842 research outputs found
A Large Mass of H_2 in the Brightest Cluster Galaxy in Zwicky 3146
We present the Spitzer/IRS mid-infrared spectrum of the infrared-luminous (L_(IR) = 4 Ă 10^(11) L_â) brightest cluster galaxy (BCG) in the X-ray-luminous cluster Zwicky 3146 (Z3146; z = 0.29). The spectrum shows strong aromatic emission features, indicating that the dominant source of the infrared luminosity is star formation. The most striking feature of the spectrum, however, is the exceptionally strong molecular hydrogen (H_2) emission lines, which seem to be shock-excited. The line luminosities and inferred warm H_2 gas mass (~10^(10) M_â) are 6 times larger than those of NGC 6240, the most H_2-luminous galaxy at z âČ 0.05. Together with the large amount of cold H_2 detected previously (~10^(11) M_â), this indicates that the Z3146 BCG contains disproportionately large amounts of both warm and cold H_2 gas for its infrared luminosity, which may be related to the intracluster gas cooling process in the cluster core
Detections of water ice, hydrocarbons, and 3.3um PAH in z~2 ULIRGs
We present the first detections of the 3um water ice and 3.4um amorphous
hydrocarbon (HAC) absorption features in z~2 ULIRGs. These are based on deep
rest-frame 2-8um Spitzer IRS spectra of 11 sources selected for their
appreciable silicate absorption. The HAC-to-silicate ratio for our z~2 sources
is typically higher by a factor of 2-5 than that observed in the Milky Way.
This HAC `excess' suggests compact nuclei with steep temperature gradients as
opposed to predominantly host obscuration. Beside the above molecular
absorption features, we detect the 3.3um PAH emission feature in one of our
sources with three more individual spectra showing evidence for it. Stacking
analysis suggests that water ice, hydrocarbons, and PAH are likely present in
the bulk of this sample even when not individually detected. The most
unexpected result of our study is the lack of clear detections of the 4.67um CO
gas absorption feature. Only three of the sources show tentative signs of this
feature and at significantly lower levels than has been observed in local
ULIRGs. Overall, we find that the closest local analogs to our sources, in
terms of 3-4um color, HAC-to-silicate and ice-to-silicate ratios, as well as
low PAH equivalent widths are sources dominated by deeply obscured nuclei. Such
sources form only a small fraction of ULIRGs locally and are commonly believed
to be dominated by buried AGN. Our sample suggests that, in absolute number,
such buried AGN are at least an order of magnitude more common at z~2 than
today. The presence of PAH suggests that significant levels of star-formation
are present even if the obscured AGN typically dominate the power budget.Comment: 39 pages, 14 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
Star formation rates of distant luminous infrared galaxies derived from Halpha and IR luminosities
We present a study of the star formation rate (SFR) for a sample of 16
distant galaxies detected by ISOCAM at 15um in the CFRS0300+00 and CFRS1400+52
fields. Their high quality and intermediate resolution VLT/FORS spectra have
allowed a proper correction of the Balmer emission lines from the underlying
absorption. Extinction estimates using the Hbeta/Hgamma and the Halpha/Hbeta
Balmer decrement are in excellent agreement, providing a robust measurement of
the instantaneous SFR based on the extinction-corrected Halpha luminosity. Star
formation has also been estimated exploiting the correlations between IR
luminosity and those at MIR and radio wavelengths. Our study shows that the
relationship between the two SFR estimates follow two distinct regimes: (1) for
galaxies with SFRIR below ~ 100Msolar/yr, the SFR deduced from Halpha
measurements is a good approximation of the global SFR and (2) for galaxies
near of ULIRGs regime, corrected Halpha SFR understimated the SFR by a factor
of 1.5 to 2. Our analyses suggest that heavily extincted regions completely
hidden in optical bands (such as those found in Arp 220) contribute to less
than 20% of the global budget of star formation history up to z=1.Comment: (1) GEPI, Obs. Meudon, France ;(2) CEA-Saclay, France ;(3) ESO,
Gemany ;(4) IAC, Spain. To appear in A&
Dusty Starbursts and the Growth of Cosmic Structure
Dusty starbursts were more numerous around z~1 than today and appear to be
responsible for the majority of cosmic star formation over the Hubble time. We
suggest that they represent a common phase within galaxies in general which is
