Submillimeter Sources Research Articles

FIR-luminous [C ii] Emitters in the ALMA-SCUBA-2 COSMOS Survey (AS2COSMOS): The Nature of Submillimeter Galaxies in a 10 Comoving Megaparsec-scale Structure at z ∼ 4.6

Abstract We report the discovery of a 10 comoving megaparsec (cMpc)-scale structure traced by massive submillimeter galaxies (SMGs) at z ∼ 4.6. These galaxies are selected from an emission line search of ALMA Band 7 observations targeting 184 luminous submillimeter sources (S 850μm ≥ 6.2 mJy) across 1.6 degrees2 in the COSMOS field. We identify four [C ii] emitting SMGs and two probable [C ii] emitting SMG candidates at z = 4.60–4.64 with velocity-integrated signal-to-noise ratio of S/N > 8. Four of the six emitters are near-infrared blank SMGs. After excluding one SMG whose emission line is falling at the edge of the spectral window, all galaxies show clear velocity gradients along the major axes that are consistent with rotating gas disks. The estimated rotation velocities of the disks are 330–550 km s−1 and the inferred host dark-matter halo masses are ∼2–8 × 1012 M ⊙. From their estimated halo masses and [C ii] luminosity function, we suggest that these galaxies have a high (50%–100%) duty cycle and high (∼0.1) baryon conversion efficiency (SFR relative to baryon accretion rate), and that they contribute ≃2% to the total star formation rate density at z = 4.6. These SMGs are concentrated within just 0.3% of the full survey volume, suggesting they are strongly clustered. The extent of this structure and the individual halo masses suggest that these SMGs will likely evolve into members of a ∼1015 M ⊙ cluster at z = 0. This survey reveals a synchronized dusty starburst in massive halos at z > 4, which could be driven by mergers or fed by smooth gas accretion.

Planck’s Dusty GEMS

We present ALMA, NOEMA, and IRAM-30 m/EMIR observations of the high-density tracer molecules HCN, HCO+, and HNC in three of the brightest lensed dusty star-forming galaxies at z ≃ 3–3.5, part of the Planck’s Dusty Gravitationally Enhanced subMillimetre Sources (GEMS), with the aim of probing the gas reservoirs closely associated with their exceptional levels of star formation. We obtained robust detections of ten emission lines between Jup = 4 and 6, as well as several additional upper flux limits. In PLCK_G244.8+54.9, the brightest source at z = 3.0, the HNC(5–4) line emission at 0.1″ resolution, together with other spatially-integrated line profiles, suggests comparable distributions of dense and more diffuse gas reservoirs, at least over the most strongly magnified regions. This rules out any major effect from differential lensing. This line is blended with CN(4–3) and in this source, we measure a HNC(5–4)/CN(4–3) flux ratio of 1.76 ±0. 86. Dense-gas line profiles generally match those of mid-J CO lines, except in PLCK_G145.2+50.8, which also has dense-gas line fluxes that are relatively lower, perhaps due to fewer dense cores and more segregated dense and diffuse gas phases in this source. The HCO+/HCN ≳ 1 and HNC/HCN ∼ 1 line ratios in our sample are similar to those of nearby ultraluminous infrared galaxies (ULIRGs) and consistent with photon-dominated regions without any indication of important mechanical heating or active galactic nuclei feedback. We characterize the dense-gas excitation in PLCK_G244.8+54.9 using radiative transfer models assuming pure collisional excitation and find that mid-J HCN, HCO+, and HNC lines arise from a high-density phase with an H2 density of n ∼ 105–106 cm−3, although important degeneracies hinder a determination of the exact conditions. The three GEMS are consistent with extrapolations of dense-gas star-formation laws derived in the nearby Universe, adding further evidence that the extreme star-formation rates observed in the most active galaxies at z ∼ 3 are a consequence of their important dense-gas contents. The dense-gas-mass fractions traced by HCN/[CI] and HCO+/[CI] line ratios are elevated, but not exceptional as compared to other lensed dusty star-forming galaxies at z > 2, and they fall near the upper envelope of local ULIRGs. Despite the higher overall gas fractions and local gas-mass surface densities observed at high redshift, the dense-gas budget of rapidly star-forming galaxies seems to have evolved little between z ∼ 3 and z ∼ 0. Our results favor constant dense-gas depletion times in these populations, which is in agreement with theoretical models of star formation.

High-redshift star formation in the Atacama large millimetre/submillimetre array era.

The Atacama Large Millimetre/submillimetre Array (ALMA) is currently in the process of transforming our view of star-forming galaxies in the distant () universe. Before ALMA, most of what we knew about dust-obscured star formation in distant galaxies was limited to the brightest submillimetre sources—the so-called submillimetre galaxies (SMGs)—and even the information on those sources was sparse, with resolved (i.e. sub-galactic) observations of the obscured star formation and gas reservoirs typically restricted to the most extreme and/or strongly lensed sources. Starting with the beginning of early science operations in 2011, the last 9 years of ALMA observations have ushered in a new era for studies of high-redshift star formation. With its long baselines, ALMA has allowed observations of distant dust-obscured star formation with angular resolutions comparable to—or even far surpassing—the best current optical telescopes. With its bandwidth and frequency coverage, it has provided an unprecedented look at the associated molecular and atomic gas in these distant galaxies through targeted follow-up and serendipitous detections/blind line scans. Finally, with its leap in sensitivity compared to previous (sub-)millimetre arrays, it has enabled the detection of these powerful dust/gas tracers much further down the luminosity function through both statistical studies of colour/mass-selected galaxy populations and dedicated deep fields. We review the main advances ALMA has helped bring about in our understanding of the dust and gas properties of high-redshift () star-forming galaxies during these first 9 years of its science operations, and we highlight the interesting questions that may be answered by ALMA in the years to come.

WISE J044232.92+322734.9: A star-forming galaxy at redshift 1.1 seen through a Galactic dust clump?

Context. Physically unassociated background or foreground objects seen towards submillimetre sources are potential contaminants of both the studies of young stellar objects embedded in Galactic dust clumps and multiwavelength counterparts of submillimetre galaxies (SMGs). Aims. We aim to search for and characterise the properties of a potential extragalactic object seen in projection towards a Galactic dust clump. Methods. We employed the near-infrared (3.4 μm and 4.6 μm) and mid-infrared (12 μm and 22 μm) data from the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) and the submillimetre data from the Planck satellite. Results. We uncovered a source, namely the WISE source J044232.92+322734.9 (hereafter J044232.92), which is detected in the W1–W3 bands of WISE, but undetected at 22 μm (W4), and whose WISE infrared (IR) colours suggest that it is a star-forming galaxy (SFG). This source is seen in projection towards the Planck-detected dust clump PGCC G169.20-8.96, which likely belongs to the Taurus-Auriga cloud complex, at a distance of 140 pc. We used the MAGPHYS+photo-z spectral energy distribution (SED) code to derive the photometric redshift and physical properties of J044232.92. The redshift was derived to be zphot = 1.132−0.165+0.280, while, for example, the stellar mass, IR (8–1000 μm) luminosity, and star formation rate were derived to be M⋆ = 4.6−2.5+4.7 × 1011 M⊙, LIR = 2.8−1.5+5.7 × 1012 L⊙, and SFR = 191−146+580 M⊙ yr−1 (or 281−155+569 M⊙ yr−1 when estimated from the IR luminosity). The derived value of LIR suggests that J044232.92 could be an ultraluminous IR galaxy, and we found that it is consistent with a main sequence SFG at a redshift of 1.132. Conclusions. The estimated physical properties of J044232.92 are comparable to those of SMGs, except that the derived stellar mass of J044232.92 appears somewhat higher (by a factor of 4–5) than the average stellar masses of SMGs. However, the stellar mass difference could just reflect the poorly sampled SED in the ultraviolet, optical, and near-IR regimes. Indeed, the SED of J044232.92 could not be well constrained using the currently available data (WISE only), and hence the derived redshift of the source and its physical properties should be taken as preliminary estimates. Further observations, in particular high-resolution (sub-)millimetre and radio continuum imaging, are needed to better constrain the redshift and physical properties of J044232.92 and to see if the source really is a galaxy seen through a Galactic dust clump, in particular an SMG population member at z ∼ 1.1.

