2003/01/31 by A. Sajina, C. Borys, S. C. Chapman +7 · 2 citations
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Astrophysics #CCD and CMOS Imaging Sensors #Cosmic infrared background #Cosmic microwave background #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Galaxy #Galaxy formation and evolution #Infrared #Luminosity #Luminous infrared galaxy #Photometric redshift #Physics #Population #Redshift #Spectral energy distribution #Star formation #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1046/j.1365-8711.2003.06794.x
published as Mon.Not.Roy.Astron.Soc. 343 (2003) 1365 · 11 pages, 6 figures, some new discussion added, Fig5 replaced, minor typographical changes, submitted to MNRAS
arxiv created 2003/03/18 · openalex publication_date 2003/08/21 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We present results from JCMT sub-mm observations of sources selected from the \sl ISO FIRBACK (Far-IR BACKground) survey, along with UKIRT near-IR imaging of a sub-sample. This gives valuable insight into the brightest ∼10% of galaxies which contribute to the Cosmic Infrared Background (CIB). We estimate the photometric redshifts and luminosities of these sources by fitting their Spectral Energy Distributions (SEDs). The data appear to show a bimodal galaxy distribution, with normal star-forming galaxies at z≃0, and a much more luminous population at z∼0.4--0.9. These are similar to the ultraluminous infrared galaxies which are found to evolve rapidly with redshift in other surveys. The detectability threshold of FIRBACK biases the sample away from much higher redshift (z\stackrel>∼1.5) objects. Nevertheless, the handful of z∼0.5 sources which we identify are likely to be the low-z counterparts of the typically higher-z sources found in blank field sub-mm observations. This sub-sample, being much more nearby than the average SCUBA galaxies, has the virtue of being relatively easy to study in the optical. Hence their detailed investigation could help elucidate the nature of the sub-mm bright galaxies.