The ALPINE-ALMA [C II] Survey: [C II] 158 mu m Emission Line Luminosity Functions at z similar to 4-6

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

Documents

  • Fulltext

    Submitted manuscript, 857 KB, PDF document

  • Lin Yan
  • A. Sajina
  • F. Loiacono
  • G. Lagache
  • M. Bethermin
  • A. Faisst
  • M. Ginolfi
  • O. Le Fevre
  • C. Gruppioni
  • P. L. Capak
  • P. Cassata
  • D. Schaerer
  • J. D. Silverman
  • S. Bardelli
  • M. Dessauges-Zavadsky
  • A. Cimatti
  • N. P. Hathi
  • B. C. Lemaux
  • E. Ibar
  • G. C. Jones
  • Anton M. Koekemoer
  • P. A. Oesch
  • M. Talia
  • F. Pozzi
  • D. A. Riechers
  • L. A. M. Tasca
  • L. Vallini
  • D. Vergani
  • G. Zamorani
  • E. Zucca

We present the [C II] 158 mu m line luminosity functions (LFs) at z similar to 4-6 using the ALMA observations of 118 sources, which are selected to have UV luminosity M-1500A < -20.2 and optical spectroscopic redshifts in COSMOS and ECDF-S. Of the 118 targets, 75 have significant [C II] detections and 43 are upper limits. This is by far the largest sample of [C II] detections, which allows us to set constraints on the volume density of [C II] emitters at z similar to 4-6. But because this is a UV-selected sample, we are missing [C II]-bright but UV-faint sources, making our constraints strict lower limits. Our derived LFs are statistically consistent with the z similar to 0 [C II] LF at 10(8.25)-10(9.75)L. We compare our results with the upper limits of the [C II] LF derived from serendipitous sources in the ALPINE maps. We also infer the [C II] LFs based on published far-IR and CO LFs at z similar to 4-6. Combining our robust lower limits with these additional estimates, we set further constraints on the true number density of [C II] emitters at z similar to 4-6. These additional LF estimates are largely above our LF at L-[CII] > 10(9)L, suggesting that UV-faint but [C II]-bright sources likely make significant contributions to the [C II] emitter volume density. When we include all the LF estimates, we find that available model predictions underestimate the number densities of [C II] emitters at z similar to 4-6. Finally, we set a constraint on the molecular gas mass density at z similar to 4-6, with rho(mol) similar to (2-7) x 10(7)M Mpc(-3). This is broadly consistent with previous studies.

Original languageEnglish
Article number147
JournalAstrophysical Journal
Volume905
Issue number2
Number of pages10
ISSN0004-637X
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Dec 2020

    Research areas

  • High-redshift galaxies, Emission line galaxies, Luminosity function, Warm ionized medium, Warm neutral medium, Molecular gas, STAR-FORMATION, GALAXIES, EPOCH, DEEP, GAS

ID: 271825679