280 research outputs found
Submillimeter galaxies behind the Bullet Cluster (1E 0657-56)
Clusters of galaxies are effective gravitational lenses able to magnify
background galaxies and making it possible to probe the fainter part of the
galaxy population. Submillimeter galaxies, which are believed to be
star-forming galaxies at typical redshifts of 2 to 3, are a major contaminant
to the extended Sunyaev-Zeldovich (SZ) signal of galaxy clusters. For a proper
quantification of the SZ signal the contribution of submillimeter galaxies
needs to be quantified. The aims of this study are to identify submillimeter
sources in the field of the Bullet Cluster (1E 0657-56), a massive cluster of
galaxies at z~0.3, measure their flux densities at 870 micron, and search for
counterparts at other wavelengths to constrain their properties. We carried out
deep observations of the submillimeter continuum emission at 870 micron using
the Large APEX BOlometer CAmera (LABOCA) on the Atacama Pathfinder EXperiment
(APEX) telescope. Several numerical techniques were used to quantify the noise
properties of the data and extract sources. In total, seventeen sources were
found. Thirteen of them lie in the central 10 arcminutes of the map, which has
a pixel sensitivity of 1.2 mJy per 22 arcsec beam. After correction for flux
boosting and gravitational lensing, the number counts are consistent with
published submm measurements. Nine of the sources have infrared counterparts in
Spitzer maps. The strongest submm detection coincides with a source previously
reported at other wavelengths, at an estimated redshift z~2.7. If the submm
flux arises from two images of a galaxy magnified by a total factor of 75, as
models have suggested, its intrinsic flux would be around 0.6 mJy, consistent
with an intrinsic luminosity below 10^12 L_sun.Comment: Accepted by A&A, 15 pages, 11 figure
Weak Lensing, Shear and the Cosmic Virial Theorem in a Model with a Scale-Dependent Gravitational Coupling
It is argued that, in models where the gravitational coupling is
scale-dependent, predictions concerning weak gravitational lensing and shear
are essentially similar to the ones derived from General Relativity. This is
consistent with recent negative results of observations of the MS1224, CL2218
and A1689 systems aimimg to infer from those methods the presence of dark
matter. It is shown, however, that the situation is quite different when an
analysis based on the Cosmic Virial Theorem is concerned.Comment: Footnote and references added. Version to in Gen. Relativity and
Gravitation Vol. 29 (1997
Number counts and clustering properties of bright Distant Red Galaxies in the UKIDSS Ultra Deep Survey Early Data Release
We describe the number counts and spatial distribution of 239 Distant Red
Galaxies (DRGs), selected from the Early Data Release of the UKIDSS Ultra Deep
Survey. The DRGs are identified by their very red infrared colours with
(J-K)AB>1.3, selected over 0.62 sq degree to a 90% completeness limit of
KAB~20.7. This is the first time a large sample of bright DRGs has been studied
within a contiguous area, and we provide the first measurements of their number
counts and clustering. The population shows strong angular clustering,
intermediate between those of K-selected field galaxies and
optical/infrared-selected Extremely Red Galaxies. Adopting the redshift
distributions determined from other recent studies, we infer a high correlation
length of r0~11 h-1 Mpc. Such strong clustering could imply that our galaxies
are hosted by very massive dark matter halos, consistent with the progenitors
of present-day L>L* elliptical galaxies.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, revised version accepted to MNRAS.
Higher-resolution figures available from the authors on reques
Modelling the Spectral Energy Distribution of Compact Luminous Infrared Galaxies: Constraints from High Frequency Radio Data
We have performed 23 GHz VLA observations of 7 compact, luminous infrared
galaxies, selected to have evidence of starburst activity. New and published
multi-frequency data are combined to obtain the spectral energy distributions
of all 7 galaxies from the near-infrared to the radio (at 1.4 GHz). These SEDs
are compared with new models, for dust enshrouded galaxies, which account for
both starburst and AGN components. In all 7 galaxies the starburst provides the
dominant contribution to the infrared luminosity; in 4 sources no contribution
from an AGN is required. Although AGN may contribute up to 50 percent of the
total far--infrared emission, the starbursts always dominate in the radio. The
SEDs of most of our sources are best fit with a very high optical depth of
(>=50) at 1 micron. The scatter in the far-infrared/radio correlation, found
among luminous IRAS sources, is due mainly to the different evolutionary status
of their starburst components. The short time-scale of the star formation
process amplifies the delay between the far-infrared and radio emission. This
becomes more evident at low radio frequencies (below about 1 GHz) where
synchrotron radiation is the dominant process. In the far-infrared (at
wavelengths shorter than 100 micron) an additional source of scatter is
provided by AGN, where present. AGN may be detected in the near-infrared by the
absence of the knee, typical of stellar photospheres. However, near-infrared
data alone cannot constrain the level at which AGN contribute because the
interpretation of their observed properties, in this wave-band, depends
strongly on model parameters.Comment: 14 pages, accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysic
Evidence for Evolving Spheroidals in the Hubble Deep Fields North and South
We investigate the dispersion in the internal colours of faint spheroidals in
the HDFs North and South. We find that a remarkably large fraction ~30% of the
morphologically classified spheroidals with I<24 mag show strong variations in
internal colour, which we take as evidence for recent episodes of
