Anna Sajina et al. 2007 ApJ 664 713 doi:10.1086/519446
Anna Sajina1, Lin Yan1, Lee Armus1, Philip Choi2, Dario Fadda3, George Helou1 and Henrik Spoon4
Show affiliationsWe present mid-IR spectral decomposition of a sample of 48 Spitzer-selected ULIRGs spanning z ~ 1-3 and likely LIR ~ 1012-1013 L
. Our study aims at quantifying the star formation and active galactic nucleus (AGN) processes in these sources that recent results suggest have evolved strongly between the observed epoch and today. To do this, we study the mid-IR contribution of PAH emission, continuum, and extinction. About
of our sample are continuum (i.e., AGN) dominated sources, but ~60% of these show PAH emission, suggesting the presence of star formation activity. These sources have redder mid-IR colors than typical optically selected quasars. About 25% of our sample have strong PAH emission, but none are likely to be pure starbursts as reflected in their relatively high 5 μm hot dust continua. However, their steep 30-14 μm slopes suggest that star formation might dominate the total infrared luminosity. Six of our z ~ 2 sources have EW6.2
0.3 μm and L14 μm
1012 L
(implying LIR
1013 L
). At these luminosities, such high EW6.2 ULIRGs do not exist in the local universe. We find a median optical depth at 9.7 μm of
τ9.7 μm
= 1.4. This is consistent with local IRAS-selected ULIRGs but differs from early results on SCUBA-selected z ~ 2 ULIRGs. Similar to local ULIRGs, about 25% of our sample shows extreme obscuration (τ9.7 μm
3), suggesting buried nuclei. In general, we find that our sources are similar to local ULIRGs but are an order of magnitude more luminous. It is not clear whether our z ~ 2 ULIRGs are simply scaled-up versions of local ULIRGs or subject to fundamentally different physical processes.
galaxies: active; galaxies: high-redshift; infrared: galaxies
Issue 2 (2007 August 1)
Received 2007 January 26, accepted for publication 2007 April 12
An Erratum for this article has been published in 2010 ApJ 715 1592
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