Extending the view of ArH+chemistry in diffuse clouds

Context.One of the surprises of theHerschelmission was the detection of ArH+towards the Crab Nebula in emission and in absorption towards strong Galactic background sources. Although these detections were limited to the first quadrant of the Galaxy, the existing data suggest that ArH+ubiquitously and exclusively probes the diffuse atomic regions of the interstellar medium.Aims.In this study, we extend the coverage of ArH+to other parts of the Galaxy with new observations of itsJ= 1−0 transition along seven Galactic sight lines towards bright sub-millimetre continuum sources. We aim to benchmark its efficiency as a tracer of purely atomic gas by evaluating its correlation (or lack of correlation as suggested by chemical models) with other well-known atomic gas tracers such as OH+and H2O+and the molecular gas tracer CH.Methods.The observations of theJ= 1−0 line of ArH+near 617.5 GHz were made feasible with the new, sensitive SEPIA660 receiver on the APEX 12 m telescope. Furthermore, the two sidebands of this receiver allowed us to observe theNKaKc= 11,0−10,1transitions of para-H2O+at 607.227 GHz simultaneously with the ArH+line.Results.We modelled the optically thin absorption spectra of the different species and subsequently derived their column densities. By analysing the steady state chemistry of OH+and o-H2O+, we derive on average a cosmic-ray ionisation rate,ζp(H), of (2.3 ± 0.3) × 10−16s−1towards the sight lines studied in this work. Using the derived values ofζp(H) and the observed ArH+abundances we constrain the molecular fraction of the gas traced by ArH+to lie below 2 × 10−2with a median value of 8.8 × 10−4. Combined, our observations of ArH+, OH+, H2O+, and CH probe different regimes of the interstellar medium, from diffuse atomic to diffuse and translucent molecular clouds. Over Galactic scales, we see that the distribution ofN(ArH+) is associated with that ofN(H), particularly in the inner Galaxy (within 7 kpc of the Galactic centre) with potentially even contributions from the warm neutral medium phase of atomic gas at larger galactocentric distances. We derive an average ortho-to-para ratio for H2O+of 2.1 ± 1.0, which corresponds to a nuclear spin temperature of 41 K, consistent with the typical gas temperatures of diffuse clouds.

NEPSC2, the North Ecliptic Pole SCUBA-2 survey: 850-μm map and catalogue of 850-μm-selected sources over 2 deg2

ABSTRACT We present an 850-μm mosaic map and extracted catalogue of submillimetre sources in the extended North Ecliptic Pole (NEP) region over about 2 deg2. The 850-μm map is constructed using newly obtained observations by SCUBA-2 at the East Asian Observatory’s James Clerk Maxwell Telescope, carried out using the observatory’s large programme opportunities. The recent 850-μm survey has extended the submillimetre data coverage by almost a factor of 4 compared to previous surveys, with a depth of $\sigma _\text{rms}\, {=}\, 1.0$–$2.3\, {\rm mJy}\, {\rm beam}^{-1}$. The catalogue contains 549 sources selected above a significance level of 4σ, where the false-detection rate is 10 per cent; a higher threshold of 4.5σ is required in order to achieve a false-detection rate below 3 per cent, which results in 342 sources being selected. Despite the large spatial variation of the noise, the deboosted flux density of sources is comparable to results from the SCUBA-2 Cosmology Legacy Survey, which covered the central 0.6 deg2 of our survey area with better sensitivity. We construct the source counts at 850 μm, finding results in agreement with other 850-μm surveys in cosmological blank fields over S850 = 4–15 mJy. We find a slight excess of bright galaxies ($S_{850}\, {\gt }\, 15$ mJy), which can be considered to be at $z_\text{phot}\, {=}\, 2$–4. The 850-μm data add valuable long-wavelength information to mid-infrared-selected sources from the AKARI NEP-deep and NEP-wide surveys, which will be helpful in preparing for future near-infrared to millimetre wavelength observations in the NEP region. Our 850-μm mosaic map and source catalogue will be made publicly available.

An ALMA survey of the brightest sub-millimetre sources in the SCUBA-2–COSMOS field

ABSTRACT We present an ALMA study of the ∼180 brightest sources in the SCUBA-2 850-μm map of the COSMOS field from the S2COSMOS survey, as a pilot study for AS2COSMOS – a full survey of the ∼1000 sources in this field. In this pilot study, we have obtained 870-μm continuum maps of an essentially complete sample of the brightest 182 sub-millimetre sources ($S_{850\, \mu \rm m}\gt $ 6.2 mJy) in COSMOS. Our ALMA maps detect 260 sub-millimetre galaxies (SMGs) spanning a range in flux density of $S_{870\, \mu \rm m}$ = 0.7–19.2 mJy. We detect more than one SMG counterpart in 34 ± 2 per cent of sub-millimetre sources, increasing to 53 ± 8 per cent for SCUBA-2 sources brighter than $S_{850\, \mu \rm m}\gt $ 12 mJy. We estimate that approximately one-third of these SMG–SMG pairs are physically associated (with a higher rate for the brighter secondary SMGs, $S_{870\, \mu \rm m}\gtrsim$ 3 mJy), and illustrate this with the serendipitous detection of bright [C ii] 157.74-μm line emission in two SMGs, AS2COS 0001.1 and 0001.2 at z = 4.63, associated with the highest significance single-dish source. Using our source catalogue, we construct the interferometric 870-μm number counts at $S_{870\, \mu \rm m}\gt $ 6.2 mJy. We use the extensive archival data of this field to construct the multiwavelength spectral energy distribution of each AS2COSMOS SMG, and subsequently model this emission with magphys to estimate their photometric redshifts. We find a median photometric redshift for the $S_{870\, \mu \rm m}\gt $ 6.2 mJy AS2COSMOS sample of z = 2.87 ± 0.08, and clear evidence for an increase in the median redshift with 870-μm flux density suggesting strong evolution in the bright end of the 870-μm luminosity function.

Constant Envelope Modulation Techniques for Limited Power Millimeter Wave Links

The demand for increased capacity and link availability for mobile communications requires the utilization of higher frequencies, such as millimeter waves at extremely high frequencies (EHFs) above 30 GHz. In this regime of frequencies, the waves are subjected to high atmospheric attenuation and dispersion effects that lead to a degradation in communication reliability. The fact that solid-state millimeter and sub-millimeter wave sources are producing low power calls for effective signaling utilizing waveforms with a low peak to average power ratio (PAPR), such as constant envelope (CE) modulation. The CE techniques present a PAPR of 0 dB resulting in peak power transmission with high energy efficiency. The study of the performances of constant envelope orthogonal modulation techniques in the presence of co-channel interference is presented. The performance is evaluated in terms of the average symbol error rate (SER) using analytical results and simulations. The theory is carried out for the CE-M-ary time orthogonal (CE-MTO) and CE-orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (CE-OFDM), demonstrating comparable performances while leading to a simpler implementation than that of the CE-OFDM.

Multi-wavelength Properties of Radio- and Machine-learning-identified Counterparts to Submillimeter Sources in S2COSMOS

We identify multi-wavelength counterparts to 1,147 submillimeter sources from the S2COSMOS SCUBA-2 survey of the COSMOS field by employing a recently developed radio$+$machine-learning method trained on a large sample of ALMA-identified submillimeter galaxies (SMGs), including 260 SMGs identified in the AS2COSMOS pilot survey. In total, we identify 1,222 optical/near-infrared(NIR)/radio counterparts to the 897 S2COSMOS submillimeter sources with S$_{850}$>1.6mJy, yielding an overall identification rate of ($78\pm9$)%. We find that ($22\pm5$)% of S2COSMOS sources have multiple identified counterparts. We estimate that roughly 27% of these multiple counterparts within the same SCUBA-2 error circles very likely arise from physically associated galaxies rather than line-of-sight projections by chance. The photometric redshift of our radio$+$machine-learning identified SMGs ranges from z=0.2 to 5.7 and peaks at $z=2.3\pm0.1$. The AGN fraction of our sample is ($19\pm4$)%, which is consistent with that of ALMA SMGs in the literature. Comparing with radio/NIR-detected field galaxy population in the COSMOS field, our radio+machine-learning identified counterparts of SMGs have the highest star-formation rates and stellar masses. These characteristics suggest that our identified counterparts of S2COSMOS sources are a representative sample of SMGs at z<3. We employ our machine-learning technique to the whole COSMOS field and identified 6,877 potential SMGs, most of which are expected to have submillimeter emission fainter than the confusion limit of our S2COSMOS surveys (S$_{850}$<1.5mJy). We study the clustering properties of SMGs based on this statistically large sample, finding that they reside in high-mass dark matter halos ($(1.2\pm0.3)\times10^{13}\,h^{-1}\,\rm M_{\odot}$), which suggests that SMGs may be the progenitors of massive ellipticals we see in the local Universe.

