Far-infrared properties of Lyman break galaxies from cosmological simulations

Abstract

Utilizing state-of-the-art adaptive mesh refinement cosmological hydrodynamic simulations with ultra-high resolution (114 h -1pc) and a large sample size (≥3300 galaxies of stellar mass ≥109 M ⊙), we show how the stellar light of Lyman break galaxies at z = 2 is distributed between optical/ultraviolet (UV) and far-infrared (FIR) bands. With a single scalar parameter for dust obscuration we can simultaneously reproduce the observed UV luminosity function for the entire range (3-100 M ⊙yr-1) and extant FIR luminosity function at the bright end (≥20 M ⊙yr-1). We quantify that galaxies more massive or having higher star formation rate (SFR) tend to have larger amounts of dust obscuration mostly due to a trend in column density and in a minor part due to a mass (or SFR)-metallicity relation. It is predicted that the FIR luminosity function in the range SFR = 1-100 M ⊙yr-1 is a power law with a slope of about-1.7. We further predict that there is a "galaxy desert" at SFRFIR < 0.02(SFRUV/10 M ⊙ yr-1)2.1 M ⊙ yr-1 in the SFRUV - SFRFIR plane. Detailed distributions of SFRFIR at a fixed SFRUV are presented. Upcoming observations by the Atacama Large Millimeter Array should test this model. If confirmed, it validates the predictions of the standard cold dark matter model and has important implications on the intrinsic SFR function of galaxies at high redshift. © 2011. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved..