83 research outputs found
Constraints on the Lyman continuum radiation from galaxies: first results with FUSE on Mrk 54
We present Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer observations of the
star-forming galaxy Mrk 54 at z = 0.0448. The Lyman continuum radiation is not
detected above the HI absorption edge in our Galaxy. An upper limit is
evaluated by comparison with the background measured in regions of the detector
adjacent to the observed spectrum. A spectral window of 16 A, reasonably free
of additional HI Lyman series line absorption is used. No correction is needed
for molecular hydrogen absorption in our Galaxy but a foreground extinction of
0.29 mag is accounted for. An upper limit of 6.15 10^{-16} erg/cm^2/s/A is
obtained for the flux at ~ 900 A in the rest frame of Mrk 54. By comparison
with the number of ionizing photons derived from the H-alpha flux, this limit
translates into an upper limit of f_esc < 0.062 for the fraction of Lyman
continuum photons that escape the galaxy without being absorbed by interstellar
material. This limit compares with the limits obtained in three other nearby
galaxies and is compatible with the escape fractions predicted by models.
The upper limits obtained in nearby galaxies contrasts with the detection of
Lyman continuum flux in the composite spectrum of Lyman-break galaxies at z ~
3.4. The difficulties and implications of a comparison are discussed.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in A&A include aa.cls
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The ultraviolet extragalactic background light: dust extinction and the evolution of the cosmic star formation rate from z=0 to 0.6
We show that the accumulated light of galaxies in the ultraviolet can be
evaluated from their luminosity density as a function of the evolution of the
cosmic star formation rate and dust extinction properties. Constraints on the
evolution rate are expected in future. Data available at the moment are
consistent with an evolution rate at low z steeper than (1+z)^(3.5). A
shallower rate remains possible if the luminosity-weighted dust extinction at
2000 A, as suggested by some data, is lower than about 1.2.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, accepted for publication in MNRA
The ultraviolet visibility and quantitative morphology of galactic disks at low and high redshift
We used ultraviolet (200 nm) images of the local spiral galaxies M33, M51,
M81, M100, M101 to compute morphological parameters of galactic disks at this
wavelength : half-light radius , surface brightness distributions,
asymmetries () and concentrations (). The visibility and the evolution
of the morphological parameters are studied as a function of the redshift. The
main results are : local spiral galaxies would be hardly observed and
classified if projected at high redshifts (z 1) unless a strong
luminosity evolution is assumed. Consequently, the non-detection of large
galactic disks cannot be used without caution as a constraint on the evolution
of galatic disks. Spiral galaxies observed in ultraviolet appear more irregular
since the contribution from the young stellar population becomes predominent.
When these galaxies are put in a (log vs. log ) diagram, they move to
the irregul ar sector defined at visible wavelengths. Moreover, the log
parameter is degenerate and cannot be used for an efficient classification of
morphological ultraviolet types. The analysis of high redshift galaxies cannot
be carried out in a reliable way so far and a multi-wavelength approach is
required if one does not want to misinterpret the data.Comment: 12 pages, accepted for publication in A&A on 15 January 200
UV and FIR selected samples of galaxies in the local Universe. Dust extinction and star formation rates
We have built two samples of galaxies selected at 0.2micron (hereafter UV)
and 60micron (hereafter FIR) covering a sky area of 35.36 deg^2. The UV
selected sample contains 25 galaxies brighter than AB_0.2=17mag. All of them,
but one elliptical, are detected at 60micron with a flux density larger or
equal to 0.2Jy. The UV counts are significantly lower than the euclidean
extrapolation towards brighter fluxes of previous determinations. The FIR
selected sample contains 42 galaxies brighter than f_60=0.6Jy. Excepting four
