No Arabic abstract
We present Herschel far-IR photometry and spectroscopy as well as ground based CO observations of an intermediate redshift (0.21 < z < 0.88) sample of Herschel-selected (ultra)-luminous infrared galaxies (L_IR > 10^11.5L_sun). With these measurements we trace the dust continuum, far-IR atomic line emission, in particular [CII],157.7microns, as well as the molecular gas of z~0.3 (U)LIRGs and perform a detailed investigation of the interstellar medium of the population. We find that the majority of Herschel-selected intermediate redshift (U)LIRGs have L_CII/L_FIR ratios that are a factor of about 10 higher than that of local ULIRGs and comparable to that of local normal and high-$z$ star forming galaxies. Using our sample to bridge local and high-z [CII] observations, we find that the majority of galaxies at all redshifts and all luminosities follow a L_CII-L_FIR relation with a slope of unity, from which local ULIRGs and high-z AGN dominated sources are clear outliers. We also confirm that the strong anti-correlation between the L_CII/L_FIR ratio and the far-IR color L_60/L_100 observed in the local Universe holds over a broad range of redshifts and luminosities, in the sense that warmer sources exhibit lower L_CII/L_FIR at any epoch. Intermediate redshift ULIRGs are also characterised by large molecular gas reservoirs and by lower star formation efficiencies compared to that of local ULIRGs. The high L_CII/L_FIR ratios, the moderate star formation efficiencies (L_LIR/L_CO or L_IR/M_gas) and the relatively low dust temperatures of our sample (which are also common characteristics of high-z star forming galaxies with ULIRG-like luminosities) indicate that the evolution of the physical properties of (U)LIRGs between the present day and z > 1 is already significant by z ~ 0.3.
We report the first results from a spectroscopic survey of the [CII] 158um line from a sample of intermediate redshift (0.2<z<0.8) (ultra)-luminous infrared galaxies, (U)LIRGs (LIR>10^11.5 Lsun), using the SPIRE-Fourier Transform Spectrometer (FTS) on board the Herschel Space Observatory. This is the first survey of [CII] emission, an important tracer of star-formation, at a redshift range where the star-formation rate density of the Universe increases rapidly. We detect strong [CII] 158um line emission from over 80% of the sample. We find that the [CII] line is luminous, in the range (0.8-4)x10^(-3) of the far-infrared continuum luminosity of our sources, and appears to arise from photodissociation regions on the surface of molecular clouds. The L[CII]/LIR ratio in our intermediate redshift (U)LIRGs is on average ~10 times larger than that of local ULIRGs. Furthermore, we find that the L[CII]/LIR and L[CII]/LCO(1-0) ratios in our sample are similar to those of local normal galaxies and high-z star-forming galaxies. ULIRGs at z~0.5 show many similarities to the properties of local normal and high-z star forming galaxies. Our findings strongly suggest that rapid evolution in the properties of the star forming regions of luminous infrared galaxies is likely to have occurred in the last 5 billion years.
We present an analysis of [OI]63, [OIII]88, [NII]122 and [CII]158 far-infrared (FIR) fine-structure line observations obtained with Herschel/PACS, for ~240 local luminous infrared galaxies (LIRGs) in the Great Observatories All-sky LIRG Survey (GOALS). We find pronounced declines -deficits- of line-to-FIR-continuum emission for [NII]122, [OI]63 and [CII]158 as a function of FIR color and infrared luminosity surface density, $Sigma_{rm IR}$. The median electron density of the ionized gas in LIRGs, based on the [NII]122/[NII]205 ratio, is $n_{rm e}$ = 41 cm$^{-3}$. We find that the dispersion in the [CII]158 deficit of LIRGs is attributed to a varying fractional contribution of photo-dissociation-regions (PDRs) to the observed [CII]158 emission, f([CII]PDR) = [CII]PDR/[CII], which increases from ~60% to ~95% in the warmest LIRGs. The [OI]63/[CII]158PDR ratio is tightly correlated with the PDR gas kinetic temperature in sources where [OI]63 is not optically-thick or self-absorbed. For each galaxy, we derive the average PDR hydrogen density, $n_{rm H}$, and intensity of the interstellar radiation field, in units of G$_0$, and find G$_0$/$n_{rm H}$ ratios ~0.1-50 cm$^3$, with ULIRGs populating the upper end of the distribution. There is a relation between G$_0$/$n_{rm H}$ and $Sigma_{rm IR}$, showing a critical break at $Sigma_{rm IR}^{star}$ ~ 5 x 10$^{10}$ Lsun/kpc$^2$. Below $Sigma_{rm IR}^{star}$, G$_0$/$n_{rm H}$ remains constant, ~0.32 cm$^3$, and variations in $Sigma_{rm IR}$ are driven by the number density of star-forming regions within a galaxy, with no change in their PDR properties. Above $Sigma_{rm IR}^{star}$, G$_0$/$n_{rm H}$ increases rapidly with $Sigma_{rm IR}$, signaling a departure from the typical PDR conditions found in normal star-forming galaxies towards more intense/harder radiation fields and compact geometries typical of starbursting sources.
