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Description
We explore the effects of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) and star formation activity on the infrared (0.3-1000{mu}m) spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of luminous infrared galaxies from z=0.5 to 4.0. We have compiled a large sample of 151 galaxies selected at 24{mu}m (S_24_>~100{mu}Jy) in the GOODS-N and ECDFS fields for which we have deep Spitzer IRS spectroscopy, allowing us to decompose the mid-IR spectrum into contributions from star formation and AGN activity. A significant portion (~25%) of our sample is dominated by an AGN (>50% of the mid-IR luminosity) in the mid-IR. Based on the mid-IR classification, we divide our full sample into four sub-samples: z~1 star-forming (SF) sources, z~2 SF sources, AGNs with clear 9.7{mu}m silicate absorption, and AGNs with featureless mid-IR spectra. From our large spectroscopic sample and wealth of multi-wavelength data, including deep Herschel imaging at 100, 160, 250, 350, and 500{mu}m, we use 95 galaxies with complete spectral coverage to create a composite SED for each sub-sample. We then fit a two-temperature component modified blackbody to the SEDs. We find that the IR SEDs have similar cold dust temperatures, regardless of the mid-IR power source, but display a marked difference in the warmer dust temperatures. We calculate the average effective temperature of the dust in each sub-sample and find a significant (~20K) difference between the SF and AGN systems. We compare our composite SEDs to local templates and find that local templates do not accurately reproduce the mid-IR features and dust temperatures of our high-redshift systems. High-redshift IR luminous galaxies contain significantly more cool dust than their local counterparts. We find that a full suite of photometry spanning the IR peak is necessary to accurately account for the dominant dust temperature components in high-redshift IR luminous galaxies.
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