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The ALPINE-ALMA [CII] survey. Little to no evolution in the [CII]-SFR relation over the last 13 Gyr

Accepted version
Peer-reviewed

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Authors

Schaerer, D 
Ginolfi, M 
Bethermin, M 
Fudamoto, Y 
Oesch, PA 

Abstract

The [CII] 158 micron line is one of the strongest IR emission lines, which has been shown to trace the star-formation rate (SFR) of galaxies in the nearby Universe and up to z∼2. Whether this is also the case at higher redshift and in the early Universe remains debated. The ALPINE survey, which targeted 118 star-forming galaxies at 4.4<z<5.9, provides a new opportunity to examine this question with the first statistical dataset. Using the ALPINE data and earlier measurements from the literature we examine the relation between the [CII] luminosity and the SFR over the entire redshift range from z∼4−8. ALPINE galaxies, which are both detected in [CII] and dust continuum, show a good agreement with the local L([CII])-SFR relation. Galaxies undetected in the continuum with ALMA are found to be over-luminous in [CII], when the UV SFR is used. After accounting for dust-obscured star formation, by an amount SFR(IR)SFR(UV) on average, which results from two different stacking methods and SED fitting, the ALPINE galaxies show an L([CII])-SFR relation comparable to the local one. When [CII] non-detections are taken into account, the slope may be marginally steeper at high-z, although this is still somewhat uncertain. When compared in a homogeneous manner, the $z>6 $ [CII] measurements (detections and upper limits) do not behave very differently from the z∼4−6 data. We find a weak dependence of L([CII])/SFR on the Lyman-alpha equivalent width. Finally, we find that the ratio L([CII])/LIR ∼(1−3)×10−3 for the ALPINE sources, comparable to that of "normal" galaxies at lower redshift. Our analysis, which includes the largest sample (∼150 galaxies) of [CII] measurements at z>4 available so far, suggests no or little evolution of the L([CII])-SFR relation over the last 13 Gyr of cosmic time.

Description

Keywords

galaxies: high-redshift, galaxies: star formation, galaxies: formation

Journal Title

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

0365-0138
1432-0746

Volume Title

643

Publisher

EDP Sciences

Rights

All rights reserved
Sponsorship
Science and Technology Facilities Council (ST/M001172/1)
European Research Council (695671)
STFC ERC