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Paper: Future Continuum Surveys
Volume: 375, From Z-Machines to ALMA: (Sub)Millimeter Spectroscopy of Galaxies
Page: 104
Authors: Blain, A.W.
Abstract: A significant population of distant sub-millimeter-selected galaxies (SMGs) with powerful dust continuum emission, which matches the luminosity of the brightest QSOs and exceeds that of most extreme local galaxies detected by IRAS, has been known for almost a decade. The full range of powerful ground- and space-based facilities have been used to investigate them, and a good deal of information about their properties has been gathered. This meeting addresses some of the key questions for better understanding their properties. While continuum detection is relatively efficient, a spectrum is always required both to determine a distance/luminosity, and to probe astrophysics: excitation conditions, total mass, mass distribution, and degree of dynamical relaxation. Once a redshift is known, then the associated stellar mass can be found, and more specialized spectrographs can be used to search for specific line diagnostics. The first generation of submm surveys has yielded a combined sample of several hundred SMGs. Here we discuss the size and follow-up of future SMG samples that will be compiled in much larger numbers by JCMT-SCUBA-2, Herschel, Planck, LMT, ALMA, and a future large-aperture (25m-class) submm/far-IR wide-field ground-based telescope, CCAT, planned to operate at a Chilean site even better than ALMA’s. Issues concerning placing SMGs in the context of their environments and other populations of high-redshift galaxies are discussed.
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