Spitzer Imaging of Herschel Lensed Sub-mm Galaxies

Cooray, Asantha; Wardlow, Julie; Kim, Sam; Khostovan, Ali; Mitchell-Wynne, Ketron; Barton, Elizabeth; Gong, Yan; Amblard, Alexandre; Serra, Paolo; Cooke, Jeff; Riechers, Dominik; Dominic, Benford; Frayer, David; Gardner, Jonathan; Fu, Hai; Bussmann, Shane; Gurwell, Mark; Leeuw, Lerothodi; Pasquale, Temi; Conley, Alex; Bock, Jamie; Vieira, Joaquin; Bridge, Carrie; Glenn, Jason; Zemcov, Michael; Schulz, Bernhard; Shupe, David; Hopwood, Ros; Negrello, Mattia; Andreani, Paola; Clements, David; Dannerbauer, Helmut; de Zotti, Gianfranco; Dunne, Loretta; Dunlop, James; Eales, Steve; Farrah, Duncan; Ivison, Rob; Jarvis, Matt; Maddox, Steve; Michalowski, Michal; Omont, Alain; Perez-Fournon, Ismael; Rigopoulou, Dimitra; Serjeant, Stephen; Smail, Ian; Thompson, Mark; Vaccari, Mattia; Verma, Aprajita; Coppin, Kirsten; Oliver, Seb; Wang, Lingyu
Bibliographical reference

Spitzer Proposal ID #80156

Advertised on:
5
2011
Number of authors
52
IAC number of authors
0
Citations
0
Refereed citations
0
Description
Sub-millimeter surveys have, in the last decade, revealed an unexpected population of high-redshift dust-obscured sub-mm galaxies (SMGs) which are forming stars at a tremendous rate. Due to steep number counts and the negative k-correction at sub-mm wavelengths sub-mm surveys are effective at finding intrinsically faint, gravitationally lensed galaxies. We have now produced a reliable list of about 150 bright lensed SMGs in 200 sq. deg of the Herschel-ATLAS and HerMES (the GTO program of the SPIRE Instrument team) surveys with Herschel-SPIRE. We propose Spitzer IRAC 3.6 and 4.5 micron imaging of 122 of these gravitationally lensed SMGs. The target SMGs are selected to maximally overlap with existing and planned multi-wavelength followup programs, without duplicating existing deep IRAC data. Using the proposed Spitzer data we will: (a) Extend the SEDs of z~ 1 to 5 lensed SMGs into the near-IR regime, where derived stellar masses are more reliable than those estimated at other wavelengths alone; (b) Combine with lens models from existing and planned high-resolution sub-mm imaging (SMA, CARMA, PdBI) to map the evolution of stellar mass as a function of redshift and star-formation rate (SFR); (c) Combine with existing and planned CO and CII molecular line measurements to map the evolution of dust-to-gas and stellar-to-gas mass ratios as a function of redshift and SFR; (d) Obtain snapshot statistics on the sub-mm galaxy evolution from z of 1 to 5 as a function of stellar, dust, and gas mass to study the role of mergers and AGN contribution that may regulate the starburst phenomenon; (e) Compare our results to those from numerical simulations of high-redshift starburst galaxies to investigate the physical conditions in SMGs, and their evolutionary pathways.