Identification of a galaxy responsible for a high-redshift Lyman-α absorption system

Damped Lyman-α systems are high-column-density intergalactic clouds of hydrogen, the existence of which is inferred from absorption lines appearing in the emission spectra of distant quasars. The galaxies believed to be responsible for these absorption systems have been suggested as possible progenitors of the normal disk galaxies observed in the local Universe. Indeed, Lyman-α systems appear to contain a substantial fraction of the baryons known to exist in galaxies today. Here we report the optical detection of a galaxy (designated DLA2233 + 131) associated with a known damped Lyman-α absorption system at a redshift of z = 3.150. The properties of this galaxy correspond closely to those expected of a young disk galaxy in the early stages of formation, and show no evidence for an active nucleus. This finding gives strong support to the idea that damped Lyman-α systems represent a population of young galaxies at high red-shifts

A Tolman Surface Brightness Test for Universal Expansion, and the Evolution of Elliptical Galaxies in Distant Clusters

We use the intercept of the elliptical galaxy radius--surface brightness (SB) relation at a fixed metric radius as the standard condition for the Tolman SB test of the universal expansion. We use surface photometry in the optical and near-IR of elliptical galaxies in Abell~2390 ($z=0.23$) and Abell~851 ($z=0.41$), and compare them to the Coma cluster at $z\approx 0$. The photometric data for each cluster are well-described by the Kormendy relation $r_e \propto \Sigma_e^{A}$, where $A=-0.9$ in the optical and $A=-1.0$ in the near-IR. The scatter about this near-IR relation is only $0.076$ in $\log r_e$ at the highest redshift, which is much smaller than at low redshifts, suggesting a remarkable homogeneity of the cluster elliptical population at $z=0.41$. We use the intercept of these fixed-slope correlations at $R_e = 1$~kpc (assuming $H_0=75$~km~s$^{-1}$~Mpc$^{-1}$, $\Omega_0=0.2$, and $\Lambda_0=0$, where the results are only weakly dependent on the cosmology) to construct the Tolman SB test for these three clusters. The data are fully consistent with universal expansion if we assume simple models of passive evolution for elliptical galaxies, but are inconsistent with a non-expanding geometry (the tired light cosmology) at the $5 \, \sigma$ confidence level at $z=0.41$. These results suggest luminosity evolution in the restframe $K$-band of $0.36 \pm 0.14$~mag from $z = 0.41$ to the present, and are consistent with the ellipticals having formed at high redshift. The SB intercept in elliptical galaxy correlations is thus a powerful tool for investigating models of their evolution for significant lookback times.Comment: to appear in The Astrophysical Journal (Letters); 13 pages, including 3 Postscript figures and 1 table; uuencoded, compressed format; the paper is also available in various formats from http://astro.caltech.edu/~map/map.bibliography.refereed.htm

Faint M-dwarfs and the structure of the Galactic disk

We use broadband photometry and low-resolution spectra of a complete sample of late-K and M dwarfs brighter than I=22 in three fields at high galactic latitude to study issues relating to galactic structure and large scale abundance gradients in the Galaxy. The observed starcounts in each field are a good match to the predictions of models based on deep starcount data in other intermediate-latitude fields, and these models identify the late-type stars as members of the Galactic disk. Abundances for these late type stars are estimated via narrowband indices that measure the strength of the TiO and CaH bands in their spectra. Our results show that the average abundance in the Galactic disk remains close to solar even at heights of more than 2 kpc above the Plane.Comment: to appear in PASP; 17 pages, including 7 embedded, postscript figures and 1 embedded table; uses AAS LaTeX style files (not included); also available at http://astro.caltech.edu/~map/map.bibliography.htm

Strong Redshift Clustering of Distant Galaxies

We present initial results from a redshift survey carried out with the Low Resolution Imaging Spectrograph on the 10~m W. M. Keck Telescope of a field 14.6 arc-min$^2$ in solid angle. In the redshift distribution of the 106 extragalactic objects in this sample we find five strong peaks, with velocity dispersions of ${\sim}500${\kms}. There is evidence for a non-uniform areal density of objects in at least two peaks. These peaks have characteristics (velocity dispersions, density enhancements, spacing, and spatial extent) similar to those of nearby galaxy structures (e.g., walls and clusters), and these are expected in a survey of this kind. We suggest that the prominence of these structures in our survey relative to that in other surveys can be attributed to our $K$-selection and dense sampling.Comment: 18 pages, including 2 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ Letter