galaxies, all of them have a UV counterpart at the limiting magnitude
AB_0.2=20.3mag. The mean extinction derived from the analysis of the FIR to UV
flux ratio is ~1mag for the UV selected sample and ~2mag for the FIR selected
one. For each sample we compare several indicators of the recent star formation
rate (SFR) based on the FIR and/or the UV emissions and we find linear
relationships with slopes close to unity, meaning that no trend with the SFR
exists when converting between each other. Various absolute calibrations for
both samples are discussed in this paper. A positive correlation between
extinction and SFR is found when both samples are considered together although
with a considerable scatter. A similar result is obtained when using the SFR
normalized to the optical surface of the galaxies.Comment: 34 pages, 17 figures. Accepted for publication in A&
The ESO UVES Advanced Data Products Quasar Sample - VI. Sub-Damped Lyman- Metallicity Measurements and the Circum-Galactic Medium
The Circum-Galactic Medium (CGM) can be probed through the analysis of
absorbing systems in the line-of-sight to bright background quasars. We present
measurements of the metallicity of a new sample of 15 sub-damped Lyman-
absorbers (sub-DLAs, defined as absorbers with 19.0 < log N(H I) < 20.3) with
redshift 0.584 < < 3.104 from the ESO Ultra-Violet Echelle
Spectrograph (UVES) Advanced Data Products Quasar Sample (EUADP). We combine
these results with other measurements from the literature to produce a
compilation of metallicity measurements for 92 sub-DLAs as well as a sample of
362 DLAs. We apply a multi-element analysis to quantify the amount of dust in
these two classes of systems. We find that either the element depletion
patterns in these systems differ from the Galactic depletion patterns or they
have a different nucleosynthetic history than our own Galaxy. We propose a new
method to derive the velocity width of absorption profiles, using the modeled
Voigt profile features. The correlation between the velocity width delta_V90 of
the absorption profile and the metallicity is found to be tighter for DLAs than
for sub-DLAs. We report hints of a bimodal distribution in the [Fe/H]
metallicity of low redshift (z < 1.25) sub-DLAs, which is unseen at higher
redshifts. This feature can be interpreted as a signature from the metal-poor,
accreting gas and the metal-rich, outflowing gas, both being traced by sub-DLAs
at low redshifts.Comment: 64 pages, 31 figures, 27 tables. Submitted to MNRA
Constraints on a Universal IMF from UV to Near-IR Galaxy Luminosity Densities
We obtain constraints on the slope of a universal stellar initial mass
function (IMF) over a range of cosmic star-formation histories (SFH) using
z=0.1 luminosity densities in the range from 0.2 to 2.2 microns. The age-IMF
degeneracy of integrated spectra of stellar populations can be broken for the
Universe as a whole by using direct measurements of (relative) cosmic SFH from
high-redshift observations. These have only marginal dependence on
uncertainties in the IMF, whereas, fitting to local luminosity densities
depends strongly on both cosmic SFH and the IMF. We fit to these measurements
using population synthesis and find the best-fit IMF power-law slope to be
Gamma=1.15+-0.2 (0.5 < M/M_solar < 120). This slope is in good agreement with
the Salpeter IMF slope (Gamma=1.35). A strong upper limit of Gamma<1.7 is
obtained which effectively rules out the Scalo IMF due to its too low fraction
of high-mass stars. This upper limit is at the 99.7% confidence level if we
assume a closed-box chemical evolution scenario and 95% if we assume constant
solar metallicity. Fitting to the H-alpha line luminosity density, we obtain a
best-fit IMF slope in good agreement with that derived from broadband
measurements. Marginalizing over cosmic SFH and IMF slope, we obtain (95% conf.
ranges, h=1): omega_stars = 1.1-2.0 E-3 for the stellar mass density; rho_sfr =
0.7-4.1 E-2 M_solar/yr/Mpc^3 for the star-formation rate density, and; rho_L =
1.2-1.7 E+35 W/Mpc^3 for the bolometric, attenuated, stellar, luminosity
density (0.09-5 microns). Comparing this total stellar emission with an
estimate of the total dust emission implies a relatively modest average
attenuation in the UV (<=1 magnitude at 0.2 microns).Comment: 16 pages, accepted by Ap
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