We analyse mid-infrared (MIR) spectroscopic properties for 19 ultra-luminous infrared quasars (IR QSOs) in the local universe based on the spectra from the Infrared Spectrograph on board the Spitzer Space Telescope. The MIR properties of IR QSOs are compared with those of optically-selected Palomar-Green QSOs (PG QSOs) and ultra-luminous infrared galaxies (ULIRGs). The average MIR spectral features from ~ 5 to 30um, including the spectral slopes, 6.2um PAH emission strengths and [NeII] 12.81um luminosities of IR QSOs, differ from those of PG QSOs. In contrast, IR QSOs and ULIRGs have comparable PAH and [NeII] luminosities. These results are consistent with IR QSOs being at a transitional stage from ULIRGs to classical QSOs. We also find that the colour index alpha(30, 15) is a good indicator of the relative contribution of starbursts to AGNs for all QSOs. Correlations between the [NeII] 12.81um and PAH 6.2um luminosities and those between the [NeII], PAH with 60um luminosities for ULIRGs and IR QSOs indicate that both [NeII] and PAH luminosities are approximate star formation rate indicators for IR QSOs and starburst-dominated galaxies; the scatters are, however, quite large (~ 0.7 to 0.8 dex). Finally the correlation between the EW(PAH 6.2um) and outflow velocities suggests that star formation activities are suppressed by feedback from AGNs and/or supernovae.
We present preliminary results of XMM-Newton observations of 5 Ultra-luminous Infrared Galaxies (ULIRGs), part of a mini-survey program dedicated to 10 ULIRGs selected from the bright IRAS sample. For 3 of them (IRAS 20551-4250, IRAS 19254-7245 and Mkn 231) we find strong evidence for the presence of a hidden AGN, while for two others (IRAS 20110-4156 IRAS 22491-1808) the S/N ratio of the data does not allow us to be conclusive. In particular, we have detected a strong Fe-K line in the X-ray spectra of IRAS19254-7245, with an equivalent width (~2 keV) suggestive that most of the energy source in this object is due to a deeply buried AGN.
We investigate the star forming activity of a sample of infrared (IR)-bright dust-obscured galaxies (DOGs) that show an extreme red color in the optical and IR regime, $(i - [22])_{rm AB} > 7.0$. Combining an IR-bright DOG sample with the flux at 22 $mu$m $>$ 3.8 mJy discovered by Toba & Nagao (2016) with IRAS faint source catalog version 2 and AKARI far-IR (FIR) all-sky survey bright source catalog version 2, we selected 109 DOGs with FIR data. For a subsample of 7 IR-bright DOGs with spectroscopic redshift ($0.07 < z < 1.0$) that was obtained from literature, we estimated their IR luminosity, star formation rate (SFR), and stellar mass based on the spectral energy distribution fitting. We found that (i) WISE 22 $mu$m luminosity at observed frame is a good indicator of IR luminosity for IR-bright DOGs and (ii) the contribution of active galactic nucleus (AGN) to IR luminosity increases with IR luminosity. By comparing the stellar mass and SFR relation for our DOG sample and literature, we found that most of IR-bright DOGs lie significantly above the main sequence of star-forming galaxies at similar redshift, indicating that the majority of IRAS- and/or AKARI-detected IR-bright DOGs are starburst galaxies.