An ALMA survey of submillimetre galaxies in the Extended Chandra Deep Field South: high-resolution 870 mu m source counts
Journal article, 2013

We report the first counts of faint submillimetre galaxies (SMGs) in the 870-mu m band derived from arcsecond-resolution observations with the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA). We have used ALMA to map a sample of 122 870-mu m-selected submillimetre sources drawn from the 0 degrees.5x0 degrees.5 the Large Apex BOlometer CAmera (LABOCA) Extended Chandra Deep Field South submillimetre survey (LESS). These ALMA maps have an average depth of sigma 870(mu m) similar to 0.4 mJy, some approximately three times deeper than the original LABOCA survey and critically the angular resolution is more than an order of magnitude higher, FWHM of similar to 1.5 arcsec compared to similar to 19 arcsec for the LABOCA discovery map. This combination of sensitivity and resolution allows us to precisely pinpoint the SMGs contributing to the submillimetre sources from the LABOCA map, free from the effects of confusion. We show that our ALMA-derived SMG counts broadly agree with the submillimetre source counts from previous, lower resolution single-dish surveys, demonstrating that the bulk of the submillimetre sources are not caused by blending of unresolved SMGs. The difficulty which well-constrained theoretical models have in reproducing the high surface densities of SMGs, thus remains. However, our observations do show that all of the very brightest sources in the LESS sample, S-870 (mu m) greater than or similar to 12 mJy, comprise emission from multiple, fainter SMGs, each with 870-mu m fluxes of less than or similar to 9 mJy. This implies a natural limit to the star formation rate in SMGs of less than or similar to 10(3) M-circle dot yr(-1), which in turn suggests that the space densities of z > 1 galaxies with gas masses in excess of similar to 5 x 10(10) M-circle dot is <10(-5) Mpc(-3). We also discuss the influence of this blending on the identification and characterization of the SMG counterparts to these bright submillimetre sources and suggest that it may be responsible for previous claims that they lie at higher redshifts than fainter SMGs.

starburst galaxies

galaxy abundances

star formation

galaxy evolution

submillimetre galaxies

galaxy formation

Author

A. Karim

Durham University

A. M. Swinbank

Durham University

J. A. Hodge

Max Planck Society

I. Smail

Durham University

F. Walter

Max Planck Society

A. D. Biggs

European Southern Observatory (ESO)

J. M. Simpson

Durham University

A. L. R. Danielson

Durham University

D. M. Alexander

Durham University

F. Bertoldi

University of Bonn

C. De Breuck

European Southern Observatory (ESO)

S. C. Chapman

University of Cambridge

K. E. K. Coppin

McGill University

H. Dannerbauer

University of Vienna

A. C. Edge

Durham University

T. R. Greve

University College London (UCL)

R. J. Ivison

University of Edinburgh

Royal Observatory

Kirsten Kraiberg Knudsen

Chalmers, Earth and Space Sciences, Radio Astronomy and Astrophysics

K. M. Menten

Max Planck Society

E. Schinnerer

Max Planck Society

J. L. Wardlow

University of California at Irvine (UCI)

A. Weiss

Max Planck Society

P. van der Werf

Leiden University

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

0035-8711 (ISSN) 1365-2966 (eISSN)

Vol. 432 1 2-9

Subject Categories

Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology

Roots

Basic sciences

DOI

10.1093/mnras/stt196

More information

Latest update

2/20/2019