(BLOG) - Environmental: The SCUBA Half-Degree Extragalactic Survey - II. Submillimetre maps, catalogue and number counts.(Author abstract).

We present maps, source catalogue and number counts of the largest, most complete and unbiased extragalactic submillimetre survey: the 850-[mu]m SCUBA Half-Degree Extragalactic Survey (SHADES). Using the Submillimetre Common-User Bolometer Array (SCUBA) on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT), SHADES mapped two separate regions of sky: the Subaru/XMM-Newton Deep Field (SXDF) and the Lockman Hole East (LH). Encompassing 93 per cent of the overall acquired data (i.e. data taken up to 2004 February 1), these SCUBA maps cover 720 arcmin.sup.2 with a rms noise level of about 2 mJy and have uncovered >100 submillimetre galaxies. In order to ensure the utmost robustness of the resulting source catalogue, data reduction was independently carried out by four subgroups within the SHADES team, providing an unprecedented degree of reliability with respect to other SCUBA catalogues available from the literature. Individual source lists from the four groups were combined to produce a robust 120-object SHADES catalogue; an invaluable resource for follow-up campaigns aiming to study the properties of a complete and consistent sample of submillimetre galaxies. For the first time, we present deboosted flux densities for each submillimetre galaxy found in a large survey. Extensive simulations and tests were performed separately by each group in order to confirm the robustness of the source candidates and to evaluate the effects of false detections, completeness and flux density boosting. Corrections for these effects were then applied to the data to derive the submillimetre galaxy source counts. SHADES has a high enough number of detected sources that meaningful differential counts can be estimated, unlike most submillimetre surveys which have to consider integral counts. We present differential and integral source number counts and find that the differential counts are better fit with a broken power law or a Schechter function than with a single power law; the SHADES data alone significantly show that a break is required at several mJy, although the precise position of the break is not well constrained. We also find that a 850-[mu]m survey complete down to 2 mJy would resolve 20-30 per cent of the far-infrared background into point sources.

Author Affiliation:

(1)Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of British Columbia, 6224 Agricultural Road, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1, Canada

(2)Instituto Nacional de Astrofisica, Optica y Electronica, Apartado Postal 51 y 216, 72000 Puebla, Pue., Mexico

(3)Centre for Astrophysics and Planetary Science, School of Physical Sciences, University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent CT2 7NR

(4)Institute for Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, Royal Observatory, Blackford Hill, Edinburgh EH9 3HJ

(5)Caltech, 1200 E. California Blvd, Pasadena, CA 91125-0001, USA

(6)Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA

(7)Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0HA

(8)The School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham NG7 2RD

(9)Astrophysics Group, Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College, Prince Consort Rd., London SW7 2BW

(10)Institute for Computational Cosmology, University of Durham, South Road, Durham DH1 3LE

(11)Department of Astronomy, Cornell University, Space Sciences Building, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA

(12)Institut d'Estudis Espacials de Catalunya, IEEC/CSIC, c/Gran Capita 2-4, 08034, Barcelona, Spain

(13)School of Physics and Astronomy, Cardiff University, 5, The Parade, Cardiff CF24 3YB

(14)Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, Vicolo dell'Osservatorio, 5, I-35122, Padova, Italy

(15)UK ATC, Royal Observatory, Blackford Hill, Edinburgh EH9 3HJ

(16)Department of Astrophysics, Denys Wilkinson Building, Keble Road, Oxford OX1 3RH

(17)Joint Astronomy Centre, 660 N. A'ohōkū Place, University Park, Hilo, HI 96720, USA

(18)Astronomy Centre, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton BN1 9QH

(19)Mullard Space Science Laboratory (MSSL), University College London, Holmbury St. Mary, Dorking, Surrey RH5 6NT

(20)Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS), Yoshinodai 3-1-1, Sagamihara, Kanagawa 229 8510, Japan

(21)Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth P01 2EG

(22)Centre for Astrophysics Research, Science and Technology Research Institute, University of Hertfordshire, College Lane, Hatfield, Hertfordshire AL10 9AB

(23)Center for Cosmology, University of California Irvine, 4129 Frederick Reines Hall, Irvine, CA 92697-4575, USA

(24)Subaru Telescope, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, 650 N. A'ohōkū Place, Hilo, HI 96720, USA

(25)Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste, Via Tiepolo 11, I-34131, Trieste, Italy

(26)Astrophysics Research Institute, Liverpool John Moores University, Twelve Quays House, Egerton Wharf, Birkenhead CH41 1LD

(27)Department of Physics, University of Durham, South Road, Durham DH1 3LE

(28)Department of Astronomy, University of Padova, Vicolo dell'Osservatorio 2, 35122, Italy

(29)Institute for Astrophysics, University of Innsbruck, Technikerstr. 25, A-6020 Innsbruck, Austria

(30)Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics, National Research Council, 5071 West Saanich Rd, Victoria, BC V9E 2E7, Canada

Article History:

Accepted 2006 August 17. Received 2006 August 16; in original form 2006 May 30

Article note:

(★) E-mail: coppin@physics.ubc.ca

Source Citation:"The SCUBA Half-Degree Extragalactic Survey - II. Submillimetre maps, catalogue and number counts." Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 372.4 (Nov 2006): 1621(32). Academic OneFile. Gale. BROWARD COUNTY LIBRARY. 21 Sept. 2009
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