No Arabic abstract
We present measurements of the angular correlation function of sub-millimeter (sub-mm) galaxies (SMGs) identified in four out of the five fields of the Herschel Astrophysical Terahertz Large Area Survey (H-ATLAS) - GAMA-9h, GAMA-12h, GAMA-15h and NGP - with flux densities $S_{250mu m}$>30 mJy at 250 {mu}m. We show that galaxies selected at this wavelength trace the underlying matter distribution differently at low and high redshifts. We study the evolution of the clustering finding that at low redshifts sub-mm galaxies exhibit clustering strengths of $r_0$ $sim$ 2 - 3 $h^{-1}$ Mpc, below z < 0.3. At high redshifts, on the other hand, we find that sub-mm galaxies are more strongly clustered with correlation lengths $r_0$ = 8.1 $pm$ 0.5, 8.8 $pm$ 0.8 and 13.9 $pm$ 3.9 $h^{-1}$Mpc at z = 1 - 2, 2 - 3 and 3 - 5, respectively. We show that sub-mm galaxies across the redshift range 1 < z < 5, typically reside in dark-matter halos of mass of the order of ~ $10^{12.5}$ - $10^{13.0}$ $h^{-1} , M_{odot}$ and are consistent with being the progenitors of local massive elliptical galaxies that we see in the local Universe.
We have measured the clustering properties of low-redshift (z < 0.3) sub-mm galaxies detected at 250 micron in the Herschel-ATLAS Science Demonstration Phase (SDP) field. We selected a sample for which we have high-quality spectroscopic redshifts, obtained from reliably matching the 250-micron sources to a complete (for r < 19.4) sample of galaxies from the GAMA database. Both the angular and spatial clustering strength are measured for all z < 0.3 sources as well as for five redshift slices with thickness delta z=0.05 in the range 0.05 < z < 0.3. Our measured spatial clustering length r_0 is comparable to that of optically-selected, moderately star-forming (blue) galaxies: we find values around 5 Mpc. One of the redshift bins contains an interesting structure, at z = 0.164.
We present measurements of the angular correlation function of galaxies selected from the first field of the H-ATLAS survey. Careful removal of the background from galactic cirrus is essential, and currently dominates the uncertainty in our measurements. For our 250 micron-selected sample we detect no significant clustering, consistent with the expectation that the 250 micron-selected sources are mostly normal galaxies at z<~ 1. For our 350 micron and 500 micron-selected samples we detect relatively strong clustering with correlation amplitudes A of 0.2 and 1.2 at 1, but with relatively large uncertainties. For samples which preferentially select high redshift galaxies at z~2-3 we detect significant strong clustering, leading to an estimate of r_0 ~ 7-11 h^{-1} Mpc. The slope of our clustering measurements is very steep, delta~2. The measurements are consistent with the idea that sub-mm sources consist of a low redshift population of normal galaxies and a high redshift population of highly clustered star-bursting galaxies.
We present Herschel-SPIRE Fourier Transform Spectrometer (FTS) and radio follow-up observations of two Herschel-ATLAS (H-ATLAS) detected strongly lensed distant galaxies. In one of the targeted galaxies H-ATLAS J090311.6+003906 (SDP.81) we detect [OIII] 88mum and [CII] 158mum lines at a signal-to-noise ratio of ~5. We do not have any positive line identification in the other fainter target H-ATLAS J091305.0-005343 (SDP.130). Currently SDP.81 is the faintest sub-mm galaxy with positive line detections with the FTS, with continuum flux just below 200 mJy in the 200-600 mum wavelength range. The derived redshift of SDP.81 from the two detections is z=3.043 +/-0.012, in agreement with ground-based CO measurements. This is the first detection by Herschel of the [OIII] 88mum line in a galaxy at redshift higher than 0.05. Comparing the observed lines and line ratios with a grid of photo-dissociation region (PDR) models with different physical conditions, we derive the PDR cloud density n ~ 2000 cm^{-3} and the far-UV ionizing radiation field G_0 ~ 200 (in units of the Habing field -- the local Galactic interstellar radiation field of 1.6x10^{-6} W/m^2). Using the CO derived molecular mass and the PDR properties we estimate the effective radius of the emitting region to be 500-700 pc. These characteristics are typical for star-forming, high redshift galaxies. The radio observations indicate that SDP.81 deviates significantly from the local FIR/radio correlation, which hints that some fraction of the radio emission is coming from an AGN. The constraints on the source size from millimiter-wave observations put a very conservative upper limit of the possible AGN contribution to less than 33%. These indications, together with the high [OIII]/FIR ratio and the upper limit of [OI] 63mum/[CII] 158mum suggest that some fraction of the ionizing radiation is likely to originate from an AGN.
We investigate the ultraviolet and optical properties and environment of low redshift galaxies detected in the Herschel Astrophysical Terahertz Large Area Survey (H-ATLAS) science demonstration data. We use the Sloan Digital Sky Survey seventh release and the Galaxy And Mass Assembly database to select galaxies with r_Petro < 19.0 mag in the redshift range 0.02 < z < 0.2 and look for their submillimeter counterparts in H-ATLAS. Our results show that at low redshift, H-ATLAS detects mainly blue/star-forming galaxies with a minor contribution from red systems which are highly obscured by dust. In addition we find that the colour of a galaxy rather than the local density of its environment determines whether it is detectable by H-ATLAS. The average dust temperature of galaxies that are simultaneously detected by both PACS and SPIRE is 25K pm 4K, independent of environment. This analysis provides a glimpse of the potential of the H-ATLAS data to investigate the submillimeter properties of galaxies in the local universe.
We present the properties of the first 250 $mu$m blind sample of nearby galaxies (15 < D < 46 Mpc) containing 42 objects from the Herschel Astrophysical Terahertz Large Area Survey (H-ATLAS). Herschels sensitivity probes the faint end of the dust luminosity function for the first time, spanning a range of stellar mass (7.4 < log$_{10}$ M$_{star}$ < 11.3 M$_{odot}$), star formation activity (-11.8 < log$_{10}$ SSFR < -8.9 yr$^{-1}$), gas fraction (3-96 per cent), and colour (0.6 < FUV-Ks < 7.0 mag). The median cold dust temperature is 14.6 K, colder than in the Herschel Reference Survey (18.5 K) and Planck Early Release Compact Source Catalogue 17.7 K. The mean dust-to-stellar mass ratio in our sample is higher than these surveys by factors of 3.7 and 1.8, with a dust mass volume density of (3.7 $pm$ 0.7) x 10$^{5}$ M$_{odot}$ Mpc$^{-3}$. Counter-intuitively, we find that the more dust rich a galaxy, the lower its UV attenuation. Over half of our dust-selected sample are very blue in FUV-Ks colour, with irregular and/or highly flocculent morphology, these galaxies account for only 6 per cent of the samples stellar mass but contain over 35 per cent of the dust mass. They are the most actively star forming galaxies in the sample, with the highest gas fractions and lowest UV attenuation. They also appear to be in an early stage of converting their gas into stars, providing valuable insights into the chemical evolution of young galaxies.