Improved Templates for Photometric Redshifts of Submm Sources

There is growing evidence that some star-forming galaxies at z > 1 are characterized by high efficiencies and specific star formation rates. In the local universe, these traits are shared by “active” Blue Compact Dwarf galaxies (BCDs) with compact and dense star-forming regions. The Spectral Energy Distributions (SEDs) of these BCDs are dominated by young massive star clusters, embedded in a cocoon of dust. In this Letter, we incorporate these BCD SEDs as templates for two samples of high-redshift galaxy populations selected at submm wavelengths. Because of the severe absorption of the optical light, the featureless mid-infrared spectrum, and the relatively flat radio continuum, the dusty star-cluster SEDs are good approximations to most of the submm sources in our samples. In most cases, the active BCD SEDs fit the observed photometric points better than the “standard” templates, M82 and Arp220, and predict photometric redshifts significantly closer to the spectroscopic ones. Our results strongly suggest that the embedded dusty star clusters in BCD galaxies are superior to other local templates such as M82 and Arp 220 in fitting distant submm starburst galaxies. Subject headings: galaxies: high-redshift — galaxies: starburst — submillimeter — infrared: galaxies