Extragalactic number counts at 100 um, free from cosmic variance

Abstract

We use data from the Disc Emission via a Bias-free Reconnaissance in the Infrared/Submillimetre (DEBRIS) survey, taken at 100 um with the Photoconductor Array Camera and Spectrometer instrument on board the Herschel Space Observatory, to make a cosmic variance independent measurement of the extragalactic number counts. These data consist of 323 small-area mapping observations performed uniformly across the sky, and thus represent a sparse sampling of the astronomical sky with an effective coverage of ~2.5 deg^2. We find our cosmic variance independent analysis to be consistent with previous count measurements made using relatively small area surveys. Furthermore, we find no statistically significant cosmic variance on any scale within the errors of our data. Finally, we interpret these results to estimate the probability of galaxy source confusion in the study of debris discs.

Accepted for publication by MNRAS Letter

References in corpus (3)

• The Cosmic Evolution Survey (COSMOS) -- Overview
• The AzTEC mm-Wavelength Camera
• A background galaxy in the field of the beta Pic debris disk

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• New debris disks in nearby young moving groups
• Herschel and Spitzer observations of slowly rotating, nearby isolated neutron stars
• Herschel Observations of Disks around Late-type Stars
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• Collisional parameters of planetesimal belts, precursor of debris disks, perturbed by a nearby giant planet