Evolution of the infrared luminosity function and its corresponding dust-obscured star formation rate density out to z~6

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Main Authors: Koprowski, M. P., Wijesekera, J. V., Dunlop, J. S., Lisiecki, K., McLeod, D. J., McLure, R. J., Michałowski, M. J., Solar, M.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Koprowski, M. P.
Wijesekera, J. V.
Dunlop, J. S.
Lisiecki, K.
McLeod, D. J.
McLure, R. J.
Michałowski, M. J.
Solar, M.
author_facet Koprowski, M. P.
Wijesekera, J. V.
Dunlop, J. S.
Lisiecki, K.
McLeod, D. J.
McLure, R. J.
Michałowski, M. J.
Solar, M.
contents We present a new determination of the evolving far-infrared galaxy luminosity function (FIR LF) and the resulting inferred evolution of dust-obscured star-formation rate density (SFRD) out to redshift z~6. To establish the evolving co-moving number density of FIR-bright objects, we make use of the high-resolution ALMA follow-up study (AS2UDS), of the JCMT SCUBA-2 Cosmology Legacy Survey (S2CLS) sub-mm imaging in the UKIDSS UDS survey field. In order to estimate the contributions of faint/low-mass sources we implement a method in which the faint-end of the IR LF is inferred by stacking (in stellar mass and redshift bins) the optical/near-infrared samples of star-forming galaxies into the appropriate FIR Herschel and sub-mm JCMT maps. Using this information we determine the faint-end slope of the FIR LF in two intermediate redshift bins (where it can be robustly established) and then adopt this result at all other redshifts. The evolution of the characteristic luminosity of the galaxy FIR LF, L*, is found to be increase monotonically with redshift, evolving as z^1.38+-0.07, while the characteristic number density is well fitted by double power-law function, constant at z<2.24 and declining as z^-4.95+-0.73 at higher redshifts. The evolution of the corresponding dust-obscured star-formation rate density was then calculated and is here compared with the results from a number of recent studies in the literature. Our analysis confirms that dust-obscured star-formation activity dominates SFRD at cosmic noon, but then becomes progressively less important with increasing redshift: while dusty star-forming galaxies are still found out to the highest redshifts explored here, UV-visible star formation dominates at z>4, and dust-obscured activity contributes <25% of SFRD by z~6.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2509_12922
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Evolution of the infrared luminosity function and its corresponding dust-obscured star formation rate density out to z~6
Koprowski, M. P.
Wijesekera, J. V.
Dunlop, J. S.
Lisiecki, K.
McLeod, D. J.
McLure, R. J.
Michałowski, M. J.
Solar, M.
Astrophysics of Galaxies
We present a new determination of the evolving far-infrared galaxy luminosity function (FIR LF) and the resulting inferred evolution of dust-obscured star-formation rate density (SFRD) out to redshift z~6. To establish the evolving co-moving number density of FIR-bright objects, we make use of the high-resolution ALMA follow-up study (AS2UDS), of the JCMT SCUBA-2 Cosmology Legacy Survey (S2CLS) sub-mm imaging in the UKIDSS UDS survey field. In order to estimate the contributions of faint/low-mass sources we implement a method in which the faint-end of the IR LF is inferred by stacking (in stellar mass and redshift bins) the optical/near-infrared samples of star-forming galaxies into the appropriate FIR Herschel and sub-mm JCMT maps. Using this information we determine the faint-end slope of the FIR LF in two intermediate redshift bins (where it can be robustly established) and then adopt this result at all other redshifts. The evolution of the characteristic luminosity of the galaxy FIR LF, L*, is found to be increase monotonically with redshift, evolving as z^1.38+-0.07, while the characteristic number density is well fitted by double power-law function, constant at z<2.24 and declining as z^-4.95+-0.73 at higher redshifts. The evolution of the corresponding dust-obscured star-formation rate density was then calculated and is here compared with the results from a number of recent studies in the literature. Our analysis confirms that dust-obscured star-formation activity dominates SFRD at cosmic noon, but then becomes progressively less important with increasing redshift: while dusty star-forming galaxies are still found out to the highest redshifts explored here, UV-visible star formation dominates at z>4, and dust-obscured activity contributes <25% of SFRD by z~6.
title Evolution of the infrared luminosity function and its corresponding dust-obscured star formation rate density out to z~6
topic Astrophysics of Galaxies
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.12922