1,742 research outputs found
Starburst Intensity Limit of Galaxies at z~5-6
The peak star formation intensity in starburst galaxies does not vary
significantly from the local universe to redshift z~6. We arrive at this
conclusion through new surface brightness measurements of 47 starburst galaxies
at z~5-6, doubling the redshift range for such observations. These galaxies are
spectroscopically confirmed in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field (HUDF) through the
GRism ACS program for Extragalactic Science (GRAPES) project. The starburst
intensity limit for galaxies at z~5-6 agree with those at z~3-4 and z~0 to
within a factor of a few, after correcting for cosmological surface brightness
dimming and for dust. The most natural interpretation of this constancy over
cosmic time is that the same physical mechanisms limit starburst intensity at
all redshifts up to z~6 (be they galactic winds, gravitational instability, or
something else). We do see two trends with redshift: First, the UV spectral
slope of galaxies at z~5-6 is bluer than that of z~3 galaxies, suggesting an
increase in dust content over time. Second, the galaxy sizes from z~3 to z~6
scale approximately as the Hubble parameter 1/H(z). Thus, galaxies at z~6 are
high redshift starbursts, much like their local analogs except for slightly
bluer colors, smaller physical sizes, and correspondingly lower overall
luminosities. If we now assume a constant maximum star formation intensity, the
differences in observed surface brightness between z~0 and z~6 are consistent
with standard expanding cosmology and strongly inconsistent with tired light
model.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ (23 pages, 5 figures). Minor changes
to tex
Dynamics of ``Small Galaxies'' in the Hubble Deep Field
We have previously found in the Hubble Deep Field a significant angular
correlation of faint, high color-redshift objects on scales below one
arcsecond, or several kiloparsecs in metric size. We examine the correlation
and nearest neighbor statistics to conclude that 38% of these objects in the
HDF have a companion within one arcsecond, three times the number expected in a
random distribution with the same number of objects. We examine three dynamical
scenarios for these object multiplets: 1) the objects are star-forming regions
within normal galaxies, whose disks have been relatively dimmed by K-correction
and surface brightness dimming; 2) they are fragments merging into large
galaxies; 3) they are satellites accreting onto normal L_* galaxies. We find
that hypothesis 1 is most tenable. First, large galaxies in the process of a
merger formation would have accumulated too much mass in their centers (5e12
M_sun inside 2 kpc) to correspond to present day objects. Second, accretion by
dynamical friction occurs with a predictable density vs. radius slope, not seen
among the faint HDF objects. Since the dynamical friction time is roughly (1
Gyr), a steady-state should have been reached by redshift z < 5. Star-forming
regions within galaxies clearly present no dynamical problems. Since large
spirals would still appear as such in the HDF, we favor a scenario in which the
faint compact sources in the HDF are giant starforming regions within small
normal galaxies, such as Magellanic irregulars. Finally we checked that
reduction in mass-to-light from induced star-formation cannot alone explain the
luminosity overdensity.Comment: AASTeX 4.0 (preprint), 4 PostScript figure
Clustering of Lyman alpha emitters at z ~ 4.5
We present the clustering properties of 151 Lyman alpha emitting galaxies at
z ~ 4.5 selected from the Large Area Lyman Alpha (LALA) survey. Our catalog
covers an area of 36' x 36' observed with five narrowband filters. We assume
that the angular correlation function w(theta) is well represented by a power
law A_w = Theta^(-beta) with slope beta = 0.8, and we find A_w = 6.73 +/- 1.80.
We then calculate the correlation length r_0 of the real-space two-point
correlation function xi(r) = (r/r_0)^(-1.8) from A_w through the Limber
transformation, assuming a flat, Lambda-dominated universe. Neglecting
contamination, we find r_0 = 3.20 +/- 0.42 Mpc/h. Taking into account a
possible 28% contamination by randomly distributed sources, we find r_0 = 4.61
+/- 0.6 Mpc/h. We compare these results with the expectations for the
clustering of dark matter halos at this redshift in a Cold Dark Matter model,
and find that the measured clustering strength can be reproduced if these
objects reside in halos with a minimum mass of 1-2 times 10^11 Solar masses/h.
