Letter to the Editor

The HerMES SPIRE submillimeter local luminosity function^*

¹ Dipartimento di Astronomia, Università di Padova, vicolo Osservatorio, 3, 35122 Padova, Italy e-mail: mattia@mattiavaccari.net
² Herschel Science Centre, European Space Astronomy Centre, Villanueva de la Cañada, 28691 Madrid, Spain
³ Dept. of Physics & Astronomy, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697, USA
⁴ Institute for Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, Royal Observatory, Blackford Hill, Edinburgh EH9 3HJ, UK
⁵ Cardiff School of Physics and Astronomy, Cardiff University, Queens Buildings, The Parade, Cardiff CF24 3AA, UK
⁶ Laboratoire AIM-Paris-Saclay, CEA/DSM/Irfu – CNRS – Université Paris Diderot, CE-Saclay, pt courrier 131, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France
⁷ Astrophysics Group, Imperial College London, Blackett Laboratory, Prince Consort Road, London SW7 2AZ, UK
⁸ California Institute of Technology, 1200 E. California Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
⁹ Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA
¹⁰ Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille, OAMP, Université Aix-marseille, CNRS, 38 rue Frédéric Joliot-Curie, 13388 Marseille Cedex 13, France
¹¹ Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), 38200 La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain
¹² Departamento de Astrofísica, Universidad de La Laguna (ULL), 38205 La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain
¹³ Dept. of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences, CASA 389-UCB, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA
¹⁴ Observational Cosmology Lab, Code 665, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA
¹⁵ Astronomy Centre, Dept. of Physics & Astronomy, University of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9QH, UK
¹⁶ Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0HA, UK
¹⁷ Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of British Columbia, 6224 Agricultural Road, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1, Canada
¹⁸ ESO, Karl-Schwarzschild-Str. 2, 85748 Garching bei München, Germany
¹⁹ Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, MS65, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA02138, USA
²⁰ UK Astronomy Technology Centre, Royal Observatory, Blackford Hill, Edinburgh EH9 3HJ, UK
²¹ Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale (IAS), bâtiment 121, Université Paris-Sud 11 and CNRS (UMR 8617), 91405 Orsay, France
²² Infrared Processing and Analysis Center, MS 100-22, California Institute of Technology, JPL, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
²³ School of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Manchester, Alan Turing Building, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL, UK
²⁴ Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris, UMR 7095, CNRS, UPMC Univ. Paris 06, 98bis boulevard Arago, 75014 Paris, France
²⁵ Mullard Space Science Laboratory, University College London, Holmbury St. Mary, Dorking, Surrey RH5 6NT, UK
²⁶ Space Science & Technology Department, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Chilton, Didcot, Oxfordshire OX11 0QX, UK
²⁷ Institute for Space Imaging Science, University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, Alberta, T1K 3M4, Canada
²⁸ Astrophysics, Oxford University, Keble Road, Oxford OX1 3RH, UK
²⁹ Centre for Astrophysics Research, University of Hertfordshire, College Lane, Hatfield, Hertfordshire AL10 9AB, UK

Received: 1 April 2010
Accepted: 27 April 2010

Abstract

Local luminosity functions are fundamental benchmarks for high-redshift galaxy formation and evolution studies as well as for models describing these processes. Determining the local luminosity function in the submillimeter range can help to better constrain in particular the bolometric luminosity density in the local Universe, and Herschel offers the first opportunity to do so in an unbiased way by imaging large sky areas at several submillimeter wavelengths. We present the first Herschel measurement of the submillimeter 0 < z < 0.2 local luminosity function and infrared bolometric (8–1000 μm) local luminosity density based on SPIRE data from the HerMES Herschel key program over 14.7 deg². Flux measurements in the three SPIRE channels at 250, 350 and 500 μm are combined with Spitzer photometry and archival data. We fit the observed optical-to-submillimeter spectral energy distribution of SPIRE sources and use the 1/V_max estimator to provide the first constraints on the monochromatic 250, 350 and 500 μm as well as on the infrared bolometric (8–1000 μm) local luminosity function based on Herschel data. We compare our results with modeling predictions and find a slightly more abundant local submillimeter population than predicted by a number of models. Our measurement of the infrared bolometric (8–1000 μm) local luminosity function suggests a flat slope at low luminosity, and the inferred local luminosity density, 1.31_-0.21^+0.24 × 10⁸  Mpc^-3, is consistent with the range of values reported in recent literature.