FeII/MgII Emission Line Ratios of QSOs. II. z>6 Objects

Near-infrared spectra of four QSOs located at $z>6$ are obtained with the OH-airglow suppressor mounted on the Subaru telescope. The FeII/MgII emission-line ratios of these QSOs are examined by the same fitting algorithm as in our previous study of $z<5.3$ QSOs. The fitting results show that two out of the four $z>6$ QSOs have significant FeII emission in their rest-UV spectra, while the other two have almost no FeII features. We also applied our fitting algorithm to more than 10,000 SDSS QSOs and found two trends in the distribution of FeII/MgII against redshift: (1) the upper envelope of the FeII/MgII distribution at $z>3$ shows a probable declination toward high redshift, and (2) the median distribution settles into lower ratios at $z\sim 1.5$ with small scatter compared to the other redshift. We discuss an Fe/Mg abundance evolution of QSOs with a substantial contribution from the diverse nature of the broad-line regions in high-redshift QSOs.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figures. Accepted for publication in ApJ (10 October 2004, v614

OHS: OH-airglow Suppressor for the Subaru Telescope

This paper describes an OH-airglow Suppressor (OHS) for the infrared Nasmyth focus of the Subaru telescope. OHS has the capability of eliminating 224 airglow-lines in the $J$- and $H$-bands, which are major sources of background radiation at near-infrared wavelengths up to 2 $\mu$m. Specifically, it is a pre-optics system installed between the telescope and an infrared camera/spectrograph (CISCO). The suppressor reduces sky background emissions to 1/25 and its throughput is 40%. As a result, the S/N gain achieved with OHS is more than 1 mag compared to the typical spectroscopic approach. The limiting magnitude measured during a test observing run was found to be $H$ = 21.1 mag ($\lambda/\Delta\lambda$ = 210, S/N = 5) in the standard 4000 s exposure sequence.Comment: 6 pages, 9 figures. Accepted for publication in PASJ(2001

Nature of a Strongly-Lensed Submillimeter Galaxy SMM J14011+0252

We have carried out near-infrared JHK spectroscopy of a gravitationally lensed submillimeter galaxy SMM J14011+0252 at z=2.565, using OHS and CISCO on the Subaru telescope. This object consists of two optical components, J1 and J2, which are lensed by the cluster Abell 1835. J1 suffers additional strong lensing by a foreground galaxy at z=0.25 in the cluster. The rest-optical H-alpha, H-beta, and [O II]3727 lines are detected in both J1 and J2, and [N II]6548,6583 lines are also detected in J1. A diagnosis of emission-line ratios shows that the excitation source of J1 is stellar origin, consistent with previous X-ray observations. The continua of J1 and J2 show breaks at rest 4000A, indicating relatively young age. Combined with optical photometry, we have carried out model spectrum fitting of J2 and find that it is a very young (~50 Myr) galaxy of rather small mass (~10e8 M_sol) which suffers some amount of dust extinction. A new gravitational lensing model is constructed to assess both magnification factor and contamination from the lensing galaxy of the component J1, using HST-F702W image. We have found that J1 suffers strong lensing with magnification of ~30, and its stellar mass is estimated to be < 10e9 M_sol. These results suggest that SMM J14011+0252 is a major merger system at high redshift that undergoes intense star formation, but not a formation site of a giant elliptical. Still having plenty of gas, it will transform most of the gas into stars and will evolve into a galaxy of < 10e10 M_sol. Therefore, this system is possibly an ancestor of a less massive galaxy such as a mid-sized elliptical or a spiral at the present.Comment: 21 pages, 11 figures. Accepted for publication in Astronomical Journa

JHK Spectra of the z=2.39 Radio Galaxy 53W002

We present low-resolution, near-IR JHK spectra of the weak z=2.39 radio galaxy 53W002, obtained with the OH-airglow Suppressor spectrograph (OHS) and Cooled Infrared Spectrograph and Camera for OHS (CISCO) on the Subaru Telescope. They cover rest-frame wavelengths of 3400-7200 A, and the emission lines of [O II]3727, Hb, [O III]4959, 5007, Ha, [N II]6548, 6583 and [S II]6716, 6731 were detected. Using the Ha/Hb line ratio, we find an extinction of E(B-V)=0.14. The emission-line ratios are reproduced by a cloud of electron density n_e=1x10^{3-4}(/cm3) with solar metallicity, ionized by an alpha=-0.7 power-law continuum with ionizing parameter U=1x10^-3. In addition to these emission lines, we make the first spectroscopic confirmation of the Balmer discontinuity in a high-z radio galaxy. Together with rest-frame UV photometry from the literature, we show that at least 1/3 of the present stellar mass was formed in the current starburst. The stellar mass was estimated to be (1-1.4)x10^11 M_sol by one-component model fitting, which is smaller than that of typical z~1 B2/6C radio galaxies. We suggest that 53W002 is currently assembling a large part of its stellar mass through merger events with the surrounding sub-galactic clumps, some of which can be identified with the Lya emitters detected in narrow-band imaging. After a few such events over the next few Gyr, 53W002 will evolve into a massive elliptical galaxy.Comment: 10 pages, including 11 figures. Accepted for publication in PASJ(2001). Revised 5/15/200

Infrared Imaging of the Gravitational Lens PG 1115+080 with the Subaru Telescope

We present high spatial resolution images of the gravitational-lens system PG 1115+080 taken with the near-infrared camera (CISCO) on the Subaru telescope. The FWHM of the combined image is $0.''32$ in the $K'$-band, yielding spatial resolution of $0.''14$ after a deconvolution procedure. This is a first detection of an extended emission adjacent to the A1/A2 components, indicating the presence of a fairly bright emission region with a characteristic angular radius of $\sim$ 5 mas (40 pc). The near-infrared image of the Einstein ring was extracted in both the $J$ and $K'$ bands. The $J-K'$ color is found to be significantly redder than that of a synthetic model galaxy with an age of 3 Gyr, the age of the universe at the quasar redshift.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures. Accepted for publication in PASJ(2000

An Observational Pursuit for Population III Stars in a Ly_alpha Emitter at z=6.33 through HeII Emission

We present a very deep near-infrared spectroscopic observation of a strong Ly_alpha emitter at z=6.33, SDF J132440.6+273607, which we used to search for HeII 1640. This emission line is expected if the target hosts a significant number of population III stars. Even after 42 ksec of integration with the Subaru/OHS spectrograph, no emission-line features are detected in the JH band, which confirms that SDF J132440.6+273607 is neither an active galactic nucleus nor a low-$z$ emission-line object. We obtained a 2sigma upper-limit of 9.06e-18 ergs/s/cm^2 on the HeII 1640 emission line flux, which corresponds to a luminosity of 4.11e42 ergs/s. This upper-limit on the HeII 1640 luminosity implies that the upper limit on population III star-formation rate is in the range 4.9--41.2 M_sun/yr if population III stars suffer no mass loss, and in the range 1.8--13.2 M_sun/yr if strong mass loss is present. The non-detection of HeII in SDF J132440.6+273607 at z=6.33 may thus disfavor weak feedback models for population III stars.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures, to appear in The Astrophysical Journal Letter