No Arabic abstract
We perform fluctuation analyses on the data from the Spitzer GOODS survey (epoch one) in the Hubble Deep Field North (HDF-N). We fit a parameterised power-law number count model of the form dN/dS = N_o S^{-delta} to data from each of the four Spitzer IRAC bands, using Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) sampling to explore the posterior probability distribution in each case. We obtain best-fit reduced chi-squared values of (3.43 0.86 1.14 1.13) in the four IRAC bands. From this analysis we determine the likely differential faint source counts down to $10^{-8} Jy$, over two orders of magnitude in flux fainter than has been previously determined. From these constrained number count models, we estimate a lower bound on the contribution to the Infra-Red (IR) background light arising from faint galaxies. We estimate the total integrated background IR light in the Spitzer GOODS HDF-N field due to faint sources. By adding the estimates of integrated light given by Fazio et al (2004), we calculate the total integrated background light in the four IRAC bands. We compare our 3.6 micron results with previous background estimates in similar bands and conclude that, subject to our assumptions about the noise characteristics, our analyses are able to account for the vast majority of the 3.6 micron background. Our analyses are sensitive to a number of potential systematic effects; we discuss our assumptions with regards to noise characteristics, flux calibration and flat-fielding artifacts.
The ALHAMBRA survey aims to cover 4 square degrees using a system of 20 contiguous, equal width, medium-band filters spanning the range 3500 A to 9700 A plus the standard JHKs filters. Here we analyze deep near-IR number counts of one of our fields (ALH08) for which we have a relatively large area (0.5 square degrees) and faint photometry (J=22.4, H=21.3 and K=20.0 at the 50% of recovery efficiency for point-like sources). We find that the logarithmic gradient of the galaxy counts undergoes a distinct change to a flatter slope in each band: from 0.44 at [17.0, 18.5] to 0.34 at [19.5, 22.0] for the J band; for the H band 0.46 at [15.5, 18.0] to 0.36 at [19.0, 21.0], and in Ks the change is from 0.53 in the range [15.0, 17.0] to 0.33 in the interval [18.0, 20.0]. These observations together with faint optical counts are used to constrain models that include density and luminosity evolution of the local type-dependent luminosity functions. Our models imply a decline in the space density of evolved early-type galaxies with increasing redshift, such that only 30% - 50% of the bulk of the present day red-ellipticals was already in place at z~1.
We present mid-infrared observations of AGN in the GOODS fields, performed with the Spitzer Space Telescope. These are the deepest infrared and X-ray fields to date and cover a total area of ~0.1 square degrees. AGN are selected on the basis of their hard (2-8 keV) X-ray emission. The median AGN infrared luminosity is at least 10 times larger than the median for normal galaxies with the same redshift distribution, suggesting that the infrared emission is dominated by the central nucleus. The X-ray to infrared luminosity ratios of GOODS AGN, most of which are at 0.5<z<1.5, are similar to the values obtained for AGN in the local Universe. The observed infrared flux distribution has an integral slope of ~1.5 and there are 1000 sources per square degree brighter than ~50 uJy at 3-6 microns. The counts approximately match the predictions of models based on AGN unification, in which the majority of AGN are obscured. This agreement confirms that the faintest X-ray sources, which are dominated by the host galaxy light in the optical, are obscured AGN. Using these Spitzer data, the AGN contribution to the extragalactic infrared background light is calculated by correlating the X-ray and infrared catalogues. This is likely to be a lower limit given that the most obscured AGN are missed in X-rays. We estimate the contribution of AGN missed in X-rays, using a population synthesis model, to be ~45% of the observed AGN contribution, making the AGN contribution to the infrared background at most ~2-10% in the 3-24 micron range, depending on wavelength, lower than most previous estimates. The AGN contribution to the infrared background remains roughly constant with source flux in the IRAC bands but decreases with decreasing flux in the MIPS 24 um band, where the galaxy population becomes more important.
