The LABOCA survey of the Extended Chandra Deep Field-South: clustering of submillimetre galaxies

By R. Hickox, J. Wardlow, I. Smail, Adam D. Myers, D. Alexander, A. M. Swinbank, A. Danielson, J. Stott, S. Chapman, K. Coppin and 5 more. 2011

147 citations recorded by the source corpus.

We present a measurement of the spatial clustering of submillimetre galaxies (SMGs) at z= 1-3. Using data from the 870μm Large APEX Bolometer Camera (LABOCA) submillimetre survey of the Extended Chandra Deep Field-South, we employ a novel technique to measure the cross-correlation between SMGs and galaxies, accounting for the full probability distributions for photometric redshifts of the galaxies. From the observed projected two-point cross-correlation function we derive the linear bias and characteristic dark matter halo masses for the SMGs. We detect clustering in the cross-correlation between SMGs and galaxies at the >4σ level. Accounting for the clustering of galaxies from their autocorrelation function, we estimate an autocorrelation length for SMGs of r o = 7.7 -2.3 +1.8 h -1 Mpc assuming a power-law slope γ= 1.8, and derive a corresponding dark matter halo mass of log(M halo[h -1M ⊙]) = 12.8 -0.5 +0.3. Based on the evolution of dark matter haloes derived from simulations, we show that that the z= 0 descendants of SMGs are typically massive (~2-3L *) elliptical galaxies residing in moderate- to high-mass groups (log(M halo[h -1M ⊙]) = 13.3 -0.5 +0.3). From the observed clustering we estimate an SMG lifetime of ~100Myr, consistent with lifetimes derived from gas consumption times and star formation time-scales, although with considerable uncertainties. The clustering of SMGs at z~ 2 is consistent with measurements for optically selected quasi-stellar objects (QSOs), supporting evolutionary scenarios in which powerful starbursts and QSOs occur in the same systems. Given that SMGs reside in haloes of characteristic mass ~6 × 10 12h -1M ⊙, we demonstrate that the redshift distribution of SMGs can be described remarkably well by the combination of two effects: the cosmological growth of structure and the evolution of the molecular gas fraction in galaxies. We conclude that the powerful starbursts in SMGs likely represent a short-lived but universal phase in massive galaxy evolution, associated with the transition between cold gas-rich, star-forming galaxies and passively evolving systems.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Ecology, Instrumentation

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/91a154faf4580874b7560cb1b288742d66091294

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The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Astronomy and Astrophysics

1. D. M. Alexander
2. D. Narayanan
3. F. Walter
4. L. Hernquist
5. P. Hopkins
6. C. Casey
7. E. Daddi
8. R. Ivison

In Ecology

1. A. Cooray
2. Christopher J. Conselice
3. J. Dunlop

In Instrumentation

1. D. M. Alexander
2. D. Narayanan
3. E. Daddi
4. C. Casey
5. R. Ivison
6. A. Cooray
7. D. Lutz
8. I. Smail

Citations in the corpus

• A Herschel view of the far-infrared properties of submillimetre galaxies (2012, methodology): “The median log(M∗) of 10.86 for our sample is also fully consistent with log(M∗)∼ 11.0 for SMGs estimated from the SMG halo mass of Hickox et al. (2012), using the conversion to stellar mass by Moster et al. (2010).”
• Dusty Star Forming Galaxies at High Redshift (2014, methodology): “…this data to argue that QSOs and SMGs derive from distinctly different galaxy populations (though would have to reconcile the similar clustering measurements; Hickox et al., 2012), or that quasars derive from SMGs after undergoing a size transformation (as might be expected from a galaxy merger).”
• Cosmic X-ray surveys of distant active galaxies (2015, background): “…a broad variety of star-formation indicators, including optical spectroscopy, MIR data, and submillimeter (submm) observations (e.g., Alexander et al 2005b; Polletta et al 2007; Silverman et al 2009b; Trichas et al 2009; Mullaney et al 2010; Lutz et al 2010; Xue et al 2010; Rafferty et al 2011).”
• An ALMA survey of sub-millimetre Galaxies in the Extended Chandra Deep Field South: the far-infrared properties of SMGs (2013, background): “…of ∼ 250Myr (see also Greve et al. 2005; Hainline et al. 2006; Tacconi et al. 2006; Swinbank et al. 2006; Riechers et al. 2011; Ivison et al. 2011; Hickox et al. 2012; Bothwell et al. 2013), and a factor ∼ 3× longer than local ULIRGs of comparable luminosity (e.g. Solomon & Sage 1988; Gao &…”
• THE SCUBA-2 COSMOLOGY LEGACY SURVEY: ALMA RESOLVES THE REST-FRAME FAR-INFRARED EMISSION OF SUB-MILLIMETER GALAXIES (2014, background): “The spatial clustering of single-dish detected submm sources has been shown to match that expected for the progenitors of local ellipticals (Hickox et al. 2012).”
• A survey of molecular gas in luminous sub-millimetre galaxies (2012, background): “…(which have MBH 4 × 108 M ; Alexander et al. 2008) are significantly longer than the expected sub-mm-bright lifetime (100–300 Myr; Swinbank et al. 2006; Hickox et al. 2012), again indicating the need for a subsequent phase of predominantly SMBH growth, most likely associated with strong AGN…”
• An ALMA survey of submillimetre galaxies in the Extended Chandra Deep Field South: high-resolution 870 μm source counts (2012, background): “…that they host up to half of the star formation occurring at z >∼ 2 (e.g., Hughes et al. 1998; Blain et al. 1999; Chapman et al. 2005) and may be linked to QSO activity and the formation of massive galaxies at high redshift (e.g., Swinbank et al. 2006; Alexander et al. 2008; Hickox et al. 2012).”
• An ALMA survey of the SCUBA-2 CLS UDS field: physical properties of 707 sub-millimetre galaxies (2019, background): “This halo mass is also similar to that estimated from clustering studies for L∗ QSOs at z ∼ 1–2 (Ross et al. 2009), supporting the evolutionary association between SMG and QSOs suggested by Hickox et al. (2012) and others.”
• Energetic galaxy-wide outflows in high-redshift ultraluminous infrared galaxies hosting AGN activity (2012, background): “Assuming a static dark matter halo with a mass of≈1013 M⊙ (expected for these sources; Hickox et al. 2012), a Navarro Frenk and White (NFW; Navarro et al. 1996) density profile, and a point mass of≈1011 M⊙ (i.e., the host galaxy), a particle initially at ≈4 kpc from the centre of the host galaxy…”
• MOST SUBMILLIMETER GALAXIES ARE MAJOR MERGERS (2010, unknown): “…carried out with SCUBA (Holland et al. 1999) and MAMBO (Kreysa et al. 1998) revealed a high-redshift (z∼ 1-3.5) population of sub-millimetre-luminous (S850µm ≥ 5 mJy) galaxies (SMGs hereafter; see e.g. Greve et al. 2004; Coppin et al. 2005; Chapman et al. 2005; Pope et al. 2005; Weiss et al. 2009).”
• Cool Gas in High-Redshift Galaxies (2013, background): “Like in the case of the quasar host galaxies, it has been proposed that the SMGs pinpoint the formation of a massive galaxy at high redshift (Swinbank et al. 2006, Daddi et al. 2009a,b, Hickox et al. 2012).”