A massive, quiescent galaxy at redshift of z=3.717

In the early Universe finding massive galaxies that have stopped forming stars present an observational challenge as their rest-frame ultraviolet emission is negligible and they can only be reliably identified by extremely deep near-infrared surveys. These have revealed the presence of massive, quiescent early-type galaxies appearing in the universe as early as z$\sim$2, an epoch 3 Gyr after the Big Bang. Their age and formation processes have now been explained by an improved generation of galaxy formation models where they form rapidly at z$\sim$3-4, consistent with the typical masses and ages derived from their observations. Deeper surveys have now reported evidence for populations of massive, quiescent galaxies at even higher redshifts and earlier times, however the evidence for their existence, and redshift, has relied entirely on coarsely sampled photometry. These early massive, quiescent galaxies are not predicted by the latest generation of theoretical models. Here, we report the spectroscopic confirmation of one of these galaxies at redshift z=3.717 with a stellar mass of 1.7$\times$10$^{11}$ M$_\odot$ whose absorption line spectrum shows no current star-formation and which has a derived age of nearly half the age of the Universe at this redshift. The observations demonstrates that the galaxy must have quickly formed the majority of its stars within the first billion years of cosmic history in an extreme and short starburst. This ancestral event is similar to those starting to be found by sub-mm wavelength surveys pointing to a possible connection between these two populations. Early formation of such massive systems is likely to require significant revisions to our picture of early galaxy assembly.Comment: 6 pages, 7 figures. This is the final preprint corresponding closely to the published version. Uploaded 6 months after publication in accordance with Nature polic

Quality control in major abdominal surgery

Cuesta Valentin, M.A. [Promotor]Peet, D.L. van der [Copromotor

Z-FIRE: ISM properties of the z = 2.095 COSMOS Cluster

We investigate the ISM properties of 13 star-forming galaxies within the z~2 COSMOS cluster. We show that the cluster members have [NII]/Ha and [OIII]/Hb emission-line ratios similar to z~2 field galaxies, yet systematically different emission-line ratios (by ~0.17 dex) from the majority of local star-forming galaxies. We find no statistically significant difference in the [NII]/Ha and [OIII]/Hb line ratios or ISM pressures among the z~2 cluster galaxies and field galaxies at the same redshift. We show that our cluster galaxies have significantly larger ionization parameters (by up to an order of magnitude) than local star-forming galaxies. We hypothesize that these high ionization parameters may be associated with large specific star formation rates (i.e. a large star formation rate per unit stellar mass). If this hypothesis is correct, then this relationship would have important implications for the geometry and/or the mass of stars contained within individual star clusters as a function of redshift.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in Ap

ZFIRE: The Evolution of the Stellar Mass Tully-Fisher Relation to Redshift 2.0 < Z < 2.5 with MOSFIRE

Using observations made with MOSFIRE on Keck I as part of the ZFIRE survey, we present the stellar mass Tully-Fisher relation at 2.0 < z < 2.5. The sample was drawn from a stellar mass limited, Ks-band selected catalog from ZFOURGE over the CANDELS area in the COSMOS field. We model the shear of the Halpha emission line to derive rotational velocities at 2.2X the scale radius of an exponential disk (V2.2). We correct for the blurring effect of a two-dimensional PSF and the fact that the MOSFIRE PSF is better approximated by a Moffat than a Gaussian, which is more typically assumed for natural seeing. We find for the Tully-Fisher relation at 2.0 < z < 2.5 that logV2.2 =(2.18 +/- 0.051)+(0.193 +/- 0.108)(logM/Msun - 10) and infer an evolution of the zeropoint of Delta M/Msun = -0.25 +/- 0.16 dex or Delta M/Msun = -0.39 +/- 0.21 dex compared to z = 0 when adopting a fixed slope of 0.29 or 1/4.5, respectively. We also derive the alternative kinematic estimator S0.5, with a best-fit relation logS0.5 =(2.06 +/- 0.032)+(0.211 +/- 0.086)(logM/Msun - 10), and infer an evolution of Delta M/Msun= -0.45 +/- 0.13 dex compared to z < 1.2 if we adopt a fixed slope. We investigate and review various systematics, ranging from PSF effects, projection effects, systematics related to stellar mass derivation, selection biases and slope. We find that discrepancies between the various literature values are reduced when taking these into account. Our observations correspond well with the gradual evolution predicted by semi-analytic models.Comment: 21 pages, 14 figures, 1 appendix. Accepted for publication by Apj, February 28, 201

A detailed study of the diastereoselective catalytic hydrogenation of 6-hydroxytetrahydroisoquinoline-(3R)-carboxylic ester intermediates

A key step towards a highly-selective antagonist of ionotropic glutamate receptors entails the diastereoselective arene hydrogenation of an enantiopure tetrahydroisoquinoline. An extensive screen using parallel reactors was conducted and led to the discovery of several Pd/C catalysts giving high yield and improved diastereoselectivity from 75 : 25 to 95 : 5. A detailed kinetic study of the best system was performed and supports the reduction occuring in two-steps.

The Bright End of the z~9 and z~10 UV Luminosity Functions using all five CANDELS Fields

The deep, wide-area (~800-900 arcmin**2) near-infrared/WFC3/IR + Spitzer/IRAC observations over the CANDELS fields have been a remarkable resource for constraining the bright end of high redshift UV luminosity functions (LFs). However, the lack of HST 1.05-micron observations over the CANDELS fields has made it difficult to identify z~9-10 sources robustly, since such data are needed to confirm the presence of an abrupt Lyman break at 1.2 microns. We report here on the successful identification of many such z~9-10 sources from a new HST program (z9-CANDELS) that targets the highest-probability z~9-10 galaxy candidates with observations at 1.05 microns, to search for a robust Lyman-break at 1.2 microns. The potential z~9-10 candidates are preselected from the full HST, Spitzer/IRAC S-CANDELS observations, and the deepest-available ground-based optical+near-infrared observations. We identified 15 credible z~9-10 galaxies over the CANDELS fields. Nine of these galaxies lie at z~9 and 5 are new identifications. Our targeted follow-up strategy has proven to be very efficient in making use of scarce HST time to secure a reliable sample of z~9-10 galaxies. Through extensive simulations, we replicate the selection process for our sample (both the preselection and follow-up) and use it to improve current estimates for the volume density of bright z~9 and z~10 galaxies. The volume densities we find are 5(-2)(+3)x and 8(-3)(+9)x lower, respectively, than found at z~8. When compared with the best-fit evolution (i.e., dlog_{10} rho(UV)/dz=-0.29+/-0.02) in the UV luminosities densities from z~8 to z~4 integrated to 0.3L*(z=3) (-20 mag), these luminosity densities are 2.6(-0.9)(+1.5)x and 2.2(-1.1)(+2.0)x lower, respectively, than the extrapolated trends. Our new results are broadly consistent with the "accelerated evolution" scenario at z>8, as seen in many theoretical models.Comment: 23 pages, 15 figures, 7 tables, updated to match the version in press, including some minor textual corrections identified at the proof stag