Discovery of three z>6.5 quasars in the VISTA Kilo-degree Infrared Galaxy (VIKING) survey

Studying quasars at the highest redshifts can constrain models of galaxy and black hole formation, and it also probes the intergalactic medium in the early universe. Optical surveys have to date discovered more than 60 quasars up to z~6.4, a limit set by the use of the z-band and CCD detectors. Only one z>6.4 quasar has been discovered, namely the z=7.08 quasar ULAS J1120+0641, using near-infrared imaging. Here we report the discovery of three new z>6.4 quasars in 332 square degrees of the Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy Kilo-degree Infrared Galaxy (VIKING) survey, thus extending the number from 1 to 4. The newly discovered quasars have redshifts of z=6.60, 6.75, and 6.89. The absolute magnitudes are between -26.0 and -25.5, 0.6-1.1 mag fainter than ULAS J1120+0641. Near-infrared spectroscopy revealed the MgII emission line in all three objects. The quasars are powered by black holes with masses of ~(1-2)x10^9 M_sun. In our probed redshift range of 6.44<z<7.44 we can set a lower limit on the space density of supermassive black holes of \rho(M_BH>10^9 M_sun) > 1.1x10^(-9) Mpc^(-3). The discovery of three quasars in our survey area is consistent with the z=6 quasar luminosity function when extrapolated to z~7. We do not find evidence for a steeper decline in the space density of quasars with increasing redshift from z=6 to z=7.Comment: 14 pages, 9 figures. Published in Ap

An ultrahigh-speed digitizer for the Harvard College Observatory astronomical plates

A machine capable of digitizing two 8 inch by 10 inch (203 mm by 254 mm) glass astrophotographic plates or a single 14 inch by 17 inch (356 mm by 432 mm) plate at a resolution of 11 microns per pixel or 2309 dots per inch (dpi) in 92 seconds is described. The purpose of the machine is to digitize the \~500,000 plate collection of the Harvard College Observatory in a five year time frame. The digitization must meet the requirements for scientific work in astrometry, photometry, and archival preservation of the plates. This paper describes the requirements for and the design of the subsystems of the machine that was developed specifically for this task.Comment: 12 pages, 9 figures, 1 table; presented at SPIE (July, 2006) and published in Proceeding

Massive Lyman Break Galaxies at z~3 in the Spitzer Extragalactic First Look Survey

We investigate the properties of 1088 Lyman Break Galaxies (LBGs) at z~3 selected from a ~2.63$deg2 sub-region of the First Look Survey field using the ground-based multi-color data and the Spitzer Space Telescope mid-infrared data at 3--8 and 24 um. With the wide area and the broad wavelength coverage, we sample a large number of ``rare'' u-band dropouts which are massive (M* > 10^11 Msun), allowing us to perform a statistical analysis of these subsets of LBGs that have not been studied in detail. Optically bright (R(AB) < 24.5 mag) LBGs detected in mid-infrared (S_{3.6um} > 6 uJy) reside at the most massive and dusty end of the LBG population, with relatively high and tight$M/L$ in rest-frame near-infrared. Most infrared-luminous LBGs (S_{24um} > 100 uJy) are dusty star-forming galaxies with star formation rates of 100--1000 Msun/yr, total infrared luminosity of > 10^12 Lsun. By constructing the UV luminosity function of massive LBGs, we estimate that the lower limit for the star formation rate density from LBGs more massive than 10^11 Msun at z~3 is > 3.3 x 10^-3 Msun/yr/Mpc^3, showing for the first time that the UV-bright population of massive galaxies alone contributes significantly to the global star formation rate density at z~3. When combined with the star formation rate densities at z < 2, our result reveals a steady increase in the contribution of massive galaxies to the global star formation from z=0 to z=3, providing strong support to the downsizing of galaxy formation.Comment: 15 pages, 13 figures. Accepted for publication in Ap

Dissecting the Gaseous Halos of z~2 Damped Lyα\alpha Systems with Close Quasar Pairs

