Optical Number Count Estimation of IRIS Far-Infrared Survey of Galaxies

Abstract

Infrared Imaging Surveyor (IRIS) is a satellite which will be launched at the beginning of 2003. One of the main purposes of the IRIS mission is an all-sky survey in the far-infrared region with a flux limit much deeper than that of IRAS. The detection of a large number of galaxies ( ∼ several × 106 in the whole sky) is expected in this survey. We investigated the expected optical and near-infrared (NIR) number counts of galaxies detected by the far-infrared scanner (FIS) of IRIS (hereafter, IRIS galaxies) and the possibility of their optical and NIR follow-up. The spectral energy distribution and the luminosity function of the IRIS galaxies are modeled based on the properties of galaxies observed by IRAS. The IRIS galaxies are divided into two populations according to their infrared luminosities (LIR): normal spirals (LIR < 1010 L⊙) and starbursts (LIR > 1010L⊙). The expected number counts of IRIS galaxies for both of the populations are calculated in B and H bands. We show that about 60 normal galaxies and about 80 starburst galaxies are detected per square degree in both of the two bands, when galaxy evolution is not taken into account. All of the normal population of IRIS galaxies are located at the redshift z ≲ 0.1. As for the starburst population, we also calculated the number of galaxies with a simple model of evolution. The total number of starburst population predicted by the evolution model is larger by 20% than that expected from the non-evolution model. In the evolution model, the numbers of low-z (z < 1), intermediate-z (1 < z < 3), and high-z (z > 3) galaxies are 100, 20, and 0.2 per square degree, respectively.