2,301 research outputs found
Dissecting the complex environment of a distant quasar with MUSE
High redshift quasars can be used to trace the early growth of massive
galaxies and may be triggered by galaxy-galaxy interactions. We present MUSE
science verification data on one such interacting system consisting of the
well-studied z=3.2 PKS1614+051 quasar, its AGN companion galaxy and bridge of
material radiating in Lyalpha between the quasar and its companion. We find a
total of four companion galaxies (at least two galaxies are new discoveries),
three of which reside within the likely virial radius of the quasar host,
suggesting that the system will evolve into a massive elliptical galaxy by the
present day. The MUSE data are of sufficient quality to split the extended
Lyalpha emission line into narrow velocity channels. In these the gas can be
seen extending towards each of the three neighbouring galaxies suggesting that
the emission-line gas originates in a gravitational interaction between the
galaxies and the quasar host. The photoionization source of this gas is less
clear but is probably dominated by the two AGN. The quasar's Lyalpha emission
spectrum is double-peaked, likely due to absorbing neutral material at the
quasar's systemic redshift with a low column density as no damping wings are
present. The spectral profiles of the AGN and bridge's Lyalpha emission are
also consistent with absorption at the same redshift indicating this neutral
material may extend over > 50 kpc. The fact that the neutral material is seen
in the line of sight to the quasar and transverse to it, and the fact that we
see the quasar and it also illuminates the emission-line bridge, suggests the
quasar radiates isotropically and any obscuring torus is small. These results
demonstrate the power of MUSE for investigating the dynamics of interacting
systems at high redshift.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures, published in MNRA
The Milky Way as a High Redshift Galaxy: The Importance of Thick Disk Formation in Galaxies
We compare the star-formation history and dynamics of the Milky Way (MW) with
the properties of distant disk galaxies. During the first ~4 Gyr of its
evolution, the MW formed stars with a high star-formation intensity (SFI),
Sigma_SFR~0.6 Msun/yr/kpc2 and as a result, generated outflows and high
turbulence in its interstellar medium. This intense phase of star formation
corresponds to the formation of the thick disk. The formation of the thick disk
is a crucial phase which enables the MW to have formed approximately half of
its total stellar mass by z~1 which is similar to "MW progenitor galaxies"
selected by abundance matching. This agreement suggests that the formation of
the thick disk may be a generic evolutionary phase in disk galaxies. Using a
simple energy injection-kinetic energy relationship between the 1-D velocity
dispersion and SFI, we can reproduce the average perpendicular dispersion in
stellar velocities of the MW with age. This relationship, its inferred
evolution, and required efficiency are consistent with observations of galaxies
from z~0-3. The high turbulence generated by intense star formation naturally
resulted in a thick disk, a chemically well-mixed ISM, and is the mechanism
that links the evolution of MW to the observed characteristics of distant disk
galaxies.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures; accepted to ApJ Letter
The cluster environments of radio loud quasars
We have carried out multi-colour imaging of the fields of a statistically
complete sample of low-frequency selected radio loud quasars at 0.6<z<1.1, in
order to determine the characteristics of their environments. The largest radio
sources are located in the field, and smaller steep-spectrum sources are more
likely to be found in richer environments, from compact groups through to
clusters. This radio-based selection (including source size) of high redshift
groups and clusters is a highly efficient method of detecting rich environments
at these redshifts. Although our single filter clustering measures agree with
those of other workers, we show that these statistics cannot be used reliably
on fields individually, colour information is required for this.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, contribution to "Tracing Cosmic Evolution with
Galaxy Clusters" (Sesto 2001), ASP Conference Serie
The Physical Properties of LBGs at z>5: Outflows and the "pre-enrichment problem"
We discuss the properties of Lyman Break galaxies (LBGs) at z>5 as determined
from disparate fields covering approximately 500 sq. arcmin. While the broad
characteristics of the LBG population has been discussed extensively in the
literature, such as luminosity functions and clustering amplitude, we focus on
the detailed physical properties of the sources in this large survey (>100 with
spectroscopic redshifts). Specifically, we discuss ensemble mass estimates,
stellar mass surface densities, core phase space densities, star-formation
intensities, characteristics of their stellar populations, etc as obtained from
multi-wavelength data (rest-frame UV through optical) for a subsample of these
galaxies. In particular, we focus on evidence that these galaxies drive
vigorous outflows and speculate that this population may solve the so-called
``pre-enrichment problem''. The general picture that emerges from these studies
is that these galaxies, observed about 1 Gyr after the Big Bang, have
properties consistent with being the progenitors of the densest stellar systems
in the local Universe -- the centers of old bulges and early type galaxies.Comment: 4 pages, to appear in "Pathways Through an Eclectic Universe", J. H.
Knappen, T. J. Mahoney, and A. Vazedekis (Eds.), ASP Conf. Ser., 200
The missing metals problem. III How many metals are expelled from galaxies?
[Abridged] We revisit the metal budget at z~2. In the first two papers of
this series, we already showed that ~30% (to <60% if extrapolating the LF) of
the metals are observed in all z~2.5 galaxies detected in current surveys.
Here, we extend our analysis to the metals outside galaxies, i.e. in
intergalactic medium (IGM), using observational data and analytical
calculations. Our results for the two are strikingly similar: (1)
Observationally, we find that, besides the small (5%) contribution of DLAs, the
forest and sub-DLAs contribute subtantially to make <30--45% of the metal
budget, but neither of these appear to be sufficient to close the metal budget.
The forest accounts for 15--30% depending on the UV background, and sub-DLAs
for >2% to <17% depending on the ionization fraction. Together, the `missing
metals' problem is substantially eased. (2) We perform analytical calculations
based on the effective yield--mass relation. At z=2, we find that the method
predicts that 2$--50% of the metals have been ejected from galaxies into the
IGM, consistent with the observations. The metal ejection is predominantly by
L<1/3L_B^*(z=2) galaxies, which are responsible for 90% the metal enrichment,
while the 50 percentile is at L~1/10L^*_B(z=2). As a consequence, if indeed 50%
of the metals have been ejected from galaxies, 3--5 bursts of star formation
are required per galaxy prior to z=2. The ratio between the mass of metals
outside galaxies to those in stars has changed from z=2 to z=0: it was 2:1 or
1:1 and is now 1:8 or 1:9. This evolution implies that a significant fraction
of the IGM metals will cool and fall back into galaxies.Comment: 18pages, MNRAS, in press; small changes to match proofs; extended
version with summary tabl
A Parkes half-Jansky sample of GPS galaxies
This paper describes the selection of a new southern/equatorial sample of
Gigahertz Peaked Spectrum (GPS) radio galaxies, and subsequent optical CCD
imaging and spectroscopic observations using the ESO 3.6m telescope. The sample
consists of 49 sources with -4020 degrees, and
S(2.7GHz)>0.5 Jy, selected from the Parkes PKSCAT90 survey. About 80% of the
sources are optically identified, and about half of the identifications have
available redshifts. The R-band Hubble diagram and evolution of the host
galaxies of GPS sources are reviewed.Comment: Latex, 12 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA
The detection of FIR emission from high redshift star-forming galaxies in the ECDF-S
ABRIDGED: We have used the LABOCA Survey of the ECDF-S (LESS) to investigate
rest-frame FIR emission from typical SF systems (LBGs) at redshift 3, 4, and 5.
We initially concentrate on LBGs at z~3 and select three subsamples on stellar
mass, extinction corrected SF and rest-frame UV-magnitude. We produce composite
870micron images of the typical source in our subsamples, obtaining ~4sigma
detections and suggesting a correlation between FIR luminosity and stellar
mass. We apply a similar procedure to our full samples at z~3, 4, 4.5 and 5 and
do not obtain detections - consistent with a simple scaling between FIR
luminosity and stellar mass. In order to constrain the FIR SED of these systems
we explore their emission at multiple wavelengths spanning the peak of dust
emission at z~3 using the Herschel SPIRE observations of the field. We obtain
detections at multiple wavelengths for both our stellar mass and UV-magnitude
selected samples, and find a best-fit SED with T_dust in the ~33-41K range. We
calculate L_FIR, obscured SFRs and M_dust, and find that a significant fraction
of SF in these systems is obscured. Interestingly, our extinction corrected SFR
sample does not display the large FIR fluxes predicted from its red UV-spectral
slope. This suggests that the method of assuming an intrinsic UV-slope and
correcting for dust attenuation may be invalid for this sample - and that these
are not in fact the most actively SF systems. All of our z~3 samples fall on
the `main sequence' of SF galaxies at z~3 and our detected subsamples are
likely to represent the high obscuration end of LBGs at their epoch. We compare
the FIR properties of our subsamples with various other populations, finding
that our stellar mass selected sample shows similar FIR characteristics to SMGs
at the same epoch and therefore potentially represents the low L_FIR end of the
high redshift FIR luminosity function.Comment: 18 pages, 10 figure, MNRAS accepted, corrected typos,
acknowledgements adde
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