| 1. |
- Drake, A. B., et al.
(författare)
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The MUSE Hubble Ultra Deep Field Survey VI. The faint-end of the Lyα luminosity function at 2.91
- 2017
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 608
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We present the deepest study to date of the Ly alpha luminosity function in a blank field using blind integral field spectroscopy from MUSE. We constructed a sample of 604 Ly alpha emitters (LAEs) across the redshift range 2.91 < z < 6.64 using automatic detection software in the Hubble Ultra Deep Lield. The deep data cubes allowed us to calculate accurate total Ly alpha fluxes capturing low surface-brightness extended Ly alpha emission now known to be a generic property of high-redshift star-forming galaxies. We simulated realistic extended LAEs to fully characterise the selection function of our samples, and performed flux-recovery experiments to test and correct for bias in our determination of total Ly alpha fluxes. We find that an accurate completeness correction accounting for extended emission reveals a very steep faint-end slope of the luminosity function, alpha, down to luminosities of log(10) L erg s(-1) < 41.5, applying both the 1/V-max and maximum likelihood estimators. Splitting the sample into three broad redshift bins, we see the faint-end slope increasing from -2.03(-0.07)(+1.42) at z approximate to 3.44 to -2.86(-infinity)(+0.76) Z approximate to 76 at z approximate to 5.48, however no strong evolution is seen between the 68% confidence regions in L*-alpha parameter space. Using the Ly alpha line flux as a proxy for star formation activity, and integrating the observed luminosity functions, we find that LAEs' contribution to the cosmic star formation rate density rises with redshift until it is comparable to that from continuum-selected samples by z approximate to 6. This implies that LAEs may contribute more to the star-formation activity of the early Universe than previously thought, as any additional intergalactic medium (IGM) correction would act to further boost the Ly alpha luminosities. Linally, assuming fiducial values for the escape of Ly alpha and LyC radiation, and the dumpiness of the IGM, we integrated the maximum likelihood luminosity function at 5.00 < z < 6.64 and find we require only a small extrapolation beyond the data (<1 dex in luminosity) for LAEs alone to maintain an ionised IGM at z approximate to 6.
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| 2. |
- Hashimoto, T., et al.
(författare)
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The MUSE Hubble Ultra Deep Field Survey X. Ly alpha equivalent widths at 2.9 < z < 6.6
- 2017
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 608
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We present rest-frame Ly alpha equivalent widths (EW0) of 417 Ly alpha emitters (LAEs) detected with Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) on the Very Large Telescope (VLT) at 2.9 < z < 6.6 in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field. Based on the deep MUSE spectroscopy and ancillary Hubble Space Telescope (HST) photometry data, we carefully measured EW0 values taking into account extended Ly alpha emission and UV continuum slopes (beta). Our LAEs reach unprecedented depths, both in Ly alpha luminosities and UV absolute magnitudes, from log (L-Ly alpha/erg s(-1)) similar to 41.0 to 43.0 and from M-UV similar to -16 to -21 (0.01-1.0 L-z=3(*)). The EW0 values span the range of similar to 5 to 240 angstrom or larger, and their distribution can be well fitted by an exponential law N = N-0 exp(-EW0/w(0)). Owing to the high dynamic range in M-UV, we find that the scale factor, w(0), depends on M-UV in the sense that including fainter M-UV objects increases w(0), i.e., the Ando effect. The results indicate that selection functions affect the EW0 scale factor. Taking these effects into account, we find that our w(0) values are consistent with those in the literature within 1 sigma uncertainties at 2.9 < z < 6.6 at a given threshold of M-UV and LLy alpha. Interestingly, we find 12 objects with EW0> 200 angstrom above 1 sigma uncertainties. Two of these 12 LAEs show signatures of merger or AGN activity: the weak Civ lambda 1549 emission line. For the remaining 10 very large EW0 LAEs, we find that the EW0 values can be reproduced by young stellar ages (< 100 Myr) and low metallicities (less than or similar to 0.02 Z(circle dot)). Otherwise, at least part of the Ly alpha emission in these LAEs needs to arise from anisotropic radiative transfer effects, fluorescence by hidden AGN or quasi-stellar object activity, or gravitational cooling.
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| 3. |
- Herenz, Edmund Christian, et al.
(författare)
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LSDCat : Detection and cataloguing of emission-line sources in integral-field spectroscopy datacubes
- 2017
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 602
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We present a robust, efficient, and user-friendly algorithm for detecting faint emission-line sources in large integral-field spectroscopic datacubes together with the public release of the software package Line Source Detection and Cataloguing (LSDCat). LSDCat uses a three-dimensional matched filter approach, combined with thresholding in signal-to-noise, to build a catalogue of individual line detections. In a second pass, the detected lines are grouped into distinct objects, and positions, spatial extents, and fluxes of the detected lines are determined. LSDCat requires only a small number of input parameters, and we provide guidelines for choosing appropriate values. The software is coded in Python and capable of processing very large datacubes in a short time. We verify the implementation with a source insertion and recovery experiment utilising a real datacube taken with the MUSE instrument at the ESO Very Large Telescope.
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| 4. |
- Herenz, Edmund Christian, et al.