star-formation. In most cases these colour variations manifest themselves via
the presence of blue cores, an effect of opposite sign to that expected from
metallicity gradients. Examining similarly-selected ellipticals in five rich
clusters with 0.37<z<0.83 we find a significant lower dispersion in their
internal colours. This suggests that the colour inhomogeneities have a strong
environmental dependence being weakest in dense environments where spheroidal
formation was presumably accelerated at early times. We use the trends defined
by the cluster sample to define an empirical model based on a high-redshift of
formation and estimate that at z~1 about half the field spheroidals must be
undergoing recent episodes of star-formation. Using spectral synthesis models,
we construct the time dependence of the density of star-formation. Although the
samples are currently small, we find evidence for an increase in
between z=0 to z=1. We discuss the implications of this rise in the context of
that observed in the similar rise in the abundance of galaxies with irregular
morphology. Regardless of whether there is a connection our results provide
strong evidence for the continued formation of field spheroidals over 0<z<1.Comment: 13 pages, 11 figures. To appear in MNRAS in response to referee's
Report. Figures and paper also available at
http://www.ast.cam.ac.uk/~fmenante/HDFs
A comparison of the strong lensing properties of the Sersic and the NFW profiles
We investigate the strong lensing properties of the Sersic profile as an
alternative to the NFW profile, focusing on applications to lens modelling of
clusters. Given an underlying Sersic dark matter profile, we study whether an
NFW profile can provide an acceptable fit to strong lensing constraints in the
form of single or multiple measured Einstein radii. We conclude that although
an NFW profile that fits the lensing constraints can be found in many cases,
the derived parameters may be biased. In particular, we find that for n~2,
which corresponds to massive clusters, the mass at r_200 of the best fit NFW is
overestimated (by a factor of ~2) and the concentration is very low (c~2). The
differences are important enough to warrant the inclusion of Sersic profile for
future analysis of strong lensing clusters.Comment: 19 pages (single column format), 11 figures. Accepted for publication
by JCA
LBT and Spitzer Spectroscopy of Star-Forming Galaxies at 1 < z < 3: Extinction and Star Formation Rate Indicators
We present spectroscopic observations in the rest-frame optical and near- to
mid-infrared wavelengths of four gravitationally lensed infrared (IR) luminous
star-forming galaxies at redshift 1 < z < 3 from the LUCIFER instrument on the
Large Binocular Telescope and the Infrared Spectrograph on Spitzer. The sample
was selected to represent pure, actively star-forming systems, absent of active
galactic nuclei. The large lensing magnifications result in high
signal-to-noise spectra that can probe faint IR recombination lines, including
Pa-alpha and Br-alpha at high redshifts. The sample was augmented by three
lensed galaxies with similar suites of unpublished data and observations from
the literature, resulting in the final sample of seven galaxies. We use the IR
recombination lines in conjunction with H-alpha observations to probe the
extinction, Av, of these systems, as well as testing star formation rate (SFR)
indicators against the SFR measured by fitting spectral energy distributions to
far-IR photometry. Our galaxies occupy a range of Av from ~0 to 5.9 mag, larger
than previously known for a similar range of IR luminosities at these
redshifts. Thus, estimates of SFR even at z ~ 2 must take careful count of
extinction in the most IR luminous galaxies. We also measure extinction by
comparing SFR estimates from optical emission lines with those from far-IR
measurements. The comparison of results from these two independent methods
indicates a large variety of dust distribution scenarios at 1 < z < 3. Without
correcting for dust extinction, the H-alpha SFR indicator underestimates the
SFR; the size of the necessary correction depends on the IR luminosity and dust
distribution scenario. Individual SFR estimates based on the 6.2 micron PAH
emission line luminosity do not show a systematic discrepancy with extinction,
although a considerable, ~0.2 dex scatter is observed.Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal; 14 pages, 8
figure
Designing Future Dark Energy Space Missions: II. Photometric Redshift of Space Weak Lensing Optimized Survey
Accurate weak-lensing analysis requires not only accurate measurement of
galaxy shapes but also precise and unbiased measurement of galaxy redshifts.
The photometric redshift technique appears as the only possibility to determine
the redshift of the background galaxies used in the weak-lensing analysis.
Using the photometric redshift quality, simple shape measurement requirements,
and a proper sky model, we explore what could be an optimal weak-lensing dark
energy mission based on FoM calculation. We found that photometric redshifts
reach their best accuracy for the bulk of the faint galaxy population when
filters have a resolution R~3.2. We show that an optimal mission would survey
the sky through 8 filters using 2 cameras (visible and near infrared). Assuming
a 5-year mission duration, a mirror size of 1.5m, a 0.5deg2 FOV with a visible
pixel scale of 0.15", we found that a homogeneous survey reaching IAB=25.6
(10sigma) with a sky coverage of ~11000deg2 maximizes the Weak Lensing FoM. The
effective number density of galaxies then used for WL is ~45gal/arcmin2, at
least a factor of two better than ground based survey. This work demonstrates
that a full account of the observational strategy is required to properly
optimize the instrument parameters to maximize the FoM of the future
weak-lensing space dark energy mission.Comment: 25 pages, 39 figures, accepted in A&
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