The Balloon‐borne Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope: BLAST

Pascale, Enzo; Ade, Peter A. R.; Bock, J. J.; Chapin, Edward L.; Chung, J.; Devlin, Mark J.; Dicker, Simon; Griffin, M.; Gundersen, Joshua O.; Halpern, M.; Hargrave, Peter Charles; Hughes, D. H.; Klein, Jeff; MacTavish, C. J.; Marsden, G.; Martin, Pierrick; Martin, T. G.; Mauskopf, Philip Daniel; Netterfield, C. B.; Olmi, L.; Patanchon, G.; Rex, M.; Scott, D.; Semisch, Christopher; Thomas, Nicholas E.; Truch, Matthew D. P.; Tucker, C.; Tucker, Gregory S.; Viero, Marco P.; Wiebe, Donald

doi:10.1086/588541

Cited by 156 publications

(178 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…8 with the result of other analyses: Herschel Astrophysical TeraHertz Large Area Survey (H-ATLAS, Clements et al 2010), Herschel MultiTiered Extragalactic Survey (HerMES) SDP (Oliver et al 2010) and DR1 (Béthermin et al 2012a), together with a statistical analysis from Glenn et al (2010). Finally, we also include the results of (Baloon-borne Large-Aperture Submillimeter Telescope BLAST, Pascale et al 2008), an experiment realized using a precursor of the SPIRE instrument.…”

Section: Number Countsmentioning

confidence: 99%

TheHerschelVirgo Cluster Survey

Pappalardo

Bendo

Bianchi

et al. 2015

A&A

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Aims. We present three independent catalogs of point-sources extracted from SPIRE images at 250, 350, and 500 µm, acquired with the Herschel Space Observatory as a part of the Herschel Virgo Cluster Survey (HeViCS). The catalogs have been cross-correlated to consistently extract the photometry at SPIRE wavelengths for each object. Methods. Sources have been detected using an iterative loop. The source positions are determined by estimating the likelihood to be a real source for each peak on the maps, according to the criterion defined in the sourceExtractorSussextractor task. The flux densities are estimated using the sourceExtractorTimeline, a timeline-based point source fitter that also determines the fitting procedure with the width of the Gaussian that best reproduces the source considered. Afterwards, each source is subtracted from the maps, removing a Gaussian function in every position with the full width half maximum equal to that estimated in sourceExtractorTimeline. This procedure improves the robustness of our algorithm in terms of source identification. We calculate the completeness and the flux accuracy by injecting artificial sources in the timeline and estimate the reliability of the catalog using a permutation method. Results. The HeViCS catalogs contain about 52 000, 42 200, and 18 700 sources selected at 250, 350, and 500 µm above 3σ and are ∼75%, 62%, and 50% complete at flux densities of 20 mJy at 250, 350, 500 µm, respectively. We then measured source number counts at 250, 350, and 500 µm and compare them with previous data and semi-analytical models. We also cross-correlated the catalogs with the Sloan Digital Sky Survey to investigate the redshift distribution of the nearby sources. From this crosscorrelation, we select ∼2000 sources with reliable fluxes and a high signal-to-noise ratio, finding an average redshift z ∼ 0.3 ± 0.22 and 0.25 (16-84 percentile). Conclusions. The number counts at 250, 350, and 500 µm show an increase in the slope below 200 mJy, indicating a strong evolution in number of density for galaxies at these fluxes. In general, models tend to overpredict the counts at brighter flux densities, underlying the importance of studying the Rayleigh-Jeans part of the spectral energy distribution to refine the theoretical recipes of the models. Our iterative method for source identification allowed the detection of a family of 500 µm sources that are not foreground objects belonging to Virgo and not found in other catalogs.

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Section: Number Countsmentioning

confidence: 99%

TheHerschelVirgo Cluster Survey

Pappalardo

Bendo

Bianchi

et al. 2015

A&A

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“…This scenario changed recently thanks to submillimeter continuum surveys based on telescopes placed on (sub)orbital platforms, namely the Balloon-borne Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope (BLAST; Pascale et al 2008) and the Herschel Space Observatory (HSO). BLAST carried out simultaneous observations at λ = 250, 350, and 500 μm of several Galactic star forming regions (SFRs; Chapin et al 2008;Netterfield et al 2009;Olmi et al 2009;Roy et al 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

