Star formation at z=1.47 from HiZELS: an Hα+[O ii] double-blind study*

By D. Sobral, P. Best, Y. Matsuda, I. Smail, James E. Geach, M. Cirasuolo, I. Edinburgh, L. Observatory, Icc Durham, McGill and 1 more. 2011

192 citations recorded by the source corpus.

This paper presents the results from the first wide and deep dual narrow-band survey to select Hα and [Oii] line emitters at z= 1.47 ± 0.02, exploiting synergies between the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope and the Subaru telescope by using matched narrow-band filters in the H and z′ bands. The Hα survey at z= 1.47 reaches a 3σ flux limit of F Hα≈ 7 × 10 -17ergs -1cm -2 (corresponding to a limiting star formation rate (SFR) in Hα of≈7M ⊙yr -1) and detects ≈200 Hα emitters over 0.7deg 2, while the much deeper [Oii] survey reaches an effective flux of ≈7 × 10 -18ergs -1cm -2 (SFR in [Oii] of ∼1M ⊙yr -1), detecting ≈1400 z= 1.47 [Oii] emitters in a matched comoving volume of ∼2.5 × 10 5Mpc 3. The combined survey results in the identification of 190 simultaneous Hα and [Oii] emitters at z= 1.47. Hα and [Oii] luminosity functions are derived and both are shown to evolve significantly from z∼ 0 in a consistent way. The SFR density of the Universe at z= 1.47 is evaluated, with the Hα analysis yielding ρ SFR= 0.16 ± 0.05M ⊙yr -1Mpc -3 and the [Oii] analysis ρ SFR= 0.17 ± 0.04M ⊙yr -1Mpc -3. The measurements are combined with other studies, providing a self-consistent measurement of the star formation history of the Universe over the last ∼11Gyr. By using a large comparison sample at z∼ 0.1, derived from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), [Oii]/Hα line ratios are calibrated as probes of dust extinction. Hα emitters at z∼ 1.47 show on average A Hα≈ 1mag, the same as found by SDSS in the local Universe. It is shown that although dust extinction correlates with SFR, the relation evolves by about ∼0.5mag from z∼ 1.5 to ∼0, with local relations overpredicting the dust extinction corrections at high z by that amount. Stellar mass is found to be a much more fundamental extinction predictor, with the same relation between mass and dust extinction being valid at both z∼ 0 and ∼1.5, at least for low and moderate stellar masses. The evolution in the extinction-SFR relation is therefore interpreted as being due to the evolution in median specific SFRs over cosmic time. Dust extinction corrections as a function of optical colours are also derived and shown to be broadly valid at both z∼ 0 and ∼1.5, offering simpler mechanisms for estimating extinction in moderately star-forming systems over the last ∼9Gyr. © 2012 The Authors Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society © 2012 RAS.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/772828d54f4633afe48122f6f40d2bb3d9fdcb2b