triggered by the growth of cosmic structure. We discuss the origin of the
luminosity of luminous infrared galaxies at z~1. Are these galaxies dominated
by star formation or nuclear activity ? What is triggering their strong
activity ? Is it triggered by external interactions or did it happen naturally
within isolated galaxies ? We present HST-ACS high resolution optical images of
luminous infrared galaxies at z~0.7 showing the evolution of the morphology of
these galaxies as a function of infrared luminosity, or star formation rate,
and discuss the effect of the environment on their activity.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, to appear in Proceeding of the "Multi-Wavelength
Cosmology" Conference held in Mykonos, Greece, June 2003, ed.M. Plionis
(Kluwer
A Large Mass of H2 in the Brightest Cluster Galaxy in Zwicky 3146
We present the Spitzer/IRS mid-infrared spectrum of the infrared-luminous
(L_{IR}=4e11 L_sun) brightest cluster galaxy (BCG) in the X-ray-luminous
cluster Z3146 (z=0.29). The spectrum shows strong aromatic emission features,
indicating that the dominant source of the infrared luminosity is star
formation. The most striking feature of the spectrum, however, is the
exceptionally strong molecular hydrogen (H2) emission lines, which seem to be
shock-excited. The line luminosities and inferred warm H2 gas mass (~1e10
M_sun) are 6 times larger than those of NGC 6240, the most H2-luminous galaxy
at z <~ 0.1. Together with the large amount of cold H2 detected previously
(~1e11 M_sun), this indicates that the Z3146 BCG contains disproportionately
large amounts of both warm and cold H2 gas for its infrared luminosity, which
may be related to the intracluster gas cooling process in the cluster core.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures, 1 table; Accepted for publication in ApJ
Spitzer 70 Micron Source Counts in GOODS-North
We present ultradeep Spitzer 70 ÎŒm observations of GOODS-North (Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey). For the first time, the turnover in the 70 ÎŒm Euclidean-normalized differential source counts is observed. We derive source counts down to a flux density of 1.2 mJy. From the measured source counts and fluctuation analysis, we estimate a power-law approximation of the faint 70 ÎŒm source counts of dN/dS â S^â1.6, consistent with that observed for the faint 24 ÎŒm sources. An extrapolation of the 70 ÎŒm source counts to zero flux density implies a total extragalactic background light (EBL) of 7.4 ± 1.9 nW m^â2 sr^â1. The source counts above 1.2 mJy account for about 60% of the estimated EBL. From fluctuation analysis, we derive a photometric confusion level of Ïc = 0.30 ± 0.15 mJy (q = 5) for the Spitzer 70 ÎŒm band
ISO investigates the nature of extremely-red hard X-ray sources responsible for the X-ray background
We analyse very deep X-ray and mid-IR surveys in common areas of the Lockman
Hole and the HDF North to study the sources of the X-ray background (XRB) and
to test the standard obscured accretion paradigm. We detect with ISO a rich
population of X-ray luminous sources with red optical colours, including a
fraction identified with Extremely Red Objects (R-K > 5) and galaxies with SEDs
typical of normal massive ellipticals or spirals at z ~ 1. The high 0.5-10 keV
X-ray luminosities of these objects (1E43-1E45 erg/s) indicate that the
ultimate energy source is gravitational accretion, while the X-ray to IR flux
ratios and the X-ray spectral hardness show evidence of photoelectric
absorption at low X-ray energies. An important hint on the physics comes from
the mid-IR data at 6.7 and 15 um, well reproduced by model spectra of
completely obscured quasars under standard assumptions and l.o.s. optical
depths tau ~ 30-40. Other predictions of the standard XRB picture, like the
distributions of intrinsic bolometric luminosities and the relative fractions
of type-I and -II objects (1:3), are also consistent with our results. Obscured
gravitational accretion is then confirmed as being responsible for the bulk of
the X-ray background, since we detect in the IR the down-graded energy
photoelectrically absorbed in X-rays: 63% of the faint 5-10 keV XMM sources are
detected in the mid-IR by Fadda et al. (2001). However, although as much as 90%
of the X-ray energy production could be converted to IR photons, no more than
20% of the Cosmic IR Background can be attributed to X-ray loud AGNs.Comment: 7 pages, 5 postscript figures, ApJ submitte
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