A Redshift Survey of Herschel Far-Infrared Selected Starbursts and Implications for Obscured Star Formation

We present Keck spectroscopic observations and redshifts for a sample of 767 Herschel-SPIRE selected galaxies (HSGs) at 250, 350, and 500um, taken with the Keck I Low Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (LRIS) and the Keck II DEep Imaging Multi-Object Spectrograph (DEIMOS). The redshift distribution of...

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Hlavní autoři: Casey, C, Berta, S, Béthermin, M, Bock, J, Bridge, C, Budynkiewicz, J, Burgarella, D, Chapin, E, Chapman, S, Clements, D, Conley, A, Conselice, C, Cooray, A, Farrah, D, Hatziminaoglou, E, Ivison, R, Floc'h, E, Lutz, D, Magdis, G, Magnelli, B, Oliver, S, Page, M, Pozzi, F, Rigopoulou, D, Riguccini, L
Médium: Journal article
Vydáno: 2012
Popis
Shrnutí:We present Keck spectroscopic observations and redshifts for a sample of 767 Herschel-SPIRE selected galaxies (HSGs) at 250, 350, and 500um, taken with the Keck I Low Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (LRIS) and the Keck II DEep Imaging Multi-Object Spectrograph (DEIMOS). The redshift distribution of these SPIRE sources from the Herschel Multitiered Extragalactic Survey (HerMES) peaks at z=0.85, with 731 sources at z&lt;2 and a tail of sources out to z~5. We measure more significant disagreement between photometric and spectroscopic redshifts (<delta_z>/(1+z)&gt;=0.29) than is seen in non-infrared selected samples, likely due to enhanced star formation rates and dust obscuration in infrared-selected galaxies. We estimate that the vast majority (72-83%) of z&lt;2 Herschel-selected galaxies would drop out of traditional submillimeter surveys at 0.85-1mm. We estimate the luminosity function and implied star-formation rate density contribution of HSGs at z&lt;1.6 and find overall agreement with work based on 24um extrapolations of the LIRG, ULIRG and total infrared contributions. This work significantly increased the number of spectroscopically confirmed infrared-luminous galaxies at z&gt;&gt;0 and demonstrates the growing importance of dusty starbursts for galaxy evolution studies and the build-up of stellar mass throughout cosmic time. [abridged]</delta_z>