Recently reported infrared (IR) galaxy number counts and cosmic infrared background (CIRB) all suggest that galaxies have experienced a strong evolution sometime in their lifetime. We statistically estimate the galaxy evolution history from these data. We find that an order of magnitude increase of the far-infrared (FIR) luminosity at redshift z = 0.5 - 1.0 is necessary to reproduce the very high CIRB intensity at 140 um reported by Hauser et al. (1998). z sim 0.75 and decreases to, even at most, a factor of 10 toward z sim 5, though many variants are allowed within these constraints. This evolution history also satisfies the constraints from the galaxy number counts obtained by IRAS, ISO and, roughly, SCUBA. The rapid evolution of the comoving IR luminosity density required from the CIRB well reproduces the very steep slope of galaxy number counts obtained by ISO. We also estimate the cosmic star formation history (SFH) from the obtained FIR luminosity density, considering the effect of the metal enrichment in galaxies. The derived SFH increases steeply with redshift in 0 < z < 0.75, and becomes flat or even declines at z > 0.75. This is consistent with the SFH estimated from the reported ultraviolet luminosity density. In addition, we present the performance of the Japanese ASTRO-F FIR galaxy survey. We show the expected number counts in the survey. We also evaluate how large a sky area is necessary to derive a secure information of galaxy evolution up to z sim 1 from the survey, and find that at least 50 - 300 deg^2 is required.
We combine wide and deep galaxy number-count data from GAMA, COSMOS/G10, HST ERS, HST UVUDF and various near-, mid- and far- IR datasets from ESO, Spitzer and Herschel. The combined data range from the far-UV (0.15microns) to far-IR (500microns), and in all cases the contribution to the integrated galaxy light (IGL) of successively fainter galaxies converges. Using a simple spline fit, we derive the IGL and the extrapolated-IGL in all bands. We argue undetected low surface brightness galaxies and intra-cluster/group light is modest, and that our extrapolated-IGL measurements are an accurate representation of the extra-galactic background light. Our data agree with most earlier IGL estimates and with direct measurements in the far-IR, but disagree strongly with direct estimates in the optical. Close agreement between our results and recent very high-energy experiments (H.E.S.S. and MAGIC), suggest that there may be an additional foreground affecting the direct estimates. The most likely culprit could be the adopted Zodiacal light model. Finally we use a modified version of the two-component model to integrate the EBL and obtain measurements of the Cosmic Optical Background (COB) and Cosmic Infrared Background (CIB) of: $24^{+4}_{-4}$nWm$^{-2}$sr$^{-1}$ and $26^{+5}_{-5}$nWm$^{-2}$sr$^{-1}$ respectively (48:52%). Over the next decade, upcoming space missions such as Euclid and WFIRST, have the capacity to reduce the COB error to $<1%$, at which point comparisons to the very high energy data could have the potential to provide a direct detection and measurement of the reionisation field.
We present the results of a new, ultra-deep, near-infrared imaging survey executed with the Hawk-I imager at the ESO VLT, of which we make all the data public. This survey, named HUGS (Hawk-I UDS and GOODS Survey), provides deep, high-quality imaging in the K and Y bands over the CANDELS UDS and GOODS-South fields. We describe here the survey strategy, the data reduction process, and the data quality. HUGS delivers the deepest and highest quality K-band images ever collected over areas of cosmological interest, and ideally complements the CANDELS data set in terms of image quality and depth. The seeing is exceptional and homogeneous, confined to the range 0.38-0.43. In the deepest region of the GOODS-S field, (which includes most of the HUDF) the K-band exposure time exceeds 80 hours of integration, yielding a 1-sigma magnitude limit of ~28.0 mag/sqarcsec. In the UDS field the survey matches the shallower depth of the CANDELS images reaching a 1-sigma limit per sq.arcsec of ~27.3mag in the K band and ~28.3mag in the Y-band, We show that the HUGS observations are well matched to the depth of the CANDELS WFC3/IR data, since the majority of even the faintest galaxies detected in the CANDELS H-band images are also detected in HUGS. We present the K-band galaxy number counts produced by combining the HUGS data from the two fields. We show that the slope of the number counts depends sensitively on the assumed distribution of galaxy sizes, with potential impact on the estimated extra-galactic background light (abridged).