Dense cores and star formation in the giant molecular cloud Vela C

Context. The Vela Molecular Ridge is one of the nearest (700 pc) giant molecular cloud (GMC) complexes hosting intermediate-mass (up to early B, late O stars) star formation, and is located in the outer Galaxy, inside the Galactic plane. Vela C is one of the GMCs making up the Vela Molecular Ridge, and exhibits both sub-regions of robust and sub-regions of more quiescent star formation activity, with both low- and intermediate(high)-mass star formation in progress. Aims. We aim to study the individual and global properties of dense dust cores in Vela C, and aim to search for spatial variations in these properties which could be related to different environmental properties and/or evolutionary stages in the various sub-regions of Vela C. Methods. We mapped the submillimetre (345 GHz) emission from vela C with LABOCA (beam size ~19′′2, spatial resolution ~0.07 pc at 700 pc) at the APEX telescope. We used the clump-finding algorithm CuTEx to identify the compact submillimetre sources. We also used SIMBA (250 GHz) observations, and Herschel and WISE ancillary data. The association with WISE red sources allowed the protostellar and starless cores to be separated, whereas the Herschel dataset allowed the dust temperature to be derived for a fraction of cores. The protostellar and starless core mass functions (CMFs) were constructed following two different approaches, achieving a mass completeness limit of 3.7 M⊙. Results. We retrieved 549 submillimetre cores, 316 of which are starless and mostly gravitationally bound (therefore prestellar in nature). Both the protostellar and the starless CMFs are consistent with the shape of a Salpeter initial mass function in the high-mass part of the distribution. Clustering of cores at scales of 1–6 pc is also found, hinting at fractionation of magnetised, turbulent gas.

An ALMA survey of the SCUBA-2 Cosmology Legacy Survey UKIDSS/UDS field: source catalogue and properties

We present the catalogue and properties of sources in AS2UDS, an 870-$\mu$m continuum survey with the Atacama Large Millimetre/sub-millimetre Array (ALMA) of 716 single-dish sub-millimetre sources detected in the UKIDSS/UDS field by the SCUBA-2 Cosmology Legacy Survey. In our sensitive ALMA follow-up observations we detect 708 sub-millimetre galaxies (SMGs) at $>$\,4.3$\sigma$ significance across the $\sim$\,1-degree diameter field. We combine our precise ALMA positions with the extensive multi-wavelength coverage in the UDS field to fit the spectral energy distributions of our SMGs to derive a median redshift of $z_{\rm phot}=$\,2.61$\pm$0.09. This large sample reveals a statistically significant trend of increasing sub-millimetre flux with redshift suggestive of galaxy downsizing. 101 ALMA maps do not show a $>$\,4.3$\sigma$ SMG, but we demonstrate from stacking {\it Herschel} SPIRE observations at these positions, that the vast majority of these blank maps correspond to real single-dish sub-millimetre sources. We further show that these blank maps contain an excess of galaxies at $z_{\rm phot}=$\,1.5--4 compared to random fields, similar to the redshift range of the ALMA-detected SMGs. In addition, we combine X-ray and mid-infrared active galaxy nuclei activity (AGN) indicators to yield a likely range for the AGN fraction of 8--28\,\% in our sample. Finally, we compare the redshifts of this population of high-redshift, strongly star-forming galaxies with the inferred formation redshifts of massive, passive galaxies being found out to $z\sim$\,2, finding reasonable agreement -- in support of an evolutionary connection between these two classes of massive galaxy.

PLCK G165.7+67.0: Analysis of a Massive Lensing Cluster in a Hubble Space Telescope Census of Submillimeter Giant Arcs Selected Using Planck/Herschel

Abstract We present Hubble Space Telescope WFC3-IR imaging in the fields of six apparently bright dusty star-forming galaxies (DSFGs) at z = 2–4 identified by their rest-frame far-infrared colors using the Planck and Herschel space facilities. We detect near-infrared counterparts for all six submillimeter sources, allowing us to undertake strong-lensing analyses. One field in particular stands out for its prominent giant arcs, PLCK G165.7+67.0 (G165). After combining the color and morphological information, we identify 11 sets of image multiplicities in this one field. We construct a strong-lensing model constrained by this lensing evidence, which uncovers a bimodal spatial mass distribution, and from which we measure a mass of (2.6 ± 0.11) × 1014 M ⊙ within ∼250 kpc. The bright (S 350 ≈ 750 mJy) DSFG appears as two images: a giant arc with a spatial extent of that is merging with the critical curve, and a lower-magnification counterimage that is detected in our new longer-wavelength ground- and space-based imaging data. Using our ground-based spectroscopy, we calculate a dynamical mass of M ⊙ to the same fixed radius, although this value may be inflated relative to the true value if the velocity distribution is enhanced in the line-of-sight direction. We suggest that the bimodal mass taken in combination with the weak X-ray flux and low SZ decrement may be explained as a pre-merger for which the intracluster gas is diluted along the line of sight, while the integrated surface mass density is supercritical to strong-lensing effects.