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Citations in the corpus

A UNIFIED EMPIRICAL MODEL FOR INFRARED GALAXY COUNTS BASED ON THE OBSERVED PHYSICAL EVOLUTION OF DISTANT GALAXIES (2012, methodology): “Here, we apply the relation of Pannella et al. (2009): r1500= 2.5log ( SFRIR SFRUV ) = 4.07× log ( M⋆ M⊙ ) − 39.32, (7) and assume redshift-invariance, as suggested by Sobral et al. (2012) and Pannella et al. (in prep.).”
A TURNOVER IN THE GALAXY MAIN SEQUENCE OF STAR FORMATION AT M* ∼ 1010 M☉ FOR REDSHIFTS z < 1.3 (2015, background): “…used to study the main sequence, such as using emission lines combined with reddening corrections to infer the dustcorrected SFR (Brusa et al. 2010; Sobral et al. 2012; Zahid et al. 2012; Kashino et al. 2013) or measuring the UV or optical emission from young massive stars and correcting for the…”
On the evolution and environmental dependence of the star formation rate versus stellar mass relation since z ∼ 2 (2013, methodology): “However, it is one of the most reliable estimators of dust extinction, and also the relationis reported to be unchanged out toz ∼ 1.5 (Sobral et al. 2012; see also Domı́nguez et al. 2013, Ibar et al. 2013).”
THE MOSDEF SURVEY: MEASUREMENTS OF BALMER DECREMENTS AND THE DUST ATTENUATION CURVE AT REDSHIFTS z ∼ 1.4–2.6 (2015, methodology): “Deep ground-based narrowband imaging (Geach et al. 2008; Lee et al. 2012; Ly et al. 2012; Sobral et al. 2012; Momcheva et al. 2013), and space-based grism spectroscopy afforded by the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) WFC3 camera (Atek et al. 2010; Brammer et al. 2012; Domı́nguez et al. 2013; Price et…”
The properties of the star-forming interstellar medium at z = 0.84-2.23 from HiZELS : mapping the internal dynamics and metallicity gradients in high-redshift disc galaxies. (2012, methodology): “…panoramic (degree-scale) imaging with near-infrared narrow-band filters, to carry out the High-Z Emission Line Survey (HiZELS), targeting Hα emitting galaxies in four precise (δz = 0.03) redshift slices: z = 0.40, 0.84, 1.47 and 2.23 (Geach et al. 2008; Sobral et al. 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012a,b).”
A HIGHLY CONSISTENT FRAMEWORK FOR THE EVOLUTION OF THE STAR-FORMING “MAIN SEQUENCE” FROM z ∼ 0–6 (2014, unknown): “Extinction Curve 16 This excludes extinctions derived via, e.g., emission line ratios (e.g., Garn & Best 2010; Sobral et al. 2012; Stott et al. 2013) or Hα vs. IR measurements (Ibar et al. 2013).”
A large Hα survey at z = 2.23, 1.47, 0.84 and 0.40: the 11 Gyr evolution of star-forming galaxies from HiZELS (2012, methodology): “…far the best candidate to do so over z < 31, as it provides a sensitive census of star formation activity, is very well-calibrated, and is typically affected by only 1 mag of extinction at z ∼ 0− 1.5 (e.g. Gilbank et al. 2010; Sobral et al. 2012), contrary to other lower wavelength emission lines.”
The bright end of the galaxy luminosity function at z≃7: before the onset of mass quenching? (2013, methodology): “In addition to the broad-band filters presented above, we also included data taken with the NB921 filter on the Subaru Suprime-Cam in our analysis (Sobral et al. 2012).”
Identification of the brightest Lyα emitters at z = 6.6 : Implications for the evolution of the luminosity function in the reionization era (2015, methodology): “The completeness is then obtained for each line-flux by measuring the fraction of sources which is selected as line-emitter after adding the flux (e.g. Sobral et al. 2012).”
GOODS-HERSCHEL: STAR FORMATION, DUST ATTENUATION, AND THE FIR–RADIO CORRELATION ON THE MAIN SEQUENCE OF STAR-FORMING GALAXIES UP TO z ≃ 4 (2014, methodology): “…respectively, while we use the same Calzetti et al. (2000) extinction curve for both emissions. the redshift evolution, at least up toz ≃1.5, of theAHα–logM∗ relation (e.g., Sobral et al. 2012; Domínguez et al. 2013; Ibar et al. 2013; Kashino et al. 2013; Momcheva et al. 2013; Price et al. 2014).”
DUST EXTINCTION FROM BALMER DECREMENTS OF STAR-FORMING GALAXIES AT 0.75 ⩽ z ⩽ 1.5 WITH HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE/WIDE-FIELD-CAMERA 3 SPECTROSCOPY FROM THE WFC3 INFRARED SPECTROSCOPIC PARALLEL SURVEY (2012, methodology): “This trend was also found recently by Sobral et al. (2012) at z ∼ 1.5 using less robust dust indicators than the Balmer decrement.”