Year: 2015
Type: article
Abstract: We present 20 Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer ( WISE )-selected galaxies with bolometric luminosities L bol > 10 14 L ☉ , including five with infrared luminosities L IR ≡ L (rest 8–1000 μ m) > 10 14 L ☉ . These "extremely luminous infrared galaxies," or ELIRGs, were discovered using the " W 1 W 2-dropout" selection criteria which requires marginal or non-detections at 3.4 and 4.6 μ m ( W 1 and W 2, respectively) but strong detections at 12 and 22 μ m in the WISE survey. Their spectral energy distributions are dominated by emission at rest-frame 4–10 μ m, suggesting that hot dust with T d ∼ 450 K is responsible for the high luminosities. These galaxies are likely powered by highly obscured active galactic nuclei (AGNs), and there is no evidence suggesting these systems are beamed or lensed. We compare this WISE -selected sample with 116 optically selected quasars that reach the same L bol level, corresponding to the most luminous unobscured quasars in the literature. We find that the rest-frame 5.8 and 7.8 μ m luminosities of the WISE -selected ELIRGs can be 30%–80% higher than that of the unobscured quasars. The existence of AGNs with L bol > 10 14 L ☉ at z > 3 suggests that these supermassive black holes are born with large mass, or have very rapid mass assembly. For black hole seed masses ∼10 3 M ☉ , either sustained super-Eddington accretion is needed, or the radiative efficiency must be <15%, implying a black hole with slow spin, possibly due to chaotic accretion.
Source: The Astrophysical Journal
Authors: Chao-Wei Tsai, Peter R. M. Eisenhardt, Jingwen Wu, Daniel Stern, Roberto J. Assef, Andrew W. Blain, Carrie R. Bridge, Dominic J. Benford, Roc M. Cutri, Roger L. Griffith, Thomas H. Jarrett, Carol J. Lonsdale, Frank J. Masci, Leonidas A. Moustakas, Sara M. Petty, Jack Sayers, S. Adam Stanford, Edward L. Wright, Lin Yan, David T. Leisawitz, Fengchuan Liu, Amy K. Mainzer, Ian S. McLean, Deborah L. Padgett, Michael F. Skrutskie, Christopher R. Gelino, Charles A. Beichman, Stéphanie Juneau
Institutions: California Institute of Technology, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, University of California, Los Angeles, Universidad Diego Portales, University of Leicester, Goddard Space Flight Center, Infrared Processing and Analysis Center, Pennsylvania State University, University of Cape Town, National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Virginia Tech, University of California, Davis, University of Virginia, Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives, Institut de Recherche sur les Lois Fondamentales de l'Univers
Language: English
Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
Funders: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, W. M. Keck Foundation, Oak Ridge Associated Universities, California Institute of Technology, NASA Exoplanet Science Institute, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, University of California, Los Angeles, Science and Technology Facilities Council, Comisión Nacional de Investigación Científica y Tecnológica
Award: Leicester PATT Linked Grant
OpenAlex ID: W1520762196