### Herschel star-ATLAS/GAMA: the environmental density of far-infrared bright galaxies at z ≤ 0.5

CS Burton, Maarten Baes UGent, et al. (2013) 433(1). p.771-786
abstract
We compare the environmental and star formation properties of far-infrared detected and non-far-infrared detected galaxies out to z similar to 0.5. Using optical spectroscopy and photometry from the Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA) and Sloan Digital Sky Survey, with far-infrared observations from the Herschel Astrophysical Terahertz Large Area Survey (ATLAS) Science Demonstration Phase, we apply the technique of Voronoi tessellations to analyse the environmental densities of individual galaxies. Applying statistical analyses to colour, r-band magnitude and redshift-matched samples, we show that there is a significant difference at the 3.5 Sigma level between the normalized environmental densities of these two populations. This is such that infrared emission (a tracer of star formation activity) favours underdense regions compared to those inhabited by exclusively optically observed galaxies selected to be of the same r-band magnitude, colour and redshift. Thus, more highly star-forming galaxies are found to reside in the most underdense environments, confirming previous studies that have proposed such a correlation. However, the degeneracy between redshift and far-infrared luminosity in our flux-density-limited sample means that we are unable to make a stronger statement in this respect. We then apply our method to synthetic light cones generated from semi-analytic models, finding that over the whole redshift distribution the same correlations between star formation rate and environmental density are found.
author
organization
alternative title
Herschel star-ATLAS/GAMA : the environmental density of far-infrared bright galaxies at z < 0.5
year
type
journalArticle (original)
publication status
published
subject
keyword
galaxies: star formation, galaxies: formation, galaxies: statistics, infrared: galaxies, DIGITAL SKY SURVEY, ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI, SCIENCE DEMONSTRATION PHASE, SPECTRAL ENERGY-DISTRIBUTIONS, MASS ASSEMBLY GAMA, EARLY DATA RELEASE, FORMATION RATES, STELLAR MASS, LUMINOSITY FUNCTIONS, VORONOI TESSELLATIONS, methods: statistical, galaxies: evolution
journal title
MONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY
Mon. Not. Roy. Astron. Soc.
volume
433
issue
1
pages
771 - 786
Web of Science type
Article
Web of Science id
000321461200064
JCR category
ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS
JCR impact factor
5.226 (2013)
JCR rank
11/59 (2013)
JCR quartile
1 (2013)
ISSN
0035-8711
DOI
10.1093/mnras/stt770
language
English
UGent publication?
yes
classification
A1
I have transferred the copyright for this publication to the publisher
id
4385449
handle
http://hdl.handle.net/1854/LU-4385449
date created
2014-05-16 11:42:11
date last changed
2017-02-28 12:53:53
@article{4385449,
abstract     = {We compare the environmental and star formation properties of far-infrared detected and non-far-infrared detected galaxies out to z similar to 0.5. Using optical spectroscopy and photometry from the Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA) and Sloan Digital Sky Survey, with far-infrared observations from the Herschel Astrophysical Terahertz Large Area Survey (ATLAS) Science Demonstration Phase, we apply the technique of Voronoi tessellations to analyse the environmental densities of individual galaxies. Applying statistical analyses to colour, r-band magnitude and redshift-matched samples, we show that there is a significant difference at the 3.5 Sigma level between the normalized environmental densities of these two populations. This is such that infrared emission (a tracer of star formation activity) favours underdense regions compared to those inhabited by exclusively optically observed galaxies selected to be of the same r-band magnitude, colour and redshift. Thus, more highly star-forming galaxies are found to reside in the most underdense environments, confirming previous studies that have proposed such a correlation. However, the degeneracy between redshift and far-infrared luminosity in our flux-density-limited sample means that we are unable to make a stronger statement in this respect. We then apply our method to synthetic light cones generated from semi-analytic models, finding that over the whole redshift distribution the same correlations between star formation rate and environmental density are found.},
author       = {Burton, CS and Jarvis, Matt J and Smith, DJB and Bonfield, DG and Hardcastle, MJ and Stevens, JA and Bourne, N and Baes, Maarten and Brough, S and Cava, A and Cooray, A and Dariush, A and De Zotti, G and Dunne, L and Eales, S and Hopwood, R and Ibar, E and Ivison, RJ and Liske, J and Loveday, J and Maddox, SJ and Negrello, M and Smith, MWL and Valiante, E},
issn         = {0035-8711},
journal      = {MONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY},
keyword      = {galaxies: star formation,galaxies: formation,galaxies: statistics,infrared: galaxies,DIGITAL SKY SURVEY,ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI,SCIENCE DEMONSTRATION PHASE,SPECTRAL ENERGY-DISTRIBUTIONS,MASS ASSEMBLY GAMA,EARLY DATA RELEASE,FORMATION RATES,STELLAR MASS,LUMINOSITY FUNCTIONS,VORONOI TESSELLATIONS,methods: statistical,galaxies: evolution},
language     = {eng},
number       = {1},
pages        = {771--786},
title        = {Herschel star-ATLAS/GAMA: the environmental density of far-infrared bright galaxies at z \ensuremath{\leq} 0.5},
url          = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stt770},
volume       = {433},
year         = {2013},
}


Chicago
Burton, CS, Matt J Jarvis, DJB Smith, DG Bonfield, MJ Hardcastle, JA Stevens, N Bourne, et al. 2013. “Herschel star-ATLAS/GAMA: The Environmental Density of Far-infrared Bright Galaxies at z ≤ 0.5.” Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 433 (1): 771–786.
APA
Burton, C., Jarvis, M. J., Smith, D., Bonfield, D., Hardcastle, M., Stevens, J., Bourne, N., et al. (2013). Herschel star-ATLAS/GAMA: the environmental density of far-infrared bright galaxies at z ≤ 0.5. MONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY, 433(1), 771–786.
Vancouver
1.
Burton C, Jarvis MJ, Smith D, Bonfield D, Hardcastle M, Stevens J, et al. Herschel star-ATLAS/GAMA: the environmental density of far-infrared bright galaxies at z ≤ 0.5. MONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY. 2013;433(1):771–86.
MLA
Burton, CS, Matt J Jarvis, DJB Smith, et al. “Herschel star-ATLAS/GAMA: The Environmental Density of Far-infrared Bright Galaxies at z ≤ 0.5.” MONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY 433.1 (2013): 771–786. Print.