Our estimated correlation length implies a bias of b ~ 3.7, similar to that of
Lyman-break galaxies (LBG) at z ~ 3.8-4.9. However, Lyman alpha emitters are a
factor of ~ 2-16 rarer than LBGs with a similar bias value and implied host
halo mass. Therefore, one plausible scenario seems to be that Lyman alpha
emitters occupy host halos of roughly the same mass as LBGs, but shine with a
relatively low duty cycle of 6-50%.Comment: 23 pages in preprint format, 4 figures, ApJ accepte
The Dynamical Masses, Densities, and Star Formation Scaling Relations of Lyman Alpha Galaxies
We present the first dynamical mass measurements for Lyman alpha galaxies at
high redshift, based on velocity dispersion measurements from rest-frame
optical emission lines and size measurements from HST imaging, for a sample of
nine galaxies drawn from four surveys. These measurements enable us to study
the nature of Lyman alpha galaxies in the context of galaxy scaling relations.
The resulting dynamical masses range from 1e9 to 1e10 solar masses. We also fit
stellar population models to our sample, and use them to plot the Lyman alpha
sample on a stellar mass vs. line width relation. Overall, the Lyman alpha
galaxies follow well the scaling relation established by observing star forming
galaxies at lower redshift (and without regard for Lyman alpha emission),
though in 1/3 of the Lyman alpha galaxies, lower-mass fits are also acceptable.
In all cases, the dynamical masses agree with established stellarmass-linewidth
relation. Using the dynamical masses as an upper limit on gas mass, we show
that Lyman alpha galaxies resemble starbursts (rather than "normal" galaxies)
in the relation between gas mass surface density and star formation activity,
in spite of relatively modest star formation rates. Finally, we examine the
mass densities of these galaxies, and show that their future evolution likely
requires dissipational ("wet") merging. In short, we find that Lyman alpha
galaxies are low mass cousins of larger starbursts.Comment: Submitted to The Astrophysical Journal. 23 pp including three figures
and four table
Detecting Primordial Stars
We discuss the expected properties of the first stellar generations in the
Universe. We find that it is possible to discern truly primordial populations
from the next generation of stars by measuring the metallicity of high-z star
forming objects. The very low background of the future James Webb Space
Telescope (JWST) will enable it to image and study first-light sources at very
high redshifts, whereas its relatively small collecting area limits its
capability in obtaining spectra of z~10-15 first-light sources to either the
bright end of their luminosity function or to strongly lensed sources. With a
suitable investment of observing time JWST will be able to detect individual
Population III supernovae, thus identifying the very first stars that formed in
the Universe.Comment: [8 pages, 5 figures] Invited Talk, to appear in IMF@50: The Stellar
Initial Mass Function Fifty Years Later, eds E. Corbelli, F. Palla, and H.
Zinnecker (Dordrecht: Kluwer
Emission-Line Galaxies from the HST PEARS Grism Survey I: The South Fields
We present results of a search for emission-line galaxies in the Southern
Fields of the Hubble Space Telescope PEARS (Probing Evolution And Reionization
Spectroscopically) grism survey. The PEARS South Fields consist of five ACS
pointings (including the Hubble Ultra Deep Field) with the G800L grism for a
total of 120 orbits, revealing thousands of faint object spectra in the
GOODS-South region of the sky. Emission-line galaxies (ELGs) are one subset of
objects that are prevalent among the grism spectra. Using a 2-dimensional
detection and extraction procedure, we find 320 emission lines orginating from
226 galaxy "knots'' within 192 individual galaxies. Line identification results
in 118 new grism-spectroscopic redshifts for galaxies in the GOODS-South Field.
We measure emission line fluxes using standard Gaussian fitting techniques. At
the resolution of the grism data, the H-beta and [OIII] doublet are blended.
However, by fitting two Gaussian components to the H-beta and [OIII] features,
we find that many of the PEARS ELGs have high [OIII]/H-beta ratios compared to
other galaxy samples of comparable luminosities. The star-formation rates
(SFRs) of the ELGs are presented, as well as a sample of distinct giant
star-forming regions at z~0.1-0.5 across individual galaxies. We find that the
radial distances of these HII regions in general reside near the galaxies'
optical continuum half-light radii, similar to those of giant HII regions in
local galaxies.Comment: 15 pages, 13 figures; Accepted for publication in A
Variable polarization in the optical afterglow of GRB 021004
We present polarimetric observations of the afterglow of gamma-ray burst
(GRB) 021004, obtained with the Nordic Optical Telescope (NOT) and the Very
Large Telescope (VLT) between 8 and 17 hours after the burst. Comparison among
the observations shows a 45 degree change in the position angle from 9 hours
after the burst to 16 hours after the burst, and comparison with published data
from later epochs even shows a 90 degree change between 9 and 89 hours after
the burst. The degree of linear polarization shows a marginal change, but is
also consistent with being constant in time. In the context of currently
available models for changes in the polarization of GRBs, a homogeneous jet
with an early break time of t_b ~ 1 day provides a good explanation of our
data. The break time is a factor 2 to 6 earlier than has been found from the
analysis of the optical light curve. The change in the position angle of the
polarization rules out a structured jet model for the GRB.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures. Published in A&A letter
Prompt optical observations of GRB050319 with the Swift UVOT
The UVOT telescope on the Swift observatory has detected optical afterglow
emission from GRB 050319. The flux declines with a power law slope of alpha =
-0.57 between the start of observations some 230 seconds after the burst onset
(90s after the burst trigger) until it faded below the sensitivity threshold of
the instrument after ~5 x 10^4s. There is no evidence for the rapidly declining
component in the early light curve that is seen at the same time in the X-ray
band. The afterglow is not detected in UVOT shortward of the B-band, suggesting
a redshift of about 3.5. The optical V-band emission lies on the extension of
the X-ray spectrum, with an optical to X-ray slope of beta = -0.8. The
relatively flat decay rate of the burst suggests that the central engine
continues to inject energy into the fireball for as long as a few x 10^4s after
the burst.Comment: 16 pages, 4 figures, accepted by Ap
Optical to mid-IR observations of Lyman-alpha galaxies at redshift 5 in the HUDF: a young and low mass population
High redshift galaxies selected on the basis of their strong Lyman-alpha
emission tend to be young ages and small physical sizes. We show this by
analyzing the spectral energy distribution (SED) of 9 Lyman-alpha emitting
(LAE) galaxies at 4.0 < z < 5.7 n the Hubble Ultra Deep Field (HUDF).
Rest-frame UV to optical 700A < lambda < 7500A luminosities, or upper limits,
are used to constrain old stellar populations. We derive best fit, as well as
maximally massive and maximally old, properties of all 9 objects. We show that
these faint and distant objects are all very young, being most likely only a
few millions years old, and not massive, the mass in stars being ~10^6-10^8
M_sun. Deep Spitzer Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) observations of these objects,
even in cases where objects were not detected, were crucial in constraining the
masses of these objects. The space density of these objects, ~1.25x10^-4 Mpc^-3
is comparable to previously reported space density of LAEs at moderate to high
redshifts. These Lyman-alpha galaxies show modest star formation rates of ~8
M_sun yr^-1, which is nevertheless strong enough to have allowed these galaxies
to assemble their stellar mass in less than a few x10^6 years. These sources
appear to have small physical sizes, usually smaller than 1 Kpc, and are also
rather concentrated. They are likely to be some of the least massive and
youngest high redshift galaxies observed to date.Comment: 27 pages. Accepted. To appear in The Astrophysical Journa
Microlensing of Globular Clusters as a Probe of Galactic Structure
The spatial distribution of compact dark matter in our Galaxy can be
determined in a few years of monitoring Galactic globular clusters for
microlensing. Globular clusters are the only dense fields of stars distributed
throughout the three-dimensional halo and hence are uniquely suited to probe
its structure. The microlensing optical depths towards different clusters have
varying contributions from the thin disk, thick disk, bulge, and halo of the
Galaxy. Although measuring individual optical depths to all the clusters is a
daunting task, we show that interesting Galactic structure information can be
extracted with as few as -- events in total for the entire globular
cluster system (observable with 2--5 years of monitoring). The globular cluster
microlensing is particularly sensitive to the core radius of the halo mass
distribution and to the scale length, surface mass density, and radial scale
height variations of the thin disk.Comment: 14 pages, 1 figure. Submitted to ApJ Letters. Uses aastex macro
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