Sieging HELM’s deep: PRIMA unveils the far-infrared properties of highly extincted low-mass galaxies
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Although the majority of star-forming galaxies show a tight correlation between stellar mass and dust extinction, recent James Webb Space Telescope observations have revealed a peculiar population of Highly Extincted Low-Mass (HELM) galaxies, which could revolutionize our understanding of dust production mechanisms. To fully understand the dust content of these galaxies, which are a minority of the overall galaxy population, far-infrared observations over large areas are pivotal. We derive the expected PRIMAger, the far-IR (24 to 235 μm) imaging camera proposed for the Probe far-IR Mission for Astrophysics, fluxes for a set of photometric candidates HELM galaxies. Taking into account a deep survey of 1000 h over 1 deg2, we expect to detect around 3.1×104 HELM sources in at least one PRIMAger filter, 100 of which are at z=1−1.5. For 32% of this sample, there will be observations in at least four PRIMAger filters, covering at least the 90 to 240 μm wavelength range, which will allow us to obtain a detailed fit of the dust emission and estimate the dust mass.
Language: English
Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W4410123123