Far-Ultraviolet Number Counts of Field Galaxies

The far-ultraviolet (FUV) number counts of galaxies constrain the evolution of the star-formation rate density of the universe. We report the FUV number counts computed from FUV imaging of several fields including the Hubble Ultra Deep Field, the Hubble Deep Field North, and small areas within the GOODS-North and -South fields. These data were obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope Solar Blind Channel of the Advance Camera for Surveys. The number counts sample a FUV AB magnitude range from 21-29 and cover a total area of 15.9 arcmin^2, ~4 times larger than the most recent HST FUV study. Our FUV counts intersect bright FUV GALEX counts at 22.5 mag and they show good agreement with recent semi-analytic models based on dark matter "merger trees" by Somerville et al. (2011). We show that the number counts are ~35% lower than in previous HST studies that use smaller areas. The differences between these studies are likely the result of cosmic variance; our new data cover more lines of sight and more area than previous HST FUV studies. The integrated light from field galaxies is found to contribute between 65.9 +/-8 - 82.6 +/-12 photons/s/cm^2/sr/angstrom to the FUV extragalactic background. These measurements set a lower limit for the total FUV background light.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ, including 34 pages, 6 figures, and 2 table

Far-Ultraviolet Number Counts on Field Galaxies

The far-ultraviolet (FUV) number counts of galaxies constrain the evolution of the star formation rate density of the universe. We report the FUV number counts computed from FUV imaging of several fields including the Hubble Ultra Deep Field, the Hubble Deep Field North, and small areas within the GOODS-North and South fields. These data were obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Solar Blind Channel of the Advance Camera for Surveys. The number counts sample an FUV AB magnitude range from 21 to 29 and cover a total area of 15.9 arcmin^2, ~4 times larger than the most recent HST FUV study. Our FUV counts intersect bright FUV Galaxy Evolution Explorer counts at 22.5 mag and they show good agreement with recent semi-analytic models based on dark matter "merger trees" by R. S. Somerville et al. We show that the number counts are ~35% lower than in previous HST studies that use smaller areas. The differences between these studies are likely the result of cosmic variance; our new data cover more lines of sight and more area than previous HST FUV studies. The integrated light from field galaxies is found to contribute between 65.9^(+8)_(–8) and 82.6^(+12)_(–)12 photons s^(–1) cm^(–2) sr^(–1) Å^(–1) to the FUV extragalactic background. These measurements set a lower limit for the total FUV background light

Constraining C iii] Emission in a Sample of Five Luminous z = 5.7 Galaxies

Recent observations have suggested that the CIII]$\lambda1907/1909$ emission lines could be alternative diagnostic lines for galaxies in the reionization epoch. We use the F128N narrowband filter on the Hubble Space Telescope's ($\it{HST}$) Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) to search for CIII] emission in a sample of five galaxies at z = 5.7 in the Subaru Deep Field and the Subaru/XMM-Newton Deep Field. Using the F128N narrowband imaging, together with the broadband imaging, we do not detect CIII] emission for the five galaxies with $J_{\rm{AB}}$ ranging from 24.10 -- 27.00 in our sample. For the brightest galaxy J132416.13+274411.6 in our sample (z = 5.70, $J_{\rm{AB}} = 24.10$), which has a significantly higher signal to noise, we report a CIII] flux of $3.34\pm1.81 \times 10^{-18}$ $\mathrm{erg\ s^{-1}\ cm^{-2}}$, which places a stringent 3-$\rm\sigma$ upper limit of $5.43\times 10^{-18}$ $\mathrm{erg\ s^{-1}\ cm^{-2}}$on CIII] flux and 6.57 \AA\ on the CIII] equivalent width. Using the stacked image, we put a 3-$\rm\sigma$upper limit on the mean CIII] flux of$\mathrm{2.55\times10^{-18}\ erg\ s^{-1}\ cm^{-2}}$, and a 3-$\rm\sigma$upper limit on the mean CIII] equivalent width of 4.20 {\AA} for this sample of galaxies at z = 5.70. Combined with strong CIII] detection reported among high-z galaxies in the literature, our observations suggest that the equivalent widths of CIII] from galaxies at z$>$ 5.70 exhibit a wide range of distribution. Our strong limits on CIII] emission could be used as a guide for future observations in the reionization epoch

