The spectroscopic redshifts of SCUBA galaxies: implications for spheroid formation

Abstract

We present spectroscopic identifications for a sample of 55 submillimeter(submm)-selected `SCUBA' galaxies, lying at redshifts z=0.7 to 3.7, that were pinpointed in deep 1.4-GHz VLA radio maps. We describe their properties, especially the presence of active galactic nuclei (AGN) in the sample, and discuss the connection of the SCUBA galaxies and the formation of spheroidal components of galaxies, which requires knowledge of their masses and the timescales of their very luminous activity. For a subset of the galaxies, we show their disturbed and diverse Hubble Space Telescope (HST) optical morphologies.

8 pages, 3 figs, contributed talk at "Star formation through time", Granada Spain, Oct.2002