We study the environmental dependence of the strength of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) emission by AKARI observations of RX J0152.7-1357, a galaxy cluster at z=0.84. PAH emission reflects the physical conditions of galaxies and dominates 8 um
luminosity (L8), which can directly be measured with the L15 band of AKARI. L8 to infrared luminosity (LIR) ratio is used as a tracer of the PAH strength. Both photometric and spectroscopic redshifts are applied to identify the cluster members. The L15-band-detected galaxies tend to reside in the outskirt of the cluster and have optically green colour, R-z~ 1.2. We find no clear difference of the L8/LIR behaviour of galaxies in field and cluster environment. The L8/LIR of cluster galaxies decreases with specific-star-formation rate divided by that of main-sequence galaxies, and with LIR, consistent with the results for field galaxies. The relation between L8/LIR and LIR is between those at z=0 and z=2 in the literature. Our data also shows that starburst galaxies, which have lower L8/LIR than main-sequence, are located only in the outskirt of the cluster. All these findings extend previous studies, indicating that environment affects only the fraction of galaxy types and does not affect the L8/LIR behaviour of star-forming galaxies.
We present herein galaxy number counts of the nine bands in the 2-24 micron range on the basis of the AKARI North Ecliptic Pole (NEP) surveys. The number counts are derived from NEP-deep and NEP-wide surveys, which cover areas of 0.5 and 5.8 deg2, re
spectively. To produce reliable number counts, the sources were extracted from recently updated images. Completeness and difference between observed and intrinsic magnitudes were corrected by Monte Carlo simulation. Stellar counts were subtracted by using the stellar fraction estimated from optical data. The resultant source counts are given down to the 80% completeness limit; 0.18, 0.16, 0.10, 0.05, 0.06, 0.10, 0.15, 0.16, and 0.44 mJy in the 2.4, 3.2, 4.1, 7, 9, 11, 15, 18 and 24 um bands, respectively. On the bright side of all bands, the count distribution is flat, consistent with the Euclidean Universe, while on the faint side, the counts deviate, suggesting that the galaxy population of the distant universe is evolving. These results are generally consistent with previous galaxy counts in similar wavebands. We also compare our counts with evolutionary models and find them in good agreements. By integrating the models down to the 80% completeness limits, we calculate that the AKARI NEP-survey revolves 20%-50% of the cosmic infrared background, depending on the wavebands.
We study the behaviour of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon emission in galaxies at z=0.3-1.4 using 1868 samples from the revised catalogue of AKARI North Ecliptic Pole Deep survey. The continuous filter coverage at 2-24um makes it possible to measure
8um luminosity, which is dominated by polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon emission for galaxies at up to z=2. We compare the IR8 (= LIR/L(8)) and 8um to 4.5um luminosity ratio (L(8)/L(4.5)) with the starburstiness, Rsb, defined as excess of specific star -formation rate over that of main-sequence galaxy. All AGN candidates were excluded from our sample using an SED fitting. We found L(8)/L(4.5) increases with starburstiness at log Rsb < 0.5 and stays constant at higher starburstiness. On the other hand, IR8 is constant at log Rsb < 0, while it increases with starburstiness at log Rsb > 0. This behaviour is seen in all redshift range of our study. These results indicate that starburst galaxies have deficient polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon emission compared with main-sequence galaxies. We also find that galaxies with extremely high L(8)/L(4.5) ratio have only moderate starburstiness. These results suggest that starburst galaxies have compact star-forming regions with intense radiation, which destroys PAHs and/or have dusty HII regions resulting in a lack of ionising photons.
