COSMOS Observations: Sub-millimeter

Sub-millimeter observations (that is, at wavelengths between 300 microns and 1 millimeter) probe the "dusty universe": distant luminous galaxies that emit most of their energy in the infrared, because all the stellar light (UV, Optical and Near Infrared) is absorbed by interstellar dust within these objects and reradiated at longer wavelength. For distant galaxies, the effect of cosmological redshift further shifts the bulk of their emission into the sub-millimeter domain. There is strong evidence that these luminous, dusty galaxies were more numerous in the past than in the present, which suggests that they undergo strong evolution. Observing this population in the COSMOS field will allow us to measure the effect of the environment on their evolution.

In order to reach this goal, we are using BOLOCAM at the CSO to map the entire COSMOS field at a depth of a few milli-Jansky. The campaign requires a significant amount of observing time (37 nights) and is being undertaken by a collaboration between the BOLOCAM team and COSMOS team members led by A. Blain and J. Glenn.

The central region of the COSMOS field, where radio data is already available, will be also imaged with a bolometer camera at IRAM this winter at a depth of 1 mJy. This campaign is led by F. Bertoldi.