590 research outputs found
A CANDELS WFC3 Grism Study of Emission-Line Galaxies at z ~ 2: A Mix of Nuclear Activity and Low-Metallicity Star Formation
We present Hubble Space Telescope Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) slitless grism spectroscopy of 28 emission-line galaxies at z ~ 2, in the GOODS-S region of the Cosmic Assembly Near-infrared Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey. The high sensitivity of these grism observations, with >1σ detections of emission lines to f > 2.5 × 10^(–18) erg s^(–1) cm^(–2), means that the galaxies in the sample are typically ~7 times less massive (median M_* = 10^(9.5) M_☉) than previously studied z ~ 2 emission-line galaxies. Despite their lower mass, the galaxies have [O III]/Hβ ratios which are very similar to previously studied z ~ 2 galaxies and much higher than the typical emission-line ratios of local galaxies. The WFC3 grism allows for unique studies of spatial gradients in emission lines, and we stack the two-dimensional spectra of the galaxies for this purpose. In the stacked data the [O III] emission line is more spatially concentrated than the Hβ emission line with 98.1% confidence. We additionally stack the X-ray data (all sources are individually undetected), and find that the average L_([O III])/L_(0.5-10keV) ratio is intermediate between typical z ~ 0 obscured active galaxies and star-forming galaxies. Together the compactness of the stacked [O III] spatial profile and the stacked X-ray data suggest that at least some of these low-mass, low-metallicity galaxies harbor weak active galactic nuclei
Possible Implications of Asymmetric Fermionic Dark Matter for Neutron Stars
We consider the implications of fermionic asymmetric dark matter for a "mixed
neutron star" composed of ordinary baryons and dark fermions. We find examples,
where for a certain range of dark fermion mass -- when it is less than that of
ordinary baryons -- such systems can reach higher masses than the maximal
values allowed for ordinary ("pure") neutron stars. This is shown both within a
simplified, heuristic Newtonian analytic framework with non-interacting
particles and via a general relativistic numerical calculation, under certain
assumptions for the dark matter equation of state. Our work applies to various
dark fermion models such as mirror matter models and to other models where the
dark fermions have self interactions.Comment: 20 pages, 6 figure
Galaxy Morphology from NICMOS Parallel Imaging
We present high resolution NICMOS images of random fields obtained in
parallel to other HST observations. We present galaxy number counts reaching
H=24. The H-band galaxy counts show good agreement with the deepest I- and
K-band counts obtained from ground-based data. We present the distribution of
galaxies with morphological type to H<23. We find relatively fewer irregular
galaxies compared to an I-band sample from the Hubble Deep Field, which we
attribute to their blue color, rather than to morphological K-corrections. We
conclude that the irregulars are intrinsically faint blue galaxies at z<1.Comment: 13 pages, including 4 figures. Accepted for publication in ApJ
Letter
Emission Line Galaxies in the STIS Parallel Survey II: Star Formation Density
We present the luminosity function of [OII]-emitting galaxies at a median
redshift of z=0.9, as measured in the deep spectroscopic data in the STIS
Parallel Survey (SPS). The luminosity function shows strong evolution from the
local value, as expected. By using random lines of sight, the SPS measurement
complements previous deep single field studies. We calculate the density of
inferred star formation at this redshift by converting from [OII] to H-alpha
line flux as a function of absolute magnitude and find rho_dot=0.043 +/- 0.014
Msun/yr/Mpc^3 at a median redshift z~0.9 within the range 0.46<z<1.415 (H_0 =
70 km/s/Mpc, Omega_M=0.3, Omega_Lambda=0.7. This density is consistent with a
(1+z)^4 evolution in global star formation since z~1. To reconcile the density
with similar measurements made by surveys targeting H-alpha may require
substantial extinction correction.Comment: 16 preprint pages including 5 figures; accepted for publication in
Ap
The Hubble Space Telescope GOODS NICMOS Survey: overview and the evolution of massive galaxies at 1.5 < z < 3
