A Far-IR Characterization of 24 micron Selected Galaxies at 0<z<2.5 using Stacking at 70 microns and 160 microns in the COSMOS Field

Abstract

We present a study of the average properties of luminous infrared galaxies detected directly at 24 $\hat{I}¼$m in the COSMOS field using a median stacking analysis at 70$\hat{I}¼$m and 160 $\hat{I}¼$m. Over 35000 sources spanning 0<z<3 and 0.06 mJy<S_{24}<3.0 mJy are stacked, divided into bins of both photometric redshift and 24 $\hat{I}¼$m flux. We find no correlation of $S_{70}/S_{24}$ flux density ratio with $S_{24}$, but find that galaxies with higher $S_{24}$ have a lower $S_{160}/S_{24}$ flux density ratio. These observed ratios suggest that 24 $\hat{I}¼$m selected galaxies have warmer SEDs at higher mid-IR fluxes, and therefore have a possible higher fraction of AGN. Comparisons of the average $S_{70}/S_{24}$ and $S_{160}/S_{24}$ colors with various empirical templates and theoretical models show that the galaxies detected at 24 $\hat{I}¼$m are consistent with "normal" star-forming galaxies and warm mid-IR galaxies such as Mrk 231, but inconsistent with heavily obscured galaxies such as Arp 220. We perform a $\ddot{I}{‡}^2$ analysis to determine best fit galactic model SEDs and total IR luminosities for each of our bins. We compare our results to previous methods of estimating $L_{\mathrm{IR}}$ and find that previous methods show considerable agreement over the full redshift range, except for the brightest $S_{24}$ sources, where previous methods overpredict the bolometric IR luminosity at high redshift, most likely due to their warmer dust SED. We present a table that can be used as a more accurate and robust method for estimating bolometric infrared luminosity from 24 $\hat{I}¼$m flux densities.

21 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal