THE CONTRIBUTION OF STARBURSTS AND NORMAL GALAXIES TO INFRARED LUMINOSITY FUNCTIONS AT z < 2

By M. Sargent, M. B'ethermin, E. Daddi, D. Elbaz. 2012

191 citations recorded by the source corpus.

We present a parameterless approach to predict the shape of the infrared (IR) luminosity function (LF) at redshifts z ⩽ 2. It requires no tuning and relies on only three observables: (1) the redshift evolution of the stellar mass function for star-forming galaxies, (2) the evolution of the specific star formation rate (sSFR) of main-sequence galaxies, and (3) the double-Gaussian decomposition of the sSFR distribution at fixed stellar mass into a contribution (assumed redshift- and mass-invariant) from main-sequence and starburst activity. This self-consistent and simple framework provides a powerful tool for predicting cosmological observables: observed IR LFs are successfully matched at all z ⩽ 2, suggesting a constant or only weakly redshift-dependent contribution (8%–14%) of starbursts to the SFR density. We separate the contributions of main-sequence and starburst activity to the global IR LF at all redshifts. The luminosity threshold above which the starburst component dominates the IR LF rises from log(LIR/L☉) = 11.4 to 12.8 over 0 < z < 2, reflecting our assumed (1+z)2.8-evolution of sSFR in main-sequence galaxies.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Instrumentation

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/895421ec35d63c389799e7ae1ff84c745b6aadbb

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In Astronomy and Astrophysics

1. P. Hopkins
2. L. Hernquist
3. D. M. Alexander
4. R. Dav'e
5. D. Narayanan
6. R. Somerville
7. A. Dekel
8. E. Daddi

In Instrumentation

1. P. Hopkins
2. L. Hernquist
3. R. Dav'e
4. D. M. Alexander
5. R. Somerville
6. P. V. van Dokkum
7. A. Dekel
8. C. Conroy

Citations in the corpus

• Evolution of the dust emission of massive galaxies up to z=4 and constraints on their dominant mode of star formation (2014, background): “We expect that this contamination is negligible, since the contribution of all starbursts to the infrared luminosity density is lower than 15% (Rodighiero et al. 2011; Sargent et al. 2012).”
• REGULARITY UNDERLYING COMPLEXITY: A REDSHIFT-INDEPENDENT DESCRIPTION OF THE CONTINUOUS VARIATION OF GALAXY-SCALE MOLECULAR GAS PROPERTIES IN THE MASS-STAR FORMATION RATE PLANE (2013, unknown): “Nevertheless, the study of SBs remains central to understanding the nature of interacting galaxies and the physics of merging events that may produce the most luminous sources at all redshifts (Sargent et al. 2012; henceforth abbreviated as ‘S12’).”
• GOODS-ALMA: 1.1 mm galaxy survey (2018, methodology): “These predictions are based on the redshift evolution of the galaxy properties, using a two star-formation mode galaxy evolution model (see also Sargent et al. 2012).”
• A UNIFIED EMPIRICAL MODEL FOR INFRARED GALAXY COUNTS BASED ON THE OBSERVED PHYSICAL EVOLUTION OF DISTANT GALAXIES (2012, background): “This population accounts for∼85% of the star formation rate density (SFRD) in the Universe (Rodighiero et al. 2011; Sargent et al. 2012) at z<2.”
• The Herschel view of the dominant mode of galaxy growth from z = 4 to the present day (2014, background): “…quote standard deviations of log10(SFR); and 2) log-normal distribution are good models for describing sSFR distributions in the regimes where we can actually detect individual sources (see, e.g., Rodighiero et al. 2011; Sargent et al. 2012; Gladders et al. 2013; Guo et al. 2013, and also Sect.”
• Cool Gas in High-Redshift Galaxies (2013, background): “The sSFR is typically a slowly decreasing function of increasing stellar mass, and, at a given stellar mass, the sSFR increases by a factor 20 from z=0 to 2 for these MS galaxies (Sargent et al. 2012; Rodighiero et al. 2011).”
• The star formation main sequence and stellar mass assembly of galaxies in the Illustris simulation (2014, background): “…merger-induced starbursts is small.1 In addition to characterising star-forming galaxies, the SFMS also provides a natural way to define starbursts as galaxies with SFRs well above the SFMS value for their stellar mass and redshift (Rodighiero et al. 2011; Sargent et al. 2012; Atek et al. 2014).”
• A TURNOVER IN THE GALAXY MAIN SEQUENCE OF STAR FORMATION AT M* ∼ 1010 M☉ FOR REDSHIFTS z < 1.3 (2015, background): “…galaxies are powered by similar quasi-steady processes, with only a small fraction of galaxies undergoing more chaotic processes such as major merger events that might be expected to produce strong bursts of star formation (e.g. Elbaz et al. 2011; Rodighiero et al. 2011; Sargent et al. 2012).”
• THE EVOLVING INTERSTELLAR MEDIUM OF STAR-FORMING GALAXIES SINCE z = 2 AS PROBED BY THEIR INFRARED SPECTRAL ENERGY DISTRIBUTIONS (2012, methodology): “…reported by several studies (e.g., Magdis et al. 2010, Hwang et al. 2010) is a result of mixing MS galaxies at various redshifts, or MS and starburst systems, the latter known to dominate the star-forming galaxy population at high luminosities (e.g., Rodighiero et al. 2011, Sargent 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): “…demographics, i.e. the exact percentages of objects that live above it (starburst galaxies, SB) or below it (quiescent galaxies) contain crucial, and still poorly known, pieces of the galaxy evolution puzzle (e.g., Karim et al. 2011; Rodighiero et al. 2011; Wuyts et al. 2011; Sargent et al. 2012).”
• THE HIDDEN “AGN MAIN SEQUENCE”: EVIDENCE FOR A UNIVERSAL BLACK HOLE ACCRETION TO STAR FORMATION RATE RATIO SINCE z ∼ 2 PRODUCING AN MBH–M* RELATION (2012, background): “8 This broad distribution for AGNs, which spans over four orders of magnitude in λǫ (see also, e.g., Babić et al. 2007; Hopkins & Hernquist 2009), contrasts with the distribution of sSFR of galaxies that is remarkably narrow, yet also independent of M∗ (Sargent et al. 2012; Fig.”
• ISM MASSES AND THE STAR FORMATION LAW AT Z = 1 TO 6: ALMA OBSERVATIONS OF DUST CONTINUUM IN 145 GALAXIES IN THE COSMOS SURVEY FIELD (2015, background): “These are often identified as the starburst galaxy population (Elbaz et al. 2011; Sargent et al. 2012).”
• A HIGHLY CONSISTENT FRAMEWORK FOR THE EVOLUTION OF THE STAR-FORMING “MAIN SEQUENCE” FROM z ∼ 0–6 (2014, background): “At logM∗ = 10.5, we find that the power law index for the fit including all data or mixed data only is γ ∼ 2.8 (2.8 – 2.9 if we exclude radio; 2.5 if we exclude all stacked observations), in good agreement with the evolution assumed in Sargent et al. (2012).”
• The evolution of the dust and gas content in galaxies (2013, result): “Despite the much more vigorous star formation activity observed in starbursts, according to recent studies (e.g., Rodighiero et al. 2011; Sargent et al. 2012; Lamastra et al. 2013a), these galaxies play a minor role in the global star formation history of the Universe, accounting for only ∼10% of…”
• CO excitation of normal star forming galaxies out to $z=1.5$ as regulated by the properties of their interstellar medium (2014, background): “…systems (e.g., selected by means of their ultra-high infrared bolometric luminosity –LIR(8−1000µm), beyond 1012L⊙ at z = 0 or beyond 1013L⊙ at z = 2; Sargent et al 2012) one is bound to find a rarer kind of galaxy with more ex- Article number, page 1 of 18 treme sSFR likely to be in a short…”
• AN OBJECTIVE DEFINITION FOR THE MAIN SEQUENCE OF STAR-FORMING GALAXIES (2015, unknown): “…the way to at least z ∼ 4 (Bernhard et al. 2014; Karim et al. 2011; Kashino et al. 2013; Magnelli et al. 2014; Pannella et al. 2009; Peng et al. 2010, hereafter P10; Popesso et al. 2011, 2012; Rodighiero et al. 2010, 2011, 2014; Sargent et al. 2012; Whitaker et al. 2012, 2014; Wuyts et al. 2011).”
• The Star Formation Main Sequence in the Hubble Space Telescope Frontier Fields (2017, background): “The latter, being very rare, despite their high level of SFR, seem to contribute modestly to the cosmic star formation history (Rodighiero et al. 2011; Sargent et al. 2012; Lamastra et al. 2013).”
• COMBINED CO AND DUST SCALING RELATIONS OF DEPLETION TIME AND MOLECULAR GAS FRACTIONS WITH COSMIC TIME, SPECIFIC STAR-FORMATION RATE, AND STELLAR MASS (2014, background): “However, this assumption is very likely not appropriate for outliers/starbursts high above the main-sequence (Daddi et al. 2010b, Genzel et al. 2010 (and references therein), Magdis et al. 2012b, Sargent et al. 2012, 2014, Tan et al. 2014).”
• Evolution of Interstellar Medium, Star Formation, and Accretion at High Redshift (2017, background): “The contribution of the SB galaxies to the total SF at z < 2 is 8 - 14% (Sargent et al. 2012).”
• GAS REGULATION OF GALAXIES: THE EVOLUTION OF THE COSMIC SPECIFIC STAR FORMATION RATE, THE METALLICITY–MASS–STAR-FORMATION RATE RELATION, AND THE STELLAR CONTENT OF HALOS (2013, background): “These may be the result of a major merger or other event but, over the 0 z 2 range, these starbursts only contribute of order 10% of the total star-formation (Sanders & Mirabel 1984, Sanders et al 1988, Rodighiero et al 2011, Sargent et al 2012).”