We use spectroscopy of close pairs of quasars to study diffuse gas in the circumgalactic medium (CGM) surrounding a sample of 40 Damped Lya systems (DLAs). The primary sightline in each quasar pair probes an intervening DLA in the redshift range 1.6 < z_DLA < 3.6, such that the second quasar sightline then probes Lya, CII, SiII, and CIV absorption in the CGM transverse to the DLA to projected distances $R_{\perp} < 300$ kpc. Analysis of the Lya profiles in these CGM sightlines constrains the covering fraction (f_C) of optically thick HI (having column density N_HI > 10^17.2 cm^-2) to be greater than ~30% within $R_{\perp} < 200$ kpc of DLAs. Strong SiII 1526 absorption with equivalent width W_1526 > 0.2 Ang occurs with an incidence f_C (W_1526 > 0.2 Ang) = 20(+12/-8)% within $R_{\perp}<100$ kpc, indicating that low-ionization metal absorption associated with DLAs probes material at a physical distance R_3D < 30 kpc. However, we find that strong CIV 1548 absorption is ubiquitous in these environments (f_C (W_1548 > 0.2 Ang) = 57(+12/-13)% within $R_{\perp} < 100$ kpc), and in addition exhibits a high degree of kinematic coherence on scales up to ~175 kpc. We infer that this high-ionization material arises predominantly in large, quiescent structures extending beyond the scale of the DLA host dark matter halos rather than in ongoing galactic winds. The Lya equivalent width in the DLA-CGM is anticorrelated with $R_{\perp}$ at >98% confidence, suggesting that DLAs arise close to the centers of their host halos rather than on their outskirts. Finally, the average Lya, CII and CIV equivalent widths are consistent with those measured around z~2 Lyman Break Galaxies. Assuming that DLAs trace a galaxy population with lower masses and luminosities, this finding implies that the absorption strength of cool circumgalactic material has a weak dependence on dark matter halo mass for M_h < 10^12 M_sun.Comment: Submitted to ApJ. 30 pages, 13 figures, 3 tables, 1 appendix. Uses emulateapj forma

Obscuration in the Host Galaxies of Soft X-ray Selected Seyferts

We define a new sample of 96 low-redshift (z<0.1), soft X-ray selected Seyferts from the catalog of the Einstein Slew Survey (Elvis etal. 1992, Plummer et al. 1994). We probe the geometry and column depth of obscuring material in the host-galaxy disks using galaxian axial ratios determined mainly from the Digitized Sky Survey. The distribution of host-galaxy axial ratios clearly shows a bias against edge-on spirals, confirming the existence of a geometrically thick layer of obscuring material in the host-galaxy planes. Soft X-ray selection recovers some of the edge-on objects missed in UV and visible surveys but still results in 30% incompleteness for Type 1's. We speculate that thick rings of obscuring material like the ones we infer for these Seyferts might be commonly present in early type spirals, sitting at the Inner Lindblad Resonances of the nonaxisymmetric potentials of the host galaxies.Comment: 14 pages including 2 tables and 3 eps figures, aas2pp4.sty, to appear in Ap

FIRE Spectroscopy of Five Late-type T Dwarfs Discovered with the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer

We present the discovery of five late-type T dwarfs identified with the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE). Low-resolution near-infrared spectroscopy obtained with the Magellan Folded-port InfraRed Echellette (FIRE) reveal strong water and methane absorption in all five sources, and spectral indices and comparison to spectral templates indicate classifications ranging from T5.5 to T8.5:. The spectrum of the latest-type source, WISE J1812+2721, is an excellent match to that of the T8.5 companion brown dwarf Wolf 940B. WISE-based spectrophotometric distance estimates place these T dwarfs at 12-13 pc from the Sun, assuming they are single. Preliminary fits of the spectral data to the atmosphere models of Saumon & Marley indicate effective temperatures ranging from 600 K to 930 K, both cloudy and cloud-free atmospheres, and a broad range of ages and masses. In particular, two sources show evidence of both low surface gravity and cloudy atmospheres, tentatively supporting a trend noted in other young brown dwarfs and exoplanets. In contrast, the high proper motion T dwarf WISE J2018-7423 exhibits a suppressed K-band peak and blue spectrophotometric J-K colors indicative of an old, massive brown dwarf; however, it lacks the broadened Y-band peak seen in metal-poor counterparts. These results illustrate the broad diversity of low-temperature brown dwarfs that will be uncovered with WISE.Comment: 19 pages, 13 figures; accepted for publication to Ap

Sizes, Shapes, and Correlations of Lyman Alpha Clouds and Their Evolution in the CDM+Λ+\Lambda Universe

This study analyzes the sizes, shapes and correlations of \lya clouds produced by a hydrodynamic simulation of a spatially flat CDM universe with a non-zero cosmological constant ($\Omega_0=0.4$, $\Lambda_0=0.6$, $\sigma_8 =0.79$), over the redshift range $2\le z \le 4$. The \lya clouds range in size from several kiloparsecs to about a hundred kiloparsecs in proper units, and they range in shape from roundish, high column density regions with \nhi\ge 10^{15} cm^{-2} to low column density sheet-like structures with \nhi \le 10^{13} cm^{-2} at z=3. The most common shape found in the simulation resembles that of a flattened cigar. The physical size of a typical cloud grows with time roughly as $(1+z)^{-3/2}$ while its shape hardly evolves (except for the most dense regions $\rho_{cut}>30$). Our result indicates that any simple model with a population of spheres (or other shapes) of a uniform size is oversimplified; if such a model agrees with observational evidence, it is probably only by coincidence. We also illustrate why the use of double quasar sightlines to set lower limits on cloud sizes is useful only when the perpendicular sightline separation is small ($\Delta r \le 50h^{-1}$ kpc). Finally, we conjecture that high column density \lya clouds (\nhi\ge 10^{15} cm^{-2}) may be the progenitors of the lower redshift faint blue galaxies. This seems plausible because their correlation length, number density (extrapolated to lower redshift) and their masses are in fair agreement with those observed.Comment: ApJ, in press, 34 pages, 21 figures, figs (1a,b,c) can be at http://astro.princeton.edu/~cen/LYASSC/lyassc.htm

Luhman 16AB: A Remarkable, Variable L/T Transition Binary 2 pc from the Sun

Luhman (2013) has reported the discovery of a brown dwarf binary system only 2.01±0.15 pc from the Sun. The binary is well-resolved with a projected separation of 1farcs 5, and spectroscopic observations have identified the components as late-L and early-T dwarfs. The system exhibits several remarkable traits, including a ``flux reversal'', where the T dwarf is brighter over 0.9-1.3 mu m but fainter at other wavelengths; and significant (˜10%) short-period (˜4.9 hr) photometric variability with a complex light curve. These observations suggest spatial variations in condensate cloud structure, which is known to evolve substantially across the L dwarf/T dwarf transition. Here we report preliminary results from a multi-site monitoring campaign aimed at probing the spectral and temporal properties of this source. Focusing on our spectroscopic observations, we report the first detections of NIR spectral variability, present detailed analysis of K I lines that confirm differences in condensate opacity between the components; and preliminary determinations of radial and rotational velocities based on high-resolution NIR spectroscopy.Peer reviewe

Low-ionization Line Emission from Starburst Galaxies: A New Probe of Galactic-Scale Outflows

We study the kinematically narrow, low-ionization line emission from a bright, starburst galaxy at z = 0.69 using slit spectroscopy obtained with Keck/LRIS. The spectrum reveals strong absorption in MgII and FeII resonance transitions with Doppler shifts of -200 to -300 km/s, indicating a cool gas outflow. Emission in MgII near and redward of systemic velocity, in concert with the observed absorption, yields a P Cygni-like line profile similar to those observed in the Ly alpha transition in Lyman Break Galaxies. Further, the MgII emission is spatially resolved, and extends significantly beyond the emission from stars and HII regions within the galaxy. Assuming the emission has a simple, symmetric surface brightness profile, we find that the gas extends to distances > ~7 kpc. We also detect several narrow FeII* fine-structure lines in emission near the systemic velocity, arising from energy levels which are radiatively excited directly from the ground state. We suggest that the MgII and FeII* emission is generated by photon scattering in the observed outflow, and emphasize that this emission is a generic prediction of outflows. These observations provide the first direct constraints on the minimum spatial extent and morphology of the wind from a distant galaxy. Estimates of these parameters are crucial for understanding the impact of outflows in driving galaxy evolution.Comment: Submitted to ApJL. 6 pages, 4 figures. Uses emulateapj forma