We present the details and early results from a deep near-infrared survey utilizing the NICMOS instrument on the Hubble Space Telescope centred around massive M_* > 10^(11) M_⊙ galaxies at 1.7 10^(11) M_⊙, whereby we find an increase of a factor of 8 between z= 3 and 1.5, demonstrating that this is an epoch when massive galaxies establish most of their stellar mass. We also provide an overview of the evolutionary properties of these galaxies, such as their merger histories, and size evolution
The WFC3 Infrared Spectroscopic Parallel (WISP) Survey
We present the WFC3 Infrared Spectroscopic Parallel (WISP) Survey. WISP is
obtaining slitless, near-infrared grism spectroscopy of ~ 90 independent,
high-latitude fields by observing in the pure parallel mode with Wide Field
Camera-3 on the Hubble Space Telescope for a total of ~ 250 orbits. Spectra are
obtained with the G102 (lambda=0.8-1.17 microns, R ~ 210) and G141 grisms
(lambda=1.11-1.67 microns, R ~ 130), together with direct imaging in the J- and
H-bands (F110W and F140W, respectively). In the present paper, we present the
first results from 19 WISP fields, covering approximately 63 square arc
minutes. For typical exposure times (~ 6400 sec in G102 and ~ 2700 sec in
G141), we reach 5-sigma detection limits for emission lines of 5 x 10^(-17)
ergs s^(-1) cm^(-2) for compact objects. Typical direct imaging 5sigma-limits
are 26.8 and 25.0 magnitudes (AB) in F110W and F140W, respectively. Restricting
ourselves to the lines measured with highest confidence, we present a list of
328 emission lines, in 229 objects, in a redshift range 0.3 < z < 3. The
single-line emitters are likely to be a mix of Halpha and [OIII]5007,4959 A,
with Halpha predominating. The overall surface density of high-confidence
emission-line objects in our sample is approximately 4 per arcmin^(2).These
first fields show high equivalent width sources, AGN, and post starburst
galaxies. The median observed star formation rate of our Halpha selected sample
is 4 Msol/year. At intermediate redshifts, we detect emission lines in galaxies
as faint as H_140 ~ 25, or M_R < -19, and are sensitive to star formation rates
down to less than 1 Msol/year. The slitless grisms on WFC3 provide a unique
opportunity to study the spectral properties of galaxies much fainter than L*
at the peak of the galaxy assembly epoch.Comment: 15 pages, 12 figures, submitted to Ap
IRAC Excess in Distant Star-Forming Galaxies: Tentative Evidence for the 3.3m Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Feature ?
We present evidence for the existence of an IRAC excess in the spectral
energy distribution (SED) of 5 galaxies at 0.6<z<0.9 and 1 galaxy at z=1.7.
These 6 galaxies, located in the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey field
(GOODS-N), are star forming since they present strong 6.2, 7.7, and 11.3 um
polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) lines in their Spitzer IRS mid-infrared
spectra. We use a library of templates computed with PEGASE.2 to fit their
multiwavelength photometry and derive their stellar continuum. Subtraction of
the stellar continuum enables us to detect in 5 galaxies a significant excess
in the IRAC band pass where the 3.3 um PAH is expected. We then assess if the
physical origin of the IRAC excess is due to an obscured active galactic
nucleus (AGN) or warm dust emission. For one galaxy evidence of an obscured AGN
is found, while the remaining four do not exhibit any significant AGN activity.
Possible contamination by warm dust continuum of unknown origin as found in the
Galactic diffuse emission is discussed. The properties of such a continuum
would have to be different from the local Universe to explain the measured IRAC
excess, but we cannot definitively rule out this possibility until its origin
is understood. Assuming that the IRAC excess is dominated by the 3.3 um PAH
feature, we find good agreement with the observed 11.3 um PAH line flux arising
from the same C-H bending and stretching modes, consistent with model
expectations. Finally, the IRAC excess appears to be correlated with the
star-formation rate in the galaxies. Hence it could provide a powerful
diagnostic for measuring dusty star formation in z>3 galaxies once the
mid-infrared spectroscopic capabilities of the James Webb Space Telescope
become available.Comment: 25 pages, 4 figures, accepted by Ap
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