Detection of Lyman-alpha Emitting Galaxies at Redshift z=4.55

Studies of the formation and early history of galaxies have been hampered by the difficulties inherent in detecting faint galaxy populations at high redshift. As a consequence, observations at the highest redshifts (3.5 < z < 5) have been restricted to objects that are intrinsically bright. These include quasars, radio galaxies, and some Ly alpha-emitting objects that are very close to (within ~10 kpc) -- and appear to be physically associated with -- quasars. But the extremely energetic processes which make these objects easy to detect also make them unrepresentative of normal (field) galaxies. Here we report the discovery using Keck spectroscopic observations of two Ly alpha-emitting galaxies at redshift z = 4.55, which are sufficiently far from the nearest quasar (~700 kpc) that radiation from the quasar is unlikely to provide the excitation source of the Ly alpha emission. Instead, these galaxies appear to be undergoing their first burst of star formation, at a time when the Universe was less than one billion years old.Comment: 8 pages, 1 landscape table, and 3 PostScript figures. Uses aaspp4.sty, flushrt.sty, aj_pt4.sty, overcite.sty (style macros available from xxx.lanl.gov) Figure 1 is bitmapped to 100 dpi. The original PostScript version of Fig. 1 is available via anonymous ftp to ftp://hubble.ifa.hawaii.edu/pub/preprints To appear in Natur

Gravitational Waves from Gravitational Collapse

Gravitational wave emission from the gravitational collapse of massive stars has been studied for more than three decades. Current state of the art numerical investigations of collapse include those that use progenitors with realistic angular momentum profiles, properly treat microphysics issues, account for general relativity, and examine non--axisymmetric effects in three dimensions. Such simulations predict that gravitational waves from various phenomena associated with gravitational collapse could be detectable with advanced ground--based and future space--based interferometric observatories.Comment: 68 pages including 13 figures; revised version accepted for publication in Living Reviews in Relativity (http://www.livingreviews.org

Early Phases of Protoplanetary Disk Evolution

It is widely accepted that planetary systems form from protoplanetary disks, and observations of the dust reveal significant grain growth over timescales of a few million years. However, we know little about the gas processing in the first 10-20 Myr of disk evolution. This is the phase where protoplanetesimals form and accrete into planetary cores. One outstanding question is whether gas dispersal is coeval with the formation of planetesimals. If the gas dispersal would precede the dust evolution, the formation of gas giant planets through the standard core-accretion scenario would be impeded. HST's contribution to our understanding of A disk dispersal processes will be summarized and the [O I] 6,300 angstrom line as tracer of disk structure in early phases of disk evolution discussed

Face-on dust discs in galaxies with optical jets

The presence of optical synchrotron jets in radio galaxies is relatively unusual. We show that of the nearest five FRI 3CR radio galaxies showing optical jets, four display evidence for almost circular, presumably face-on, dust discs. None of the other twenty nearby FRIs in our sample show circular dust discs, although dust is found in 19/20 cases. This is strong support for the two-fold idea that (1) jets emerge close to perpendicular to inner gas discs and (2) optical non-thermal synchrotron emission is seen only when the jet points towards the observer. The implied critical angle to the line-of-sight is approximately 30-40 degrees, i.e. if the angle of the jet to the line-of-sight is less than about 35 degrees we see an optical jet. The corresponding Lorentz factor is gamma approximate to 1.5, which is consistent with current observations of jet proper motion that show an apparent velocity range from; approximate to 0.6c to 6c for M 87 in the optical (Biretta, Sparks and Macchetto 1999). The relatively low speeds implied by the dust discs may be due to a global deceleration of the jet as in unified theories, or else to stratification within the jet. Unresolved nuclei are common in the optical. Their luminosities are also consistent with the beaming concept when compared to inclination inferred from the dust lanes. The disc sizes are typically several hundred parsecs, to kiloparsec size. The galaxy with an optical jet that does not show a face-on disc, M 87, instead has more complex radial dust and ionized gas filaments