Origins of the extragalactic background at 1 mm from a combined analysis of the AzTEC and MAMBO data in GOODS-N
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Author
Penner, K.
Pope, A.
Chapin, E.L.
Greve, T.R.
Bertoldi, F.
Brodwin, M.
Chary, R.
Conselice, C. J.
Coppin, Kristen
Giavalisco, M.
Hughes, D.H.
Ivison, R.J.
Perera, T.
Scott, D.
Scott, K.
Wilson, G.
Attention
2299/12664
Abstract
We present a study of the cosmic infrared background, which is a measure of the dust-obscured activity in all galaxies in the Universe. We venture to isolate the galaxies responsible for the background at 1 mm; with spectroscopic and photometric redshifts we constrain the redshift distribution of these galaxies. We create a deep 1.16 mm map (σ∼ 0.5 mJy) by combining the AzTEC 1.1 mm and MAMBO 1.2 mm data sets in the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey North (GOODS-N) region. This combined map contains 41 secure detections, 13 of which are new. By averaging the 1.16 mm flux densities of individually undetected galaxies with 24 μm flux densities >25 μJy, we resolve 31-45 per cent of the 1.16 mm background. Repeating our analysis on the SCUBA 850 μm map, we resolve a higher percentage (40-64 per cent) of the 850 μm background. A majority of the background resolved (attributed to individual galaxies) at both wavelengths comes from galaxies at z > 1.3. If the ratio of the resolved submillimetre to millimetre background is applied to a reasonable scenario for the origins of the unresolved submillimetre background, 60-88 per cent of the total 1.16 mm background comes from galaxies at z > 1.3.