Planck’s dusty GEMS

We present an extensive CO emission-line survey of the Planck’s dusty Gravitationally Enhanced subMillimetre Sources, a small set of 11 strongly lensed dusty star-forming galaxies at z = 2–4 discovered with Planck and Herschel satellites, using EMIR on the IRAM 30-m telescope. We detected a total of 45 CO rotational lines from Jup = 3 to Jup = 11, and up to eight transitions per source, allowing a detailed analysis of the gas excitation and interstellar medium conditions within these extremely bright (μLFIR = 0.5 − 3.0 × 1014L⊙), vigorous starbursts. The peak of the CO spectral-line energy distributions (SLEDs) fall between Jup = 4 and Jup = 7 for nine out of 11 sources, in the same range as other lensed and unlensed submillimeter galaxies (SMGs) and the inner regions of local starbursts. We applied radiative transfer models using the large velocity gradient approach to infer the spatially-averaged molecular gas densities, nH2 ≃ 102.6 − 104.1 cm−3, and kinetic temperatures, Tk ≃ 30–1000 K. In five sources, we find evidence of two distinct gas phases with different properties and model their CO SLED with two excitation components. The warm (70–320 K) and dense gas reservoirs in these galaxies are highly excited, while the cooler (15–60 K) and more extended low-excitation components cover a range of gas densities. In two sources, the latter is associated with diffuse Milky Way-like gas phases of density nH2 ≃ 102.4 − 102.8 cm−3, which provides evidence that a significant fraction of the total gas masses of dusty starburst galaxies can be embedded in cool, low-density reservoirs. The delensed masses of the warm star-forming molecular gas range from 0.6to12 × 1010 M⊙. Finally, we show that the CO line luminosity ratios are consistent with those predicted by models of photon-dominated regions (PDRs) and disfavor scenarios of gas clouds irradiated by intense X-ray fields from active galactic nuclei. By combining CO, [C I] and [C II] line diagnostics, we obtain average PDR gas densities significantly higher than in normal star-forming galaxies at low-redshift, as well as far-ultraviolet radiation fields 102–104 times more intense than in the Milky Way. These spatially-averaged conditions are consistent with those in high-redshift SMGs and in a range of low-redshift environments, from the central regions of ultra-luminous infrared galaxies and bluer starbursts to Galactic giant molecular clouds.

A Machine-learning Method for Identifying Multiwavelength Counterparts of Submillimeter Galaxies: Training and Testing Using AS2UDS and ALESS

Abstract We describe the application of supervised machine-learning algorithms to identify the likely multiwavelength counterparts to submillimeter sources detected in panoramic, single-dish submillimeter surveys. As a training set, we employ a sample of 695 (S 870μm ≳ 1 mJy) submillimeter galaxies (SMGs) with precise identifications from the ALMA follow-up of the SCUBA-2 Cosmology Legacy Survey’s UKIDSS-UDS field (AS2UDS). We show that radio emission, near-/mid-infrared colors, photometric redshift, and absolute H-band magnitude are effective predictors that can distinguish SMGs from submillimeter-faint field galaxies. Our combined radio + machine-learning method is able to successfully recover ∼85% of ALMA-identified SMGs that are detected in at least three bands from the ultraviolet to radio. We confirm the robustness of our method by dividing our training set into independent subsets and using these for training and testing, respectively, as well as applying our method to an independent sample of ∼100 ALMA-identified SMGs from the ALMA/LABOCA ECDF-South Survey (ALESS). To further test our methodology, we stack the 870 μm ALMA maps at the positions of those K-band galaxies that are classified as SMG counterparts by the machine learning but do not have a &gt;4.3σ ALMA detection. The median peak flux density of these galaxies is S 870μm = (0.61 ± 0.03) mJy, demonstrating that our method can recover faint and/or diffuse SMGs even when they are below the detection threshold of our ALMA observations. In future, we will apply this method to samples drawn from panoramic single-dish submillimeter surveys that currently lack interferometric follow-up observations to address science questions that can only be tackled with large statistical samples of SMGs.

An ALMA Survey of the SCUBA-2 Cosmology Legacy Survey UKIDSS/UDS Field: Number Counts of Submillimeter Galaxies

Abstract We report the first results of AS2UDS, an 870 μm continuum survey with the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA) of a total area of ∼50 arcmin2 comprising a complete sample of 716 submillimeter sources drawn from the SCUBA-2 Cosmology Legacy Survey (S2CLS) map of the UKIDSS/UDS field. The S2CLS parent sample covers a 0.96 degree2 field at σ 850 = 0.90 ± 0.05 mJy beam−1. Our deep, high-resolution ALMA observations with σ 870 ∼ 0.25 mJy and a 0.″15–0.″30 FWHM synthesized beam, provide precise locations for 695 submillimeter galaxies (SMGs) responsible for the submillimeter emission corresponding to 606 sources in the low-resolution, single-dish map. We measure the number counts of SMGs brighter than S 870 ≥ 4 mJy, free from the effects of blending and show that the normalization of the counts falls by 28% ± 2% in comparison with the SCUBA-2 published counts, but that the shape remains unchanged. We determine that 44 − 14 + 16 % of the brighter single-dish sources with S 850 ≥ 9 mJy consist of a blend of two or more ALMA-detectable SMGs brighter than S 870 ∼ 1 mJy (corresponding to a galaxy with a total-infrared luminosity of L IR ≳ 1012 L ⊙), in comparison with 28% ± 2% for the single-dish sources at S 850 ≥ 5 mJy. Using the 46 single-dish submillimeter sources that contain two or more ALMA-detected SMGs with photometric redshifts, we show that there is a significant statistical excess of pairs of SMGs with similar redshifts (&lt;1% probability of occurring by chance), suggesting that at least 30% of these blends arise from physically associated pairs of SMGs.

An ALMA survey of CO in submillimetre galaxies: companions, triggering, and the environment in blended sources

We present ALMA observations of the mid-J 12CO emission from six single-dish selected 870-micron sources in the Extended Chandra Deep Field-South (ECDFS) and UKIDSS Ultra-Deep Survey (UDS) fields. These six single-dish submillimetre sources were selected based on previous ALMA continuum observations, which showed that each comprised a blend of emission from two or more individual submillimetre galaxies (SMGs), separated on 5--10 arcsec scales. The six single-dish submillimetre sources targeted correspond to a total of 14 individual SMGs, of which seven have previously-measured robust optical/near-infrared spectroscopic redshifts, which were used to tune our ALMA observations. We detect CO(3-2) or CO(4-3) at z=2.3--3.7 in seven of the 14 SMGs, and in addition serendipitously detect line emission from three gas-rich companion galaxies, as well as identify four new 3.3-mm selected continuum sources in the six fields. Joint analysis of our CO spectroscopy and existing data suggests that 64 \pm 18% of the SMGs in blended submillimetre sources are unlikely to be physically associated. However, three of the SMG fields (50%) contain new, serendipitously-detected CO-emitting (but submillimetre-faint) sources at similar redshifts to the 870-micron selected SMGs we targeted. These data suggest that the SMGs inhabit overdense regions, but that these are not sufficiently overdense on ~100 kpc scales to influence the source blending given the short lifetimes of SMGs. We find that 21 \pm 12% of SMGs have spatially-distinct and kinematically-close companion galaxies (~8--150 kpc and <~300 km/s), which may have enhanced their star-formation via gravitational interactions.

The Herschel -ATLAS Data Release 2. Paper II. Catalogs of Far-infrared and Submillimeter Sources in the Fields at the South and North Galactic Poles

The {\it Herschel} Astrophysical Terahertz Large Area Survey (H-ATLAS) is a survey of 660 deg$^2$ with the PACS and SPIRE cameras in five photometric bands: 100, 160, 250, 350 and 500\mic. This is the second of three papers describing the data release for the large fields at the south and north Galactic poles (NGP and SGP). In this paper we describe the catalogues of far-infrared and submillimetre sources for the NGP and SGP, which cover 177 deg$^2$ and 303 deg$^2$, respectively. The catalogues contain 153,367 sources for the NGP field and 193,527 sources for the SGP field detected at more than 4$\sigma$ significance in any of the 250, 350 or 500\mic\ bands. The source detection is based on the 250\mic\ map, and we present photometry in all five bands for each source, including aperture photometry for sources known to be extended. The rms positional accuracy for the faintest sources is about 2.4 arc seconds in both right ascension and declination. We present a statistical analysis of the catalogues and discuss the practical issues -- completeness, reliability, flux boosting, accuracy of positions, accuracy of flux measurements -- necessary to use the catalogues for astronomical projects.

