128 research outputs found
ALMA RESOLVES THE MOLECULAR GAS ON A YOUNG LOW-METALLICITY STARBURST GALAXY AT z= 1.7
We present Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array observations of CO lines and dust continuum emission on the source RCSGA 032727-132609, a young z=1.7 low-metallicity starburst galaxy. The CO(3-2), CO(6-5) lines and continuum at rest-frame 450 m are detected with high significance and show a resolved structure in the image plane. We used the corresponding lensing model to obtain a source plane reconstruction of the detected emission. The intrinsic properties of RCSGA 032727-132609 show an enhanced star-formation activity compared to local spiral galaxies with similar molecular gas densities, supporting the starburst phase scenario
Strong Clustering of Lyman Break Galaxies around Luminous Quasars at z~4
In the standard picture of structure formation, the first massive galaxies
are expected to form at the highest peaks of the density field, which
constitute the cores of massive proto-clusters. Luminous quasars (QSOs) at z~4
are the most strongly clustered population known, and should thus reside in
massive dark matter halos surrounded by large overdensities of galaxies,
implying a strong QSO-galaxy cross-correlation function. We observed six z~4
QSO fields with VLT/FORS exploiting a novel set of narrow band filters custom
designed to select Lyman Break Galaxies (LBGs) in a thin redshift slice of
Delta_z~0.3, mitigating the projection effects that have limited the
sensitivity of previous searches for galaxies around z>~4 QSOs. We find that
LBGs are strongly clustered around QSOs, and present the first measurement of
the QSO-LBG cross-correlation function at z~4, on scales of 0.1<~R<~9 Mpc/h
(comoving). Assuming a power law form for the cross-correlation function
xi=(r/r0_QG)^gamma, we measure r0_QG=8.83^{+1.39}_{-1.51} Mpc/h for a fixed
slope of gamma=2.0. This result is in agreement with the expected
cross-correlation length deduced from measurements of the QSO and LBG
auto-correlation function, and assuming a linear bias model. We also measure a
strong auto-correlation of LBGs in our QSO fields finding
r0_GG=21.59^{+1.72}_{-1.69} Mpc/h for a fixed slope of gamma=1.5, which is ~4
times larger than the LBG auto-correlation length in random fields, providing
further evidence that QSOs reside in overdensities of LBGs. Our results
qualitatively support a picture where luminous QSOs inhabit exceptionally
massive (M_halo>10^12 M_sun) dark matter halos at z~4.Comment: 25 pages, 22 figures, submitted to the Ap
Clustering of Lyman-alpha Emitters Around Quasars at
The strong observed clustering of quasars indicates they are hosted
by massive () dark matter
halos. Assuming quasars and galaxies trace the same large-scale structures,
this should also manifest as strong clustering of galaxies around quasars.
Previous work on high-redshift quasar environments, mostly focused at ,
have failed to find convincing evidence for these overdensities. Here we
conduct a survey for Lyman alpha emitters (LAEs) in the environs of 17 quasars
at probing scales of . We measure an
average LAE overdensity around quasars of 1.4 for our full sample, which we
quantify by fitting the quasar-LAE cross-correlation function. We find
consistency with a power-law shape with correlation length of
for a fixed slope of
. We also measure the LAE auto-correlation length and find
\,cMpc (), which is
times higher than the value measured in blank fields. Taken together our
results clearly indicate that LAEs are significantly clustered around
quasars. We compare the observed clustering with the expectation from a
deterministic bias model, whereby LAEs and quasars probe the same underlying
dark matter overdensities, and find that our measurements fall short of the
predicted overdensities by a factor of 2.1. We discuss possible explanations
for this discrepancy including large-scale quenching or the presence of excess
dust in galaxies near quasars. Finally, the large cosmic variance from
field-to-field observed in our sample (10/17 fields are actually underdense)
cautions one from over-interpreting studies of quasar environments
based on a single or handful of quasar fields.Comment: 19 pages, 12 figures, submitted to the Ap
Evolution of Cluster Ellipticals at 0.2 < z < 1.2 from Hubble Space Telescope Imaging
Two-dimensional surface photometry derived from Hubble Space Telescope
imaging is presented for a sample of 225 early-type galaxies (assumed to be
cluster members) in the fields of 9 clusters at redshifts .
The 94 luminous ellipticals (; selected by morphology alone with
no reference to color) form tight sequences in the size-luminosity plane. The
position of these sequences shifts, on average, with redshift so that an object
of a given size at z=0.55 is brighter by mag than
its counterpart (measured with the same techniques) in nearby clusters. At
z=0.9 the shift is mag. If the relation between
size and luminosity is universal so that the local cluster galaxies represent
the evolutionary endpoints of those at high redshift, and if the
size-luminosity relation is not modified by dynamical processes then this
population of galaxies has undergone significant luminosity evolution since z=1
consistent with expectations based on models of passively evolving, old stellar
populations.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, and 1 Tabl
Discovery of a New Quadruple Lens HST 1411+5211
Gravitational lensing is an important tool for probing the mass distribution
of galaxies. In this letter we report the discovery of a new quadruple lens HST
1411+5211 found in archived WFPC2 images of the galaxy cluster CL140933+5226.
If the galaxy is a cluster member then its redshift is . The images of
the source appear unresolved in the WFC implying that the source is a quasar.
We have modeled the lens as both a single galaxy and a galaxy plus a cluster.
The latter model yields excellent fits to the image positions along with
reasonable parameters for the galaxy and cluster making HST 1411+5211 a likely
gravitational lens. Determination of the source redshift and confirmation of
the lens redshift would allow us to put strong constraints on the mass
distribution of the lensing galaxy.Comment: 11 pages including 1 postscript figure, aastex. Accepted to the ApJL.
Also available from:
http://www.astro.lsa.umich.edu:80/users/philf/www/papers/list.htm
RCS043938-2904.9: A New Rich Cluster of Galaxies at z=0.951
We present deep I, J_s, K_s imaging and optical spectroscopy of the newly
discovered Red-Sequence Cluster Survey cluster RCS043938-2904.9. This cluster,
drawn from an extensive preliminary list, was selected for detailed study on
the basis of its apparent optical richness. Spectroscopy of 11 members places
the cluster at z=0.951 +- 0.006, and confirms the photometric redshift estimate
from the (R-z) color-magnitude diagram. Analysis of the infrared imaging data
demonstrates that the cluster is extremely rich, with excess counts in the
Ks-band exceeding the expected background counts by 9 sigma. The properties of
the galaxies in RCS043938-2904.9 are consistent with those seen in other
clusters at similar redshifts. Specifically, the red-sequence color, slope and
scatter, and the size-magnitude relation of these galaxies are all consistent
with that seen in the few other high redshift clusters known, and indeed are
consistent with appropriately evolved properties of local cluster galaxies. The
apparent consistency of these systems implies that the rich, high-redshift RCS
clusters are directly comparable to the few other systems known at z ~ 1, most
of which have been selected on the basis of X-ray emission.Comment: 12 pages, 1 color figure. Accepted for publication on The ApJ Letter
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