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The potential influence of far-infrared emission lines on the selection of high-redshift galaxies.
- Source :
-
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters . Jun2011, Vol. 414 Issue 1, pL95-L99. 5p. - Publication Year :
- 2011
-
Abstract
- We investigate whether strong molecular and atomic emission lines at far-infrared wavelengths can influence the identification and derived properties of galaxies selected from broad-band, far-infrared or submillimetre observations. Several of these lines, for example, [C ] 158 m, have been found to be very bright in some galaxies, with fluxes of ≳0.1-1 per cent of the total far-infrared luminosity, and may be even brighter in certain populations at high redshifts. At redshifts where these lines fall in instrument passbands, they can significantly increase the broad-band flux measurements. We estimate that the contributions from line emission could boost the apparent broad-band flux by ≳20-40 per cent in the Herschel and SCUBA-2 bands. Combined with the steep source counts in the submillimetre and far-infrared bands, line contamination has potentially significant consequences for the properties of sources detected in flux-limited continuum surveys, biasing the derived redshift distributions and bolometric luminosities. Indeed, it is possible that some z > 4 sources found in 850-m surveys are being identified in part due to the line contamination from strong [C ] emission. These biases may be even stronger for less-luminous and lower metallicity populations at high redshifts, which are observable with the ALMA and which may have even stronger line-to-continuum ratios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 17453925
- Volume :
- 414
- Issue :
- 1
- Database :
- Academic Search Index
- Journal :
- Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 60960468
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-3933.2011.01064.x