Cosmic star formation history with tomographic cosmic infrared background-galaxy cross-correlation

¹ Ruhr University Bochum, Faculty of Physics and Astronomy, Astronomical Institute (AIRUB), German Centre for Cosmological Lensing, 44780 Bochum, Germany
e-mail: yanza21@astro.rub.de
² Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of British Columbia, 6224 Agricultural Road, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1, Canada
³ Center for Theoretical Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Al. Lotników 32/46, 02-668 Warsaw, Poland
⁴ Center for Cosmology and Particle Physics, Department of Physics, New York University, New York, NY 10003, USA
⁵ Institute for Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, Royal Observatory, Blackford Hill, Edinburgh EH9 3HJ, UK

Received: 4 April 2022
Accepted: 14 June 2022

Abstract

In this work we present a new method for probing the star formation history of the Universe, namely tomographic cross-correlation between the cosmic infrared background (CIB) and galaxy samples. The galaxy samples are from the Kilo-Degree Survey (KiDS), while the CIB maps are made from Planck sky maps at 353, 545, and 857 GHz. We measure the cross-correlation in harmonic space within 100 < ℓ < 2000 with a significance of 43σ. We model the cross-correlation with a halo model, which links CIB anisotropies to star formation rates (SFRs) and galaxy abundance. We assume that the SFR has a lognormal dependence on halo mass and that the galaxy abundance follows the halo occupation distribution (HOD) model. The cross-correlations give a best-fit maximum star formation efficiency of η_max = 0.41_−0.14^+0.09 at a halo mass log₁₀(M_peak/M_⊙) = 12.14 ± 0.36. The derived star formation rate density (SFRD) is well constrained up to z ∼ 1.5. The constraining power at high redshift is mainly limited by the KiDS survey depth. We also show that the constraint is robust to uncertainties in the estimated redshift distributions of the galaxy sample. A combination with external SFRD measurements from previous studies gives log₁₀(M_peak/M_⊙) = 12.42_−0.19^+0.35. This tightens the SFRD constraint up to z = 4, yielding a peak SFRD of 0.09_−0.004^+0.003 M_⊙ yr⁻¹ Mpc⁻³ at z = 1.74_−0.02^+0.06, corresponding to a lookback time of 10.05_−0.03^+0.12 Gyr. Both constraints are consistent, and the derived SFRD agrees with previous studies and simulations. This validates the use of CIB tomography as an independent probe of the star formation history of the Universe. Additionally, we estimate the galaxy bias, b, of KiDS galaxies from the constrained HOD parameters and obtain an increasing bias from b = 1.1_−0.31^+0.17 at z = 0 to b = 1.96_−0.64^+0.18 at z = 1.5, which highlights the potential of this method as a probe of galaxy abundance. Finally, we provide a forecast for future galaxy surveys and conclude that, due to their considerable depth, future surveys will yield a much tighter constraint on the evolution of the SFRD.