Revealing the Most Extreme Starbursts in the Early Universe
Abstract
We have developed a systematic method to select high-redshift massive, dusty starbursts using their far-IR red colors in data from the Herschel Space Observatory. Application to science demonstration data from the HerMES project has shown that this population is numerous (~2 per square degree), and follow up of the first few sources spectroscopically has yielded redshifts from 4 to 6.3. The existence of such extreme starbursts (> 1000 solar masses per year) within 1.6 Gyr of the Big Bang is very difficult to reconcile with models of galaxy formation and evolution, which predict only one such source per hundreds to thousands of square degrees. Here we propose to explore the nature of this population by: (a) developing more efficient methods to select these systems in Herschel data, (b) applying them to several hundred degrees of publicly available data from the HerMES and H-ATLAS surveys, and (c) use the resulting catalog to statistically characterize this population - a critical step in understanding what modifications must be made to current models. Our proposal will increase the number of known high-z massive starburst candidates by an order of magnitude. Taking advantage of the exceptional archival data available in these fields from Spitzer, WISE, and HST, we will study physical conditions in these extreme starbursts, placing them in the context of the overall star formation history of these systems.
- Publication:
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NASA ADAP Proposal
- Pub Date:
- 2012
- Bibcode:
- 2012adap.prop..139C