The SWIRE/Chandra Survey: The X-ray Sources

We report a moderate-depth (70 ks), contiguous 0.7 deg^2 Chandra survey in the Lockman Hole Field of the Spitzer/SWIRE Legacy Survey coincident with a completed, ultra-deep VLA survey with deep optical and near-infrared imaging in-hand. The primary motivation is to distinguish starburst galaxies and active galactic nuclei (AGNs), including the significant, highly obscured (log N_H > 23) subset. Chandra has detected 775 X-ray sources to a limiting broadband (0.3-8 keV) flux ~4 × 10^(–16) erg cm^(–2) s^(–1). We present the X-ray catalog, fluxes, hardness ratios, and multi-wavelength fluxes. The log N versus log S agrees with those of previous surveys covering similar flux ranges. The Chandra and Spitzer flux limits are well matched: 771 (99%) of the X-ray sources have infrared (IR) or optical counterparts, and 333 have MIPS 24 μm detections. There are four optical-only X-ray sources and four with no visible optical/IR counterpart. The very deep (~2.7 μJy rms) VLA data yield 251 (>4σ) radio counterparts, 44% of the X-ray sources in the field. We confirm that the tendency for lower X-ray flux sources to be harder is primarily due to absorption. As expected, there is no correlation between observed IR and X-ray fluxes. Optically bright, type 1, and red AGNs lie in distinct regions of the IR versus X-ray flux plots, demonstrating the wide range of spectral energy distributions in this sample and providing the potential for classification/source selection. Many optically bright sources, which lie outside the AGN region in the optical versus X-ray plots (f_r /f_x >10), lie inside the region predicted for red AGNs in IR versus X-ray plots, consistent with the presence of an active nucleus. More than 40% of the X-ray sources in the VLA field are radio-loud using the classical definition, R_L . The majority of these are red and relatively faint in the optical so that the use of R_L to select those AGNs with the strongest radio emission becomes questionable. Using the 24 μm to radio flux ratio (q_(24)) instead results in 13 of the 147 AGNs with sufficient data being classified as radio-loud, in good agreement with the ~10% expected for broad-lined AGNs based on optical surveys. We conclude that q_(24) is a more reliable indicator of radio-loudness. Use of R_L should be confined to the optically selected type 1 AGN

Dust Attenuation in UV-selected Starbursts at High Redshift and Their Local Counterparts: Implications for the Cosmic Star Formation Rate Density

We present a new analysis of the dust obscuration in starburst galaxies at low and high redshifts. This study is motivated by our unique sample of the most extreme UV-selected starburst galaxies in the nearby universe (z < 0.3), found to be good analogs of high-redshift Lyman break galaxies (LBGs) in most of their physical properties. We find that the dust properties of the Lyman break analogs (LBAs) are consistent with the relation derived previously by Meurer et al. (M99) that is commonly used to dust-correct star formation rate (SFR) measurements at a very wide range of redshifts. We directly compare our results with high-redshift samples (LBGs, "BzK," and submillimeter galaxies at z ~ 2-3) having IR data either from Spitzer or Herschel. The attenuation in typical LBGs at z ~ 2-3 and LBAs is very similar. Because LBAs are much better analogs to LBGs compared to previous local star-forming samples, including M99, the practice of dust-correcting the SFRs of high-redshift galaxies based on the local calibration is now placed on a much more solid ground. We illustrate the importance of this result by showing how the locally calibrated relation between UV measurements and extinction is used to estimate the integrated, dust-corrected SFR density at z ≃ 2-6

Central Powering of the Largest Lyman-alpha Nebula is Revealed by Polarized Radiation

