Practical cosmology with lenses Eales, S A
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society,
01/2015, Letnik:
446, Številka:
3
Journal Article
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Surveys with submillimetre telescopes are revealing large numbers of gravitationally lensed high-redshift sources. I describe how, in practice, these lensed systems could be simultaneously used to ...estimate the values of cosmological parameters, test models for the evolution of the distribution of dark-matter haloes and investigate the properties of the source population. Even the existing sample of lenses found with the Herschel Space Observatory is enough to formally rule out the standard models of the evolving population of dark-matter haloes, with the likely explanation a combination of baryon physics and the perturbation by infalling baryons of the density distribution of dark matter at the centres of the haloes. Independently of the evolution of the haloes, observations of a sample of 100 lensed systems would be enough to estimate ... with a precision of 5 per cent and observations of 1000 lenses would be enough to estimate w, the parameter in the equation of state of dark energy, with a precision similar to that obtained from the Planck observations of the cosmic microwave background. While the fraction of submillimetre sources that are lensed depends weakly on the specific halo mass function that is used in the model, it depends very strongly on the evolution of the submillimetre luminosity function of the source population. Therefore measurements of the lensing fraction could be used to investigate galaxy evolution in a way that is independent of the properties of the intervening haloes. (ProQuest: ... denotes formulae/symbols omitted.)
We present Low-Frequency Array (LOFAR) High-Band Array observations of the Herschel-ATLAS North Galactic Pole survey area. The survey we have carried out, consisting of four pointings covering around ...142 deg2 of sky in the frequency range 126–173 MHz, does not provide uniform noise coverage but otherwise is representative of the quality of data to be expected in the planned LOFAR wide-area surveys, and has been reduced using recently developed ‘facet calibration’ methods at a resolution approaching the full resolution of the data sets (∼10 × 6 arcsec) and an rms off-source noise that ranges from 100 μJy beam−1 in the centre of the best fields to around 2 mJy beam−1 at the furthest extent of our imaging. We describe the imaging, cataloguing and source identification processes, and present some initial science results based on a 5σ source catalogue. These include (i) an initial look at the radio/far-infrared correlation at 150 MHz, showing that many Herschel sources are not yet detected by LOFAR; (ii) number counts at 150 MHz, including, for the first time, observational constraints on the numbers of star-forming galaxies; (iii) the 150-MHz luminosity functions for active and star-forming galaxies, which agree well with determinations at higher frequencies at low redshift, and show strong redshift evolution of the star-forming population; and (iv) some discussion of the implications of our observations for studies of radio galaxy life cycles.
We have modelled Atacama Large Millimetre/sub-millimetre Array (ALMA) long baseline imaging of the strong gravitational lens system H-ATLAS J090311.6+003906 (SDP.81). We have reconstructed the ...distribution of band 6 and 7 continuum emission in the z = 3.042 source and determined its kinematic properties by reconstructing CO(5–4) and CO(8–7) line emission in bands 4 and 6. The continuum imaging reveals a highly non-uniform distribution of dust with clumps on scales of ∼200 pc. In contrast, the CO line emission shows a relatively smooth, disc-like velocity field which is well fitted by a rotating disc model with an inclination angle of (40 ± 5)° and an asymptotic rotation velocity of 320 km s−1. The inferred dynamical mass within 1.5 kpc is (3.5 ± 0.5) × 1010 M⊙ which is comparable to the total molecular gas masses of (2.7 ± 0.5) × 1010 M⊙ and (3.5 ± 0.6) × 1010 M⊙ from the dust continuum emission and CO emission, respectively. Our new reconstruction of the lensed Hubble Space Telescope near-infrared emission shows two objects which appear to be interacting, with the rotating disc of gas and dust revealed by ALMA distinctly offset from the near-infrared emission. The clumpy nature of the dust and a low value of the Toomre parameter of Q ∼ 0.3 suggest that the disc is in a state of collapse. We estimate a star formation rate in the disc of 470 ± 80 M⊙ yr−1 with an efficiency ∼65 times greater than typical low-redshift galaxies. Our findings add to the growing body of evidence that the most infrared luminous, dust obscured galaxies in the high-redshift Universe represent a population of merger-induced starbursts.
