The HerMES SPIRE submillimeter local luminosity function

Understand

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 $\mu$m) local luminosity density based on SPIRE data from the HerMES Herschel Key Program over 14.7 deg^2.
• Flux measurements in the three SPIRE channels at 250, 350 and 500 \mum are combined with Spitzer photometry and archival data.