesssim5$). We compare our predictions for the angular power spectrum of cosmic infra-red background anisotropies at these wavelengths with observations, finding agreement to within a factor of $\sim2$ over all scales and wavelengths, an improvement over earlier versions of the model. Simulating images at $850$ $μ$m, we show that confusion effects boost the measured angular correlation function on all scales by a factor of $\sim4$. This has important consequences, potentially leading to inferred halo masses being overestimated by an order of magnitude.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2014

Simulated observations of sub-millimetre galaxies: the impact of single-dish resolution and field variance

Recent observational evidence suggests that the coarse angular resolution ($\sim20"$ FWHM) of single-dish telescopes at sub-mm wavelengths has biased the observed galaxy number counts by blending together the sub-mm emission from multiple sub-mm galaxies (SMGs). We use lightcones computed from an updated implementation of the \galform semi-analytic model to generate $50$ mock sub-mm surveys of $0.5$ deg$^2$ at $850$ $μ$m, taking into account the effects of the finite single-dish beam in a more accurate way than has been done previously. We find that blending of SMGs does lead to an enhancement of source extracted number counts at bright fluxes ($S_{\mathrm{850}μ\mathrm{m}}\gtrsim1$ mJy). Typically, $\sim3{-}6$ galaxies contribute $90\%$ of the flux of an $S_{850μ\mathrm{m}}=5$ mJy source and these blended galaxies are physically unassociated. We find that field-to-field variations are comparable to Poisson fluctuations for our $S_{850μ\mathrm{m}}>5$ mJy SMG population, which has a median redshift $z_{50}=2.0$, but are greater than Poisson for the $S_{850μ\mathrm{m}}>1$ mJy population ($z_{50}=2.8$). In a detailed comparison to a recent interferometric survey targeted at single-dish detected sources, we reproduce the difference between single-dish and interferometer number counts and find a median redshift ($z_{50}=2.5$) in excellent agreement with the observed value ($z_{50}=2.5\pm 0.2$). We also present predictions for single-dish survey number counts at $450$ and $1100$ $μ$m, which show good agreement with observational data.

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