ABSTRACT Until recently, only a handful of dusty, star-forming galaxies (DSFGs) were known at z > 4, most of them significantly amplified by gravitational lensing. Here, we have increased the number ...of such DSFGs substantially, selecting galaxies from the uniquely wide 250, 350, and 500 m Herschel-ATLAS imaging survey on the basis of their extremely red far-infrared colors and faint 350 and 500 m flux densities, based on which, they are expected to be largely unlensed, luminous, rare, and very distant. The addition of ground-based continuum photometry at longer wavelengths from the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope and the Atacama Pathfinder Experiment allows us to identify the dust peak in their spectral energy distributions (SEDs), with which we can better constrain their redshifts. We select the SED templates that are best able to determine photometric redshifts using a sample of 69 high-redshift, lensed DSFGs, then perform checks to assess the impact of the CMB on our technique, and to quantify the systematic uncertainty associated with our photometric redshifts, = 0.14 (1 + z), using a sample of 25 galaxies with spectroscopic redshifts, each consistent with our color selection. For Herschel-selected ultrared galaxies with typical colors of S500/S250 ∼ 2.2 and S500/S350 ∼ 1.3 and flux densities, S500 ∼ 50 mJy, we determine a median redshift, , an interquartile redshift range, 3.30-4.27, with a median rest-frame 8-1000 m luminosity, , of 1.3 × 1013 L . A third of the galaxies lie at z > 4, suggesting a space density, z > 4, of 6 × 10−7 Mpc−3. Our sample contains the most luminous known star-forming galaxies, and the most overdense cluster of starbursting proto-ellipticals found to date.
If Type II supernovae – the evolutionary end points of short-lived, massive stars – produce a significant quantity of dust (>0.1 M⊙) then they can explain the rest-frame far-infrared emission seen in ...galaxies and quasars in the first Gyr of the Universe. Submillimetre (submm) observations of the Galactic supernova remnant, Cas A, provided the first observational evidence for the formation of significant quantities of dust in Type II supernovae. In this paper, we present new data which show that the submm emission from Cas A is polarized at a level significantly higher than that of its synchrotron emission. The orientation is consistent with that of the magnetic field in Cas A, implying that the polarized submm emission is associated with the remnant. No known mechanism would vary the synchrotron polarization in this way and so we attribute the excess polarized submm flux to cold dust within the remnant, providing fresh evidence that cosmic dust can form rapidly. This is supported by the presence of both polarized and unpolarized dust emission in the north of the remnant where there is no contamination from foreground molecular clouds. The inferred dust polarization fraction is unprecedented (fpol∼ 30 per cent) which, coupled with the brief time-scale available for grain alignment (<300 yr), suggests that supernova dust differs from that seen in other Galactic sources (where fpol= 2−7 per cent) or that a highly efficient grain alignment process must operate in the environment of a supernova remnant.
Panchromatic observations of the best candidate hyperluminous infrared galaxies from the widest Herschel extragalactic imaging survey have led to the discovery of at least four intrinsically luminous ...z = 2.41 galaxies across an approximately 100 kpc region-a cluster of starbursting protoellipticals. Via subarcsecond interferometric imaging we have measured accurate gas and star formation surface densities. The two brightest galaxies span ~3 kpc FWHM in submillimeter/radio continuum and CO J = 4-3, and double that in CO J = 1-0. The broad CO line is due partly to the multitude of constituent galaxies and partly to large rotational velocities in two counter-rotating gas disks-a scenario predicted to lead to the most intense starbursts, which will therefore come in pairs. The disks have M sub(dyn) of several x 10 super(11) M sub(middot in circle) and gas fractions of ~40%. Velocity dispersions are modest so the disks are unstable, potentially on scales commensurate with their radii: these galaxies are undergoing extreme bursts of star formation, not confined to their nuclei, at close to the Eddington limit. Their specific star formation rates place them gap 5x above the main sequence, which supposedly comprises large gas disks like these. Their high star formation efficiencies are difficult to reconcile with a simple volumetric star formation law. N-body and dark matter simulations suggest that this system is the progenitor of a B(inary)-type gap 10 super(14.6)-M sub(mid dot in circle) cluster.
