Herschel-ATLAS: Evolution of the 250 µm luminosity function out to z = 0.5
Rodighiero, G.; Valtchanov, I.; Ivison, R. J.; Gardner, Jonathan P.; Clements, D. L.; de Zotti, G.; Herranz, D.; Lagache, G.; Scott, D.; van Kampen, E.; Dunlop, J. S.; Burgarella, D.; Bremer, M.; Fritz, J.; Cooray, A.; Ibar, E.; Page, M. J.; Rigopoulou, D.; Negrello, M.; Auld, R.; Baes, M.; Cava, A.; Dariush, A.; Dunne, L.; Dye, S.; Eales, S.; Frayer, D.; Jarvis, M. J.; Leeuw, L.; Maddox, S.; Michałowski, M. J.; Serjeant, S.; Verma, A.; Amblard, A.; Pohlen, M.; Gomez, H. L.; van der Werf, P. P.; Blain, A. W.; Pascale, E.; Gonzalez-Nuevo, J.; Prescott, M.; Thompson, M. A.; Bonfield, D. G.; Baldry, I. K.; Buttiglione, S.; Jones, D. H.; Loveday, J.; Norberg, P.; Sharp, R.; Smith, D. J. B.; Temi, P.; Sibthorpe, B.; Cameron, E.; Popescu, C.; Rigby, E.; Tuffs, R.; Peacock, J. A.; Hopkins, A.; Driver, S.; Kelvin, L.; Liske, J.; Robotham, A.; Bamford, S.; Croom, S.; Lopez-Caniego, M.; Samui, S.; Hill, D.; Parkinson, H.
United Kingdom, United States, Belgium, France, Italy, Switzerland, Spain, Australia, Germany, Canada, Netherlands
Abstract
We have determined the luminosity function of 250 μm-selected galaxies detected in the ~14 deg2 science demonstration region of the Herschel-ATLAS project out to a redshift of z = 0.5. Our findings very clearly show that the luminosity function evolves steadily out to this redshift. By selecting a sub-group of sources within a fixed luminosity interval where incompleteness effects are minimal, we have measured a smooth increase in the comoving 250 μm luminosity density out to z = 0.2 where it is 3.6+1.4-0.9 times higher than the local value.
Herschel is an ESA space observatory with science instruments provided by European-led Principal Investigator consortia and with important participation from NASA.