High-redshift Lyman-alpha blobs are extended, luminous, but rare structures that appear to be associated with the highest peaks in the matter density of the Universe. Their energy output and morphology are similar to powerful radio galaxies, but the source of the luminosity is unclear. Some blobs are associated with ultraviolet or infrared bright galaxies, suggesting an extreme starburst event or accretion onto a central black hole. Another possibility is gas that is shock excited by supernovae. However some blobs are not associated with galaxies, and may instead be heated by gas falling into a dark matter halo. The polarization of the Ly-alpha emission can in principle distinguish between these options, but a previous attempt to detect this signature returned a null detection. Here we report on the detection of polarized Ly-alpha from the blob LAB1. Although the central region shows no measurable polarization, the polarized fraction (P) increases to ~20 per cent at a radius of 45 kpc, forming an almost complete polarized ring. The detection of polarized radiation is inconsistent with the in situ production of Ly-alpha photons, and we conclude that they must have been produced in the galaxies hosted within the nebula, and re-scattered by neutral hydrogen.Comment: Published in the August 18 issue of Nature. 1750 words, 3 figures, and full Supplementary Information. Version has not undergone proofing. Reduced and processed data products are available here: http://obswww.unige.ch/people/matthew.hayes/LymanAlpha/LabPol

The UV Continuum of z > 1 Star-forming Galaxies in the Hubble Ultraviolet Ultradeep Field

We estimate the UV continuum slope, β, for 923 galaxies in the range 1 = – 1.382(– 1.830) ± 0.002 (random) ± 0.1 (systematic). We find comparable scatter in β (standard deviation = 0.43) to local dwarf galaxies and 30% larger scatter than z > 2 galaxies. We study the trends of β with redshift and absolute magnitude for binned sub-samples and find a modest color-magnitude relation, dβ/dM = –0.11 ± 0.01, and no evolution in dβ/dM with redshift. A modest increase in dust reddening with redshift and luminosity, ΔE(B – V) ~ 0.1, and a comparable increase in the dispersion of dust reddening at z 2, we find trends that are consistent with previous works; combining our data with the literature in the range 1 < z < 8, we find a color evolution with redshift, dβ/dz = –0.09 ± 0.01 for low luminosity (0.05 L^(*)_(z=3), and dβ/dz = –0.06 ± 0.01 for medium luminosity (0.25 $L^(*)_(z=3) galaxies

UVUDF: Ultraviolet Imaging of the Hubble Ultradeep Field with Wide-field Camera 3

We present an overview of a 90-orbit Hubble Space Telescope treasury program to obtain near ultraviolet imaging of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field using the Wide Field Camera 3 UVIS detector with the F225W, F275W, and F336W filters. This survey is designed to: (i) Investigate the episode of peak star formation activity in galaxies at 1<z<2.5; (ii) Probe the evolution of massive galaxies by resolving sub-galactic units (clumps); (iii) Examine the escape fraction of ionizing radiation from galaxies at z~2-3; (iv) Greatly improve the reliability of photometric redshift estimates; and (v) Measure the star formation rate efficiency of neutral atomic-dominated hydrogen gas at z~1-3. In this overview paper, we describe the survey details and data reduction challenges, including both the necessity of specialized calibrations and the effects of charge transfer inefficiency. We provide a stark demonstration of the effects of charge transfer inefficiency on resultant data products, which when uncorrected, result in uncertain photometry, elongation of morphology in the readout direction, and loss of faint sources far from the readout. We agree with the STScI recommendation that future UVIS observations that require very sensitive measurements use the instrument's capability to add background light through a "post-flash". Preliminary results on number counts of UV-selected galaxies and morphology of galaxies at z~1 are presented. We find that the number density of UV dropouts at redshifts 1.7, 2.1, and 2.7 is largely consistent with the number predicted by published luminosity functions. We also confirm that the image mosaics have sufficient sensitivity and resolution to support the analysis of the evolution of star-forming clumps, reaching 28-29th magnitude depth at 5 sigma in a 0.2 arcsecond radius aperture depending on filter and observing epoch.Comment: Accepted A