A flux-limited sample of dusty star-forming galaxies from the Atacama Cosmology Telescope: physical properties and the case for multiplicity

Abstract

We report the modeling of the millimeter and far-infrared spectral energy distributions of 71 dusty star-forming galaxies (DSFGs) selected by the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) with a lower flux-density limit of 8 mJy at 220 GHz (1.4 mm). All sources were cross-identified with Herschel surveys at 500, 350, and 250 {\mu}m, and nineteen of our sources were observed at with the Submillimeter Array. A probabilistic cataloging algorithm, PCAT, favors multiple unresolved flux components in the Herschel data for the majority of ACT-selected DSFGs. We compare the derived physical properties of the DSFGs obtained from modeling the flux densities with those from similar studies of both lensed and unlensed DSFG populations. We find the median, 16th and 84th percentiles for the following model parameters: redshift zphot=3.3(+0.7)(-0.6), apparent size {\mu}d=5.2(+0.9)(-2.4) kpc, apparent dust mass log10({\mu}Md/Msun)=9.14(+0.12)(-0.04) and cutoff temperature Tc=35.6(+4.8)(-1.6) K, and the corresponding apparent far-infrared luminosity log10({\mu}LIR/Lsun)=13.6(+0.2)(-0.3), where {\mu} is lensing magnification. While many of the properties broadly agree with those of samples of primarily lensed DSFGs, we exercise caution in interpreting them. ACT's lower flux limit, the PCAT decomposition, and the higher-resolution SMA observations all suggest that some fraction of these DSFGs are likely to be unlensed and possibly multiples. The SMA data indicate that at least fourteen out of nineteen sources are such, either via "missing" flux in comparison to the ensemble model or detection of additional sources in the fields. Additional high-resolution follow-up and targeted redshift observations are needed to better understand this flux-limited sample of DSFGs.