First results from HerMES on the evolution of the submillimetre luminosity function

July 2010 • 2010A&A...518L..23E

Authors • Eales, S. A. • Raymond, G. • Roseboom, I. G. • Altieri, B. • Amblard, A. • Arumugam, V. • Auld, R. • Aussel, H. • Babbedge, T. • Blain, A. • Bock, J. • Boselli, A. • Brisbin, D. • Buat, V. • Burgarella, D. • Castro-Rodríguez, N. • Cava, A. • Chanial, P. • Clements, D. L. • Conley, A. • Conversi, L. • Cooray, A. • Dowell, C. D. • Dwek, E. • Dye, S. • Elbaz, D. • Farrah, D. • Fox, M. • Franceschini, A. • Gear, W. • Glenn, J. • González Solares, E. A. • Griffin, M. • Harwit, M. • Hatziminaoglou, E. • Huang, J. • Ibar, E. • Isaak, K. • Ivison, R. J. • Lagache, G. • Levenson, L. • Lonsdale, C. J. • Lu, N. • Madden, S. • Maffei, B. • Mainetti, G. • Marchetti, L. • Morrison, G. E. • Mortier, A. M. J. • Nguyen, H. T. • O'Halloran, B. • Oliver, S. J. • Omont, A. • Owen, F. N. • Page, M. J. • Pannella, M. • Panuzzo, P. • Papageorgiou, A. • Pearson, C. P. • Pérez-Fournon, I. • Pohlen, M. • Rawlings, J. I. • Rigopoulou, D. • Rizzo, D. • Rowan-Robinson, M. • Sánchez Portal, M. • Schulz, B. • Scott, D. • Seymour, N. • Shupe, D. L. • Smith, A. J. • Stevens, J. A. • Strazzullo, V. • Symeonidis, M. • Trichas, M. • Tugwell, K. E. • Vaccari, M. • Valtchanov, I. • Vigroux, L. • Wang, L. • Ward, R. • Wright, G. • Xu, C. K. • Zemcov, M.

Abstract • We have carried out two extremely deep surveys with SPIRE, one of the two cameras on Herschel, at 250 μm, close to the peak of the far-infrared background. We have used the results to investigate the evolution of the rest-frame 250-μm luminosity function out to z = 2. We find evidence for strong evolution out to z ≃ 1 but evidence for at most weak evolution beyond this redshift. Our results suggest that a significant part of the stars and metals in the universe today were formed at z preceq 1.4 in spiral galaxies.

Herschel is an ESA space observatory with science instruments provided by European-led Principal Investigator consortia and with important participation from NASA.

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Dave Shupe

Senior Scientist