ABSTRACT
In this paper, we present the third data release (DR3) of the Herschel Astrophysical Terahertz Large Area Survey (H-ATLAS). We identify likely near-infrared counterparts to submillimetre ...sources in the South Galactic Pole (SGP) field using the VISTA VIKING survey. We search for the most probable counterparts within 15 arcsec of each Herschel source using a probability measure based on the ratio between the likelihood the true counterpart is found close to the submillimetre source and the likelihood that an unrelated object is found in the same location. For 110 374 (57.0 per cent) sources, we find galaxies on the near-infrared images where the probability that the galaxy is associated to the source is greater than 0.8. We estimate the false identification rate to be 4.8 per cent, with a probability that the source has an associated counterpart on the VIKING images of 0.835 ± 0.009. We investigate the effects of gravitational lensing and present 41 (0.14 deg−2) candidate lensed systems with observed flux densities >100 mJy at 500 μm. We include in the data release a probability that each source is gravitationally lensed and discover an additional 5923 sources below 100 mJy that have a probability greater than 0.94 of being gravitationally lensed. We estimate that ∼400–1 000 sources have multiple true identifications in VIKING based on the similarity of redshift estimates for multiple counterparts close to a Herschel source. The data described in this paper can be found at the H-ATLAS website.
We present Herschel observations of 62 early-type galaxies (ETGs), including 39 galaxies morphologically classified as S0+S0a and 23 galaxies classified as ellipticals using SPIRE at 250, 350, and ...500 mu m as part of the volume-limited Herschel Reference Survey (HRS). We detect dust emission in 24% of the ellipticals and 62% of the S0s. The mean temperature of the dust is left angle bracketT sub(d)right angle bracket = 23.9 + or - 0.8 K, warmer than that found for late-type galaxies in the Virgo Cluster. The mean dust mass for the entire detected early-type sample is logM sub(d) = 6.1 + or - 0.1 M with a mean dust-to-stellar-mass ratio of log(M sub(d)/Ml ow *) = -4.3 + or - 0.1. Including the non-detections, these parameters are logM sub(d) = 5.6 + or - 0.1 and log(M sub(d)/Ml ow *) = -5.1 + or - 0.1, respectively. The average dust-to-stellar-mass ratio for the early-type sample is fifty times lower, with larger dispersion, than the spiral galaxies observed as part of the HRS, and there is an order-of-magnitude decline in M sub(d)/Mlow * between the S0s and ellipticals. We use UV and optical photometry to show that virtually all the galaxies lie close to the red sequence yet the large number of detections of cool dust, the gas-to-dust ratios, and the ratios of far-infrared to radio emission all suggest that many ETGs contain a cool interstellar medium similar to that in late-type galaxies. We show that the sizes of the dust sources in S0s are much smaller than those in early-type spirals and the decrease in the dust-to-stellar-mass ratio from early-type spirals to S0s cannot simply be explained by an increase in the bulge-to-disk ratio. These results suggest that the disks in S0s contain much less dust (and presumably gas) than the disks of early-type spirals and this cannot be explained simply by current environmental effects, such as ram-pressure stripping. The wide range in the dust-to-stellar-mass ratio for ETGs and the lack of a correlation between dust mass and optical luminosity suggest that much of the dust in the ETGs detected by Herschel has been acquired as the result of interactions, although we show these are unlikely to have had a major effect on the stellar masses of the ETGs. The Herschel observations tentatively suggest that in the most massive systems, the mass of interstellar medium is unconnected to the evolution of the stellar populations in these galaxies.