| 1. |
- Grazian, A., et al.
(författare)
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Lyman continuum escape fraction of faint galaxies at z similar to 3.3 in the CANDELS/GOODS-North, EGS, and COSMOS fields with LBC
- 2017
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 602
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Context. The reionization of the Universe is one of the most important topics of present-day astrophysical research. The most plausible candidates for the reionization process are star-forming galaxies, which according to the predictions of the majority of the theoretical and semi-analytical models should dominate the H I ionizing background at z greater than or similar to 3. Aims. We measure the Lyman continuum escape fraction, which is one of the key parameters used to compute the contribution of star-forming galaxies to the UV background. It provides the ratio between the photons produced at lambda <= 912 angstrom rest-frame and those that are able to reach the inter-galactic medium, i.e. that are not absorbed by the neutral hydrogen or by the dust of the galaxy's inter-stellar medium. Methods. We used ultra-deep U-band imaging (U = 30.2 mag at 1 sigma) from Large Binocular Camera at the Large Binocular Telescope (LBC/LBT) in the CANDELS/GOODS-North field and deep imaging in the COSMOS and EGS fields in order to estimate the Lyman continuum escape fraction of 69 star-forming galaxies with secure spectroscopic redshifts at 3.27 <= z <= 3.40 to faint magnitude limits (L = 0.2L*, or equivalently M-1500 similar to -19). The narrow redshift range implies that the LBC U-band filter exclusively samples the lambda <= 912 angstrom rest-frame wavelengths. Results. We measured through stacks a stringent upper limit (<1.7% at 1 sigma) for the relative escape fraction of H I ionizing photons from bright galaxies (L > L*), while for the faint population (L = 0.2L*) the limit to the escape fraction is less than or similar to 10%. We computed the contribution of star-forming galaxies to the observed UV background at z similar to 3 and find that it is not sufficient to keep the Universe ionized at these redshifts unless their escape fraction increases significantly (>= 10%) at low luminosities (M-1500 >= -19). Conclusions. We compare our results on the Lyman continuum escape fraction of high-z galaxies with recent estimates in the literature, and discuss future prospects to shed light on the end of the Dark Ages. In the future, strong gravitational lensing will be fundamental in order to measure the Lyman continuum escape fraction down to faint magnitudes (M-1500 similar to -16) that are inaccessible with the present instrumentation on blank fields. These results will be important in order to quantify the role of faint galaxies to the reionization budget.
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| 2. |
- Carniani, S., et al.
(författare)
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Extended ionised and clumpy gas in a normal galaxy at z=7.1 revealed by ALMA
- 2017
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 605
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We present new ALMA observations of the [O III] 88 mu m line and high angular resolution observations of the [C II] 158 mu m line in a normal star forming galaxy at z = 7.1. Previous [C II] observations of this galaxy had detected [C II] emission consistent with the Ly alpha redshift but spatially slightly off set relative to the optical (UV-rest frame) emission. The new [C II] observations reveal that the [C II] emission is partly clumpy and partly diffuse on scales larger than about 1 kpc. [O III] emission is also detected at high significance, off set relative to the optical counterpart in the same direction as the [C II] clumps, but mostly not overlapping with the bulk of the [C II] emission. The off set between different emission components (optical/UV and different far-IR tracers) is similar to that which is observed in much more powerful starbursts at high redshift. We show that the [O III] emitting clump cannot be explained in terms of diffuse gas excited by the UV radiation emitted by the optical galaxy, but it requires excitation by in-situ (slightly dust obscured) star formation, at a rate of about 7 M circle dot yr(-1). Within 20 kpc from the optical galaxy the ALMA data reveal two additional [O III] emitting systems, which must be star forming companions. We discuss that the complex properties revealed by ALMA in the z similar to 7.1 galaxy are consistent with expectations by recent models and cosmological simulations, in which differential dust extinction, differential excitation and different metal enrichment levels, associated with different subsystems assembling a galaxy, are responsible for the various appearance of the system when observed with distinct tracers.
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