410 research outputs found
Lyman Break Galaxies at z~5: Rest-frame UV Spectra II
We present the results of spectroscopy of Lyman Break Galaxies (LBGs) at z~5
in the J0053+1234 field with the Faint Object Camera and Spectrograph on the
Subaru telescope. Among 5 bright candidates with z' < 25.0 mag, 2 objects are
confirmed to be at z~5 from their Ly alpha emission and the continuum
depression shortward of Ly alpha. The EWs of Ly alpha emission of the 2 LBGs
are not so strong to be detected as Ly alpha emitters, and one of them shows
strong low-ionized interstellar (LIS) metal absorption lines. Two faint objects
with z' \geq 25.0 mag are also confirmed to be at z~5, and their spectra show
strong Ly alpha emission in contrast to the bright ones. These results suggest
a deficiency of strong Ly alpha emission in bright LBGs at z~5, which has been
discussed in our previous paper. Combined with our previous spectra of LBGs at
z~5 obtained around the Hubble Deep Field-North (HDF-N), we made a composite
spectrum of UV luminous (M_1400 \leq -21.5 mag) LBGs at z~5. The resultant
spectrum shows a weak Ly alpha emission and strong LIS absorptions which
suggests that the bright LBGs at z~5 have chemically evolved at least to ~0.1
solar metallicity. For a part of our sample in the HDF-N region, we obtained
near-to-mid infrared data, which constraint stellar masses of these objects.
With the stellar mass and the metallicity estimated from LIS absorptions, the
metallicities of the LBGs at z~5 tend to be lower than those of the galaxies
with the same stellar mass at z \lesssim 2, although the uncertainty is very
large.Comment: 17 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in PAS
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