481 research outputs found
X-ray properties of UV-selected star forming galaxies at z~1 in the Hubble Deep Field North
We present an analysis of the X-ray emission from a large sample of
ultraviolet (UV) selected, star forming galaxies with 0.74<z<1.32 in the Hubble
Deep Field North (HDF-N) region. By excluding all sources with significant
detected X-ray emission in the 2 Ms Chandra observation we are able to examine
the properties of galaxies for which the emission in both UV and X-ray is
expected to be predominantly due to star formation. Stacking the X-ray flux
from 216 galaxies in the soft and hard bands produces significant detections.
The derived mean 2-10 keV rest-frame luminosity is 2.97+/-0.26x10^(40) erg/s,
corresponding to an X-ray derived star formation rate (SFR) of 6.0+/-0.6
Msolar/yr. Comparing the X-ray value with the mean UV derived SFR, uncorrected
for attenuation, we find that the average UV attenuation correction factor is
\~3. By binning the galaxy sample according to UV magnitude and colour,
correlations between UV and X-ray emission are also examined. We find a strong
positive correlation between X-ray emission and rest-frame UV emission. A
correlation between the ratio of X-ray-to-UV emission and UV colour is also
seen, such that L(X)/L(UV) increases for redder galaxies. Given that X-ray
emission offers a view of star formation regions that is relatively unaffected
by extinction, results such as these can be used to evaluate the effects of
dust on the UV emission from high-z galaxies. For instance we derive a
relationship for estimating UV attenuation corrections as a function of colour
excess. The observed relation is inconsistent with the Calzetti et al. (2000)
reddening law which over predicts the range in UV attenuation corrections by a
factor of ~100 for the UV selected z~1 galaxies in this sample (abridged).Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA
Galaxy Clustering at z~3
Galaxies at very high redshift (z~3 or greater) are now accessible to
wholesale observation, making possible for the first time a robust statistical
assessment of their spatial distribution at lookback times approaching ~90% of
the age of the Universe. This paper summarizes recent progress in understanding
the nature of these early galaxies, concentrating in particular on the
clustering properties of photometrically selected ``Lyman break'' galaxies.
Direct comparison of the data to predictions and physical insights provided by
galaxy and structure formation models is particularly straightforward at these
early epochs, and results in critical tests of the ``biased'', hierarchical
galaxy formation paradigm.Comment: Presented at Royal Society Discussion Meeting, March 1998, "Large
Scale Structure in the Universe", 14 pages LaTeX, 7 ps figures, uses
rspublic.sty (included
Star-forming Galaxies in the 'Redshift Desert'
We describe results of optical and near-IR observations of a large
spectroscopic sample of star-forming galaxies photometrically-selected to lie
in the redshift range 1.4 < z < 2.5, often called the ``redshift desert''
because of historical difficulty in obtaining spectroscopic redshifts in this
range. We show that the former ``redshift desert'' is now very much open to
observation.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, to appear in the Proceedings of the ESO/USM/MPE
Workshop on "Multiwavelength Mapping of Galaxy Formation and Evolution", eds.
R. Bender and A. Renzin
The Direct Detection of Lyman Continuum Emission from Star-forming Galaxies at z~3
We present the results of rest-frame UV spectroscopic observations of a sample of 14 z ~ 3 star-forming galaxies in the SSA 22a field. These spectra are characterized by unprecedented depth in the Lyman continuum region. For the first time, we have detected escaping ionizing radiation from individual galaxies at high redshift, with 2 of the 14 objects showing significant emission below the Lyman limit. We also measured the ratio of emergent flux density at 1500 Å to that in the Lyman continuum region, for the individual detections (C49 and D3) and the sample average. If a correction for the average IGM opacity is applied to the spectra of the objects C49 and D3, we find f_(1500)/f_(900,corr,C49) = 4.5 and f_(1500)/f_(900,corr,D3) = 2.9. The average emergent flux density ratio in our sample is = 22, implying an escape fraction ~4.5 times lower than inferred from the composite spectrum from Steidel and coworkers. If this new estimate is representative of LBGs, their contribution to the metagalactic ionizing radiation field is J_ν(900) ~ 2.6 × 10^(-22) ergs s^(-1) cm^(-2) Hz^(-1) sr^(-1), comparable to the contribution of optically selected quasars at the same redshift. The sum of the contributions from galaxies and quasars is consistent with recent estimates of the level of the ionizing background at z ~ 3, inferred from the H I Lyα forest optical depth. There is significant variance among the emergent far-UV spectra in our sample, yet the factors controlling the detection or nondetection of Lyman continuum emission from galaxies are not well determined. Because we do not yet understand the source of this variance, significantly larger samples will be required to obtain robust constraints on the galaxy contribution to the ionizing background at z ~ 3 and beyond
- …