The SCUBA HAlf Degree Extragalactic Survey (SHADES) - IV: Radio-mm-FIR photometric redshifts

Abstract

We present the redshift distribution of the SHADES galaxy population based on the rest-frame radio-mm-FIR colours of 120 robustly detected 850um sources in the Lockman Hole East (LH) and Subaru XMM-Newton Deep Field (SXDF). The redshift distribution derived from the full SED information is shown to be narrower than that determined from the radio-submm spectral index, as more photometric bands contribute to a higher redshift accuracy. The redshift distribution of sources derived from at least two photometric bands peaks at z ~ 2.4 and has a near-Gaussian distribution, with 50 per cent (interquartile range) of sources at z=1.8-3.1. We find a statistically-significant difference between the measured redshift distributions in the two fields; the SXDF peaking at a slightly lower redshift (median z ~ 2.2) than the LH (median z ~ 2.7), which we attribute to the noise-properties of the radio observations. We demonstrate however that there could also be field-to-field variations that are consistent with the measured differences in the redshift distributions, and hence, that the incomplete area observed by SHADES with SCUBA, despite being the largest sub-mm survey to date, may still be too small to fully characterize the bright sub-mm galaxy population. Finally we present a brief comparison with the predicted, or assumed, redshift distributions of sub-mm galaxy formation and evolution models, and we derive the contribution of these SHADES sources and the general sub-mm galaxy population to the star formation-rate density at different epochs.

MNRAS, accepted (22 pages, 9 figures, 5 tables). Revised version, minor modifications and 2 extra figures

References in corpus (2)

• SHARC-2 350 Micron Observations of Distant Submillimeter Selected Galaxies
• The Contribution of the Intergalactic Medium to Cosmic Microwave Background Anisotropies

Cited by in corpus (30)

• An ALMA survey of Sub-millimeter Galaxies in the Extended Chandra Deep Field South: Physical properties derived from ultraviolet-to-radio modelling
• Mid-Infrared Spectral Diagnosis of Submillimeter Galaxies
• Astrophysical and Cosmological Information from Large-scale sub-mm Surveys of Extragalactic Sources
• Evidence for a Population of High-Redshift Submillimeter Galaxies from Interferometric Imaging
• The nature of star formation in distant ultraluminous infrared galaxies selected in a remarkably narrow redshift range
• Spectroscopic Confirmation Of An Extreme Starburst At Redshift 4.547
• The SCUBA HAlf Degree Extragalactic Survey (SHADES) -- VI. 350 micron mapping of submillimetre galaxies
• A submillimetre galaxy at z=4.76 in the LABOCA survey of the Extended Chandra Deep Field South
• The SCUBA HAlf Degree Extragalactic Survey (SHADES) - VII. Optical/IR photometry and stellar masses of sub-millimeter galaxies
• Far-infrared surveys of galaxy evolution
• A 1200-micron MAMBO survey of the GOODS-N field: a significant population of submillimetre drop-out galaxies
• An ALMA survey of submillimetre galaxies in the COSMOS field: Physical properties derived from energy balance spectral energy distribution modelling
• Reproducing the assembly of massive galaxies within the hierarchical cosmogony
• The SCUBA Half-Degree Extragalactic Survey (SHADES) - VIII. The Nature of Faint Submm Galaxies in SHADES, SWIRE and SXDF Surveys
• AzTEC Millimetre Survey of the COSMOS Field - II. Source Count Overdensity and Correlations with Large-Scale Structure
• Spitzer IRAC Infrared Colours of Submillimetre-bright Galaxies
• The SCUBA Half Degree Extragalactic Survey (SHADES) - IX: the environment, mass and redshift dependence of star formation
• Radio and mid-infrared identification of BLAST source counterparts in the Chandra Deep Field South
• SCUBA-2 Ultra Deep Imaging Eao Survey (Studies) III: Multi-wavelength properties, luminosity functions and preliminary source catalog of 450-$\mu$m-selected galaxies
• The redshift distribution of submillimetre galaxies at different wavelengths
• Multi-wavelength properties of Spitzer-selected starbursts at z~2
• SCUBA-2 Ultra Deep Imaging EAO Survey (STUDIES) IV: Spatial clustering and halo masses of 450-$\mu$m-selected sub-millimeter galaxies
• Extremely Red Submillimeter Galaxies: New z>~4-6 Candidates Discovered using ALMA and Jansky VLA
• The Subaru/XMM-Newton Deep Field - II. The 37 brightest radio sources
• A Bright Submillimeter Source in the Bullet Cluster (1E0657--56) Field Detected with BLAST
• The Herschel Virgo Cluster Survey. XVII. SPIRE point-source catalogs and number counts
• Early Science with the Large Millimeter Telescope: a 1.1 mm AzTEC Survey of Red-$Herschel$ dusty star-forming galaxies
• A new perspective on the submillimetre galaxy MM 18423+5938 at redshift 3.9296 from radio continuum imaging
• Radio and X-ray properties of submillimeter galaxies in the A2125 field
• The SCUBA-2 Cosmology Legacy Survey: The EGS deep field -- III. The evolution of faint submillimeter galaxies at $z<4$