Early phases in the stellar and substellar formation and evolution

Aims. The early evolutionary stage of brown dwarfs (BDs) is not very well characterized, especially during the embedded phase. Our goal is to gain insight into the dominant formation mechanism of very low-mass objects and BDs. Methods. We have conducted deep observations at 870 μm obtained with the LABOCA bolometer at the APEX telescope in order to identify young submillimeter (submm) sources in the Barnard 30 dark cloud. We have complemented these data with multi-wavelength observations from the optical to the far-IR and compiled complete spectral energy distributions in order to identify the counterparts, characterize the sources and to assess their membership to the association and stellar or substellar status based on the available photometric information. Results. We have identified 34 submm sources and a substantial number of possible and probable Barnard 30 members within each individual APEX/LABOCA beam. They can be classified into three distinct groups. First, 15 of these 34 have a clear optical or IR counterpart to the submm peak and nine of them are potential proto-BD candidates. Moreover, a substantial number of them could be multiple systems. A second group of 13 sources comprises candidate members with significant infrared excesses located away from the central submm emission. All of them include BD candidates, some displaying IR excess, but their association with submm emission is unclear. In addition, we have found six starless cores and, based on the total dust mass estimate, three might be pre-substellar (or pre-BDs) cores. Finally, the complete characterization of our APEX/LABOCA sources, focusing on those detected at 24 and/or 70 μm, indicates that in our sample of 34 submm sources there are, at least: two WTTs, four CTTs, five young stellar objects, eight proto-BD candidates (with another three dubious cases), and one very low luminosity objects. Conclusions. Our findings provide additional evidence concerning the BD formation mechanism, which seems to be a downsized version of the stellar formation.

High-resolution SMA imaging of bright submillimetre sources from the SCUBA-2 Cosmology Legacy Survey

We have used the Submillimeter Array at 860$\,\mu$m to observe the brightest SCUBA-2 sources in 4$\,$deg$^{2}$ of the Cosmology Legacy Survey. We have targeted 75 of the brightest single-dish SCUBA-2 850$\,\mu$m sources down to $S_{850}\,{\approx}\,8\,$mJy, achieving an average synthesized beam of 2.4$^{\prime\prime}$ and an average rms of $\sigma_{860}\,{=}\,1.5\,$mJy in our primary beam-corrected maps. We searched our maps for $4\sigma$ peaks, corresponding to $S_{860}\,{\gtrsim}\,6\,$mJy sources, and detected 59 single galaxies and three pairs of galaxies. We include in our study 28 archival observations, bringing our sample size to 103 bright single-dish submillimetre sources with interferometric follow-up. We compute the cumulative and differential number counts of our sample, finding them to overlap with previous single-dish survey number counts within the uncertainties, although our cumulative number count is systematically lower than the parent SCUBA-2 cumulative number count by $24\,{\pm}\,6$ per cent between 11 and 15$\,$mJy. We estimate the probability that a ${\gtrsim}\,10\,$mJy single-dish submillimetre source resolves into two or more galaxies with similar flux densities, causing a significant change in the number counts, to be about 15 per cent. Assuming the remaining 85 per cent of the targets are ultra-luminous starburst galaxies between $z\,{=}\,2$-3, we find a likely volume density of ${\gtrsim}\,400\,$M$_{\odot}\,$yr$^{-1}$ sources to be ${\sim}\,3^{+0.7}_{-0.6}\,{\times}\,10^{-7}\,$Mpc$^{-3}$. We show that the descendants of these galaxies could be ${\gtrsim}\,4\,{\times}\,10^{11}\,$M$_{\odot}$ local quiescent galaxies, and that about 10 per cent of their total stellar mass would have formed during these short bursts of star-formation.

Modelling high-resolution ALMA observations of strongly lensed highly star-forming galaxies detected by Herschel★

We have modelled high resolution ALMA imaging of six strong gravitationally lensed galaxies detected by the Herschel Space Observatory. Our modelling recovers mass properties of the lensing galaxies and, by determining magnification factors, intrinsic properties of the lensed sub-millimetre sources. We find that the lensed galaxies all have high ratios of star formation rate to dust mass, consistent with or higher than the mean ratio for high redshift sub-millimetre galaxies and low redshift ultra-luminous infra-red galaxies. Source reconstruction reveals that most galaxies exhibit disturbed morphologies. Both the cleaned image plane data and the directly observed interferometric visibilities have been modelled, enabling comparison of both approaches. In the majority of cases, the recovered lens models are consistent between methods, all six having mass density profiles that are close to isothermal. However, one system with poor signal to noise shows mildly significant differences.