(författare)
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The MUSE-Wide survey : A first catalogue of 831 emission line galaxies
- 2017
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 606
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We present a first instalment of the MUSE-Wide survey, covering an area of 22.2 arcmin(2) (corresponding to similar to 20% of the final survey) in the CANDELS /Deep area of the Chandra Deep Field South. We use the MUSE integral field spectrograph at the ESO VLT to conduct a full-area spectroscopic mapping at a depth of 1 h exposure time per 1 arcmin(2) pointing. We searched for compact emission line objects using our newly developed LSDCat software based on a 3D matched filtering approach, followed by interactive classification and redshift measurement of the sources. Our catalogue contains 831 distinct emission line galaxies with redshifts ranging from 0.04 to 6. Roughly one third (237) of the emission line sources are Lyman alpha emitting galaxies with 3 < z < 6, only four of which had previously measured spectroscopic redshifts. At lower redshifts 351 galaxies are detected primarily by their [O i i] emission line (0.3 <= z <= 1.5), 189 by their [OIII] line (0.21 <= z <= 0.85), and 46 by their H alpha line (0.04 <= z <= 0.42). Comparing our spectroscopic redshifts to photometric redshift estimates from the literature, we find excellent agreement for z < 1.5 with a median Delta(z) of only similar to 4 x 10(-4) and an outlier rate of 6%, however a significant systematic offset of Delta(z) = 0.26 and an outlier rate of 23% for Ly alpha emitters at z > 3. Together with the catalogue we also release 1D PSF-weighted extracted spectra and small 3D datacubes centred on each of the 831 sources.
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| 5. |
- Herenz, Edmund Christian, et al.
(författare)
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VLT/MUSE illuminates possible channels for Lyman continuum escape in the halo of SBS 0335-52E
- 2017
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 606
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We report on the discovery of ionised gas filaments in the circum-galactic halo of the extremely metal-poor compact starburst SBS 0335-052E in a 1.5 h integration with the MUSE integral-field spectrograph. We detect these features in H alpha and [O III] emission down to a limiting surface-brightness of 5 x 10(-19) erg s(-1) cm(-2) arcsec(-2). The filaments have projected diameters of 2.1 kpc and extend more than 9 kpc to the north and north-west from the main stellar body. We also detect extended nebular He II lambda 4686 emission that brightens towards the north-west at the rim of a starburst driven super-shell. We also present a velocity field of the ionised gas. The filaments appear to connect seamlessly in velocity space to the kinematical disturbances caused by the shell. Similar to high-z starforming galaxies, the ionised gas in this galaxy is dispersion dominated. We argue that the filaments were created via feedback from the starburst and that these ionised structures in the halo may act as escape channels for Lyman continuum radiation in this gas-rich system.
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| 6. |
- Leclercq, Floriane, et al.
(författare)
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The MUSE &ITHubble&IT Ultra Deep Field Survey VIII. Extended Lyman-alpha haloes around high-&ITz&IT star-forming galaxies
- 2017
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 608
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We report the detection of extended Ly alpha haloes around 145 individual star-forming galaxies at redshifts 3 <= z <= 6 in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field observed with the Multi-Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) at ESO-VLT. Our sample consists of continuum-faint (-15 >= M-UV >= -22) Ly alpha emitters (LAEs). Using a 2D, two-component (continuum-like and halo) decomposition of Ly alpha emission assuming circular exponential distributions, we measure scale lengths and luminosities of Ly alpha haloes. We find that 80% of our objects having reliable Ly alpha halo measurements show Ly alpha emission that is significantly more extended than the UV continuum detected by HST (by a factor approximate to 4 to >20). The median exponential scale length of the Ly alpha haloes in our sample is approximate to 4.5 kpc with a few haloes exceeding 10 kpc. By comparing the maximal detected extent of the Ly alpha emission with the predicted dark matter halo virial radii of simulated galaxies, we show that the detected Ly alpha emission of our selected sample of Ly alpha emitters probes a significant portion of the cold circum-galactic medium of these galaxies (>50% in average). This result therefore shows that there must be significant HI reservoirs in the circum-galactic medium and reinforces the idea that Ly alpha haloes are ubiquitous around high-redshift Ly alpha emitting galaxies. Our characterization of the Ly alpha haloes indicates that the majority of the Ly alpha flux comes from the halo (approximate to 65%) and that their scale lengths seem to be linked to the UV properties of the galaxies (sizes and magnitudes). We do not observe a significant Ly alpha halo size evolution with redshift, although our sample for z > 5 is very small. We also explore the diversity of the Ly alpha line profiles in our sample and we find that the Ly alpha lines cover a large range of full width at half maximum (FWHM) from 118 to 512 km s(-1). While the FWHM does not seem to be correlated to the Ly alpha scale length, most compact Ly alpha haloes and those that are not detected with high significance tend to have narrower Ly alpha profiles (<350 km s(-1)). Finally, we investigate the origin of the extended Ly alpha emission but we conclude that our data do not allow us to disentangle the possible processes, i.e. scattering from star-forming regions, fluorescence, cooling radiation from cold gas accretion, and emission from satellite galaxies.
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