We present SCUBA-2 850 $\mathrm{ \mu}$m observations of 13 candidate starbursting protoclusters selected using Planck and Herschel data. The cumulative number counts of the 850 $\mathrm{ \mu}$m sources in 9 of 13 of these candidate protoclusters show significant overdensities compared to the field, with the probability <10−2 assuming the sources are randomly distributed in the sky. Using the 250, 350, 500, and 850 $\mathrm{ \mu}$m flux densities, we estimate the photometric redshifts of individual SCUBA-2 sources by fitting spectral energy distribution templates with an MCMC method. The photometric redshift distribution, peaking at 2 < z < 3, is consistent with that of known z > 2 protoclusters and the peak of the cosmic star formation rate density (SFRD). We find that the 850 $\mathrm{ \mu}$m sources in our candidate protoclusters have infrared luminosities of $L_{\mathrm{IR}}\gtrsim 10^{12}\, \mathrm{L}_{\odot }$ and star formation rates of SFR = (500–1500) M⊙ yr−1. By comparing with results in the literature considering only Herschel photometry, we conclude that our 13 candidate protoclusters can be categorized into four groups: six of them being high-redshift starbursting protoclusters, one being a lower redshift cluster or protocluster, three being protoclusters that contain lensed dusty star-forming galaxies or are rich in 850 $\mathrm{ \mu}$m sources, and three regionsmore »
Overdensities of submillimetre-bright sources around candidate protocluster cores selected from the South Pole Telescope survey
ABSTRACT We present APEX-LABOCA 870-μm observations of the fields surrounding the nine brightest high-redshift unlensed objects discovered in the South Pole Telescope’s (SPT) 2500 deg2 survey. Initially seen as point sources by SPT’s 1-arcmin beam, the 19-arcsec resolution of our new data enables us to deblend these objects and search for submillimetre (submm) sources in the surrounding fields. We find a total of 98 sources above a threshold of 3.7σ in the observed area of 1300 arcmin2, where the bright central cores resolve into multiple components. After applying a radial cut to our LABOCA sources to achieve uniform sensitivity and angular size across each of the nine fields, we compute the cumulative and differential number counts and compare them to estimates of the background, finding a significant overdensity of $\delta \, {\approx }\,$10 at $S_{870}= 14$ mJy. The large overdensities of bright submm sources surrounding these fields suggest that they could be candidate protoclusters undergoing massive star formation events. Photometric and spectroscopic redshifts of the unlensed central objects range from $z= $3 to 7, implying a volume density of star-forming protoclusters of approximately 0.1 Gpc−3. If the surrounding submm sources in these fields are at the same redshifts as the central objects, then the more »
- Authors:
- ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; more »
- Award ID(s):
- 1852617
- Publication Date:
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10323321
- Journal Name:
- Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Volume:
- 508
- Issue:
- 3
- ISSN:
- 0035-8711
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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ABSTRACT We measure the 850-μm source densities of 46 candidate protoclusters selected from the Planck high-z catalogue (PHz) and the Planck Catalogue of Compact Sources (PCCS) that were followed up with Herschel-SPIRE and SCUBA-2. This paper aims to search for overdensities of 850-μm sources in order to select the fields that are most likely to be genuine protoclusters. Of the 46 candidate protoclusters, 25 have significant overdensities (>5 times the field counts), 11 have intermediate overdensities (3–5 times the field counts), and 10 have no overdensity (<3 times the field counts) of 850-μm sources. We find that the enhanced number densities are unlikely to be the result of sample variance. Compared with the number counts of another sample selected from Planck’s compact source catalogues, this [PHz + PCCS]-selected sample has a higher fraction of candidate protoclusters with significant overdensities, though both samples show overdensities of 850-μm sources above intermediate level. Based on the estimated star formation rate densities (SFRDs), we suggest that both samples can efficiently select protoclusters with starbursting galaxies near the redshift at which the global field SFRD peaks (2 < z < 3). Based on the confirmation of overdensities found here, future follow-up observations on other PHz targets may greatlymore »
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- https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stab2800