On the shape of the mass-function of dense clumps in the Hi-GAL fields

Olmi

Anglés-Alcázar

Elia

et al. 2013

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Context. Stars form in dense, dusty clumps of molecular clouds, but little is known about their origin and evolution. In particular, the relationship between the mass distribution of these clumps (also known as the clump mass function or CMF) and the stellar initial mass function (IMF), is still poorly understood. Aims. To discern the "true" shape of the CMF and to better understand how the CMF may evolve toward the IMF, large samples of bona-fide pre-and proto-stellar clumps are required. The sensitive observations of the Herschel Space Observatory (HSO) are now allowing us to look at large clump populations in various clouds with different physical conditions. Methods. We analyze two fields in the Galactic plane mapped by HSO during its science demonstration phase (SDP), as part of the more complete and unbiased Herschel infrared GALactic Plane Survey (Hi-GAL). These fields underwent a source-extraction and flux-estimation pipeline, which allowed us to obtain a sample with thousands of clumps. Starless and proto-stellar clumps were separated using both color and positional criteria to find those coincident with MIPS 24 μm sources. We describe the probability density functions of the power-law and lognormal models that were used to fit the CMFs. For the lognormal model we applied several statistical techniques to the data and compared their results. Results. The CMFs of the two SDP fields show very similar shapes, but very different mass scales. This similarity is confirmed by the values of the best-fit parameters of either the power-law or lognormal model. The power-law model leads to almost identical CMF slopes, whereas the lognormal model shows that the CMFs have similar widths. Conclusions. The similar CMF shape but different mass scale represents an evidence that the overall process of star formation in the two regions is very different. When comparing with the IMF, we find that the width of the IMF is narrower than the measured widths of the CMF in the two SDP fields. This may suggest that an additional mass selection occurs in later stages of gravitational collapse.

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“…The instrument BLAST (Balloon-borne Large-Aperture Submillimeter Telescope, Pascale et al 2008) performed the first wide and deep survey in the 250-500 μm range (Devlin et al 2009) before the forthcoming Herschel results. Marsden et al (2009) show that sources detected by Spitzer at 24 μm emit the main part of the submillimeter background.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Submillimeter number counts at 250 μm, 350 μm and 500 μm in BLAST data

Béthermin

Dole

Cousin

et al. 2010

A&A

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Context. The instrument BLAST (Balloon-borne Large-Aperture Submillimeter Telescope) performed the first deep and wide extragalactic survey at 250, 350 and 500 μm. The extragalactic number counts at these wavelengths are important constraints for modeling the evolution of infrared galaxies. Aims. We estimate the extragalactic number counts in the BLAST data, which allow a comparison with the results of the P(D) analysis of Patanchon et al. (2009). Methods. We use three methods to identify the submillimeter sources. 1) Blind extraction using an algorithm when the observed field is confusion-limited and another one when the observed field is instrumental-noise-limited. The photometry is computed with a new simple and quick point spread function (PSF) fitting routine (FASTPHOT). We use Monte-Carlo simulations (addition of artificial sources) to characterize the efficiency of this extraction, and correct the flux boosting and the Eddington bias. 2) Extraction using a prior. We use the Spitzer 24 μm galaxies as a prior to probe slightly fainter submillimeter flux densities. 3) A stacking analysis of the Spitzer 24 μm galaxies in the BLAST data to probe the peak of the differential submillimeter counts. Results. With the blind extraction, we reach 97 mJy, 83 mJy and 76 mJy at 250 μm, 350 μm and 500 μm respectively with a 95% completeness. With the prior extraction, we reach 76 mJy, 63 mJy, 49 mJy at 250 μm, 350 μm and 500 μm respectively. With the stacking analysis, we reach 6.2 mJy, 5.2 mJy and 3.5 mJy at 250 μm, 350 μm and 500 μm respectively. The differential submillimeter number counts are derived, and start showing a turnover at flux densities decreasing with increasing wavelength. (2009) models slightly overestimate the observed counts, but the data agree very well near the peak of the differential number counts. Models predict that the galaxy populations probed at the peak are likely z ∼ 1.8 ultra-luminous infrared galaxies.

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The Balloon‐borne Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope: BLAST

Cited by 156 publications

References 18 publications

TheHerschelVirgo Cluster Survey

TheHerschelVirgo Cluster Survey

On the shape of the mass-function of dense clumps in the Hi-GAL fields

Submillimeter number counts at 250 μm, 350 μm and 500 μm in BLAST data

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