University of Sussex
Browse
10_1093_mnras_stt1960.pdf (1.41 MB)

HerMES: dust attenuation and star formation activity in ultraviolet-selected samples from z 4 to 1.5

Download (1.41 MB)
journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-08, 21:01 authored by S Heinis, V Buat, M Béthermin, J Bock, D Burgarella, A Conley, A Cooray, D Farrah, O Ilbert, G Magdis, G Marsden, Seb OliverSeb Oliver, D Rigopoulou, Y Roehlly, B Schulz, M Symeonidis, M Viero, C K Xu, M Zemcov
We study the link between observed ultraviolet (UV) luminosity, stellar mass and dust attenuation within rest-frame UV-selected samples at z ~ 4, ~ 3 and ~1.5. We measure by stacking at 250, 350 and 500µm in the Herschel/Spectral and Photometric Imaging Receiver images from the Herschel Multi-Tiered Extragalactic Survey (HerMES) program the average infrared luminosity as a function of stellar mass and UV luminosity. We find that dust attenuation is mostly correlated with stellar mass. There is also a secondary dependence with UV luminosity: at a given UV luminosity, dust attenuation increases with stellar mass, while at a given stellar mass it decreases with UV luminosity. We provide new empirical recipes to correct for dust attenuation given the observed UV luminosity and the stellar mass. Our results also enable us to put new constraints on the average relation between star formation rate (SFR) and stellar mass at z ~ 4, ~3 and ~1.5. The SFR–stellar mass relations are well described by power laws (SFR ? M 0.7*), with the amplitudes being similar at z ~ 4 and ~3, and decreasing by a factor of 4 at z ~ 1.5 at a given stellar mass. We further investigate the evolution with redshift of the specific SFR. Our results are in the upper range of previous measurements, in particular at z ~ 3, and are consistent with a plateau at 3 < z < 4. Current model predictions (either analytic, semi-analytic or hydrodynamic) are inconsistent with these values, as they yield lower predictions than the observations in the redshift range we explore. We use these results to discuss the star formation histories of galaxies in the framework of the main sequence of star-forming galaxies. Our results suggest that galaxies at high redshift (2.5 < z < 4) stay around 1 Gyr on the main sequence. With decreasing redshift, this time increases such that z = 1 main-sequence galaxies with 10 8 < M * /Mo < 10 10 stay on the main sequence until z = 0.

History

Publication status

  • Published

File Version

  • Published version

Journal

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

ISSN

0035-8711

Publisher

Royal Astronomical Society

Issue

2

Volume

437

Page range

1268-1283

Department affiliated with

  • Physics and Astronomy Publications

Full text available

  • Yes

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2015-06-08

First Open Access (FOA) Date

2015-06-08

First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date

2015-06-08

Usage metrics

    University of Sussex (Publications)

    Categories

    No categories selected

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC