Goods-herschel: Separating high-redshift active galactic nuclei and star-forming galaxies using infrared color diagnostics

Abstract

We have compiled a large sample of 151 high-redshift (z = 0.5-4) galaxies selected at 24 μm (S 24 > 100 μJy) in the GOODS-N and ECDFS fields for which we have deep Spitzer IRS spectroscopy, allowing us to decompose the mid-infrared spectrum into contributions from star formation and activity in the galactic nuclei. In addition, we have a wealth of photometric data from Spitzer IRAC/MIPS and Herschel PACS/SPIRE. We explore how effective different infrared color combinations are at separating our mid-IR spectroscopically determined active galactic nuclei from our star-forming galaxies. We look in depth at existing IRAC color diagnostics, and we explore new color-color diagnostics combining mid-IR, far-IR, and near-IR photometry, since these combinations provide the most detail about the shape of a source's IR spectrum. An added benefit of using a color that combines far-IR and mid-IR photometry is that it is indicative of the power source driving the IR luminosity. For our data set, the optimal color selections are S 250/S 24 versus S 8/S 3.6 and S 100/S 24 versus S 8/S 3.6; both diagnostics have ∼10% contamination rate in the regions occupied primarily by star-forming galaxies and active galactic nuclei, respectively. Based on the low contamination rate, these two new IR color-color diagnostics are ideal for estimating both the mid-IR power source of a galaxy when spectroscopy is unavailable and the dominant power source contributing to the IR luminosity. In the absence of far-IR data, we present color diagnostics using the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer mid-IR bands which can efficiently select out high-z (z ∼ 2) star-forming galaxies. © 2013. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved..