HST ultraviolet spectral energy distributions for three ultraluminous
infrared galaxies
release_anf3xsk6y5fxhbkx6hddtb7raa
by
Neil Trentham John Kormendy (Institute
for Astronomy, University of Hawaii), David Sanders (Institute for Astronomy,
University of Hawaii)
1999
Abstract
We present HST Faint Object Camera ultraviolet (230 nm and 140 nm) images of
three ultraluminous infrared galaxies (ULIG: L_ir > 10^12 L_sun) selected from
the IRAS Revised Bright Galaxy Sample. The purpose is to estimate spectral
energy distributions (SEDs) to facilitate the identification of similar objects
at high redshift in deep optical, infrared, and submm surveys.
All three galaxies (VII Zw031 = IRAS F12112+0305, and IRAS F22491-1808) were
well detected at 230 nm. Two of the three were marginally detected at 140 nm.
The fluxes, together with ground-based optical and infrared photometry, are
used to compute SEDs over a wide wavelength range. The measured SEDs drop from
the optical to the ultraviolet, but the magnitude of the drop ranges from a
factor of ~3 in IRAS F22491-1808 to a factor of ~100 in VIIZw031. This is most
likely due to different internal extinctions. Such an interpretation is also
suggested by extrapolating to ultraviolet wavelengths the optical internal
extinction measured in VIIZw031. K-corrections are calculated to determine the
colors of the sample galaxies as seen at high redshifts. Galaxies like VIIZw031
have very low observed rest-frame UV fluxes which means that such galaxies at
high redshift will be extremely red or even missing in optical surveys. On the
other hand, galaxies like IRAS F12112+0305 and IRAS F22491-1808, if seen at
high redshift, would be sufficiently blue that they would not easily be
distinguished from normal field galaxies, and therefore, identified as ULIGs.
The implication is then that submillimeter surveys may be the only means of
properly identifying the majority of ULIGs at high redshift.
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