WorldWideScience

Sample records for high-redshift intergalactic medium

  1. IGMtransmission: A Java GUI to model the effects of the Intergalactic Medium on the colours of high redshift galaxies

    OpenAIRE

    Harrison, Christopher M.; Meiksin, Avery; Stock, David

    2011-01-01

    IGMtransmission is a Java graphical user interface that implements Monte Carlo simulations to compute the corrections to colours of high-redshift galaxies due to intergalactic attenuation based on current models of the Intergalactic Medium. The effects of absorption due to neutral hydrogen are considered, with particular attention to the stochastic effects of Lyman Limit Systems. Attenuation curves are produced, as well as colours for a wide range of filter responses and model galaxy spectra....

  2. On modeling and measuring the temperature of the z ∼ 5 intergalactic medium

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lidz, Adam; Malloy, Matthew

    2014-01-01

    The temperature of the low-density intergalactic medium (IGM) at high redshift is sensitive to the timing and nature of hydrogen and He II reionization, and can be measured from Lyman-alpha (Lyα) forest absorption spectra. Since the memory of intergalactic gas to heating during reionization gradually fades, measurements as close as possible to reionization are desirable. In addition, measuring the IGM temperature at sufficiently high redshifts should help to isolate the effects of hydrogen reionization since He II reionization starts later, at lower redshift. Motivated by this, we model the IGM temperature at z ≳ 5 using semi-numeric models of patchy reionization. We construct mock Lyα forest spectra from these models and consider their observable implications. We find that the small-scale structure in the Lyα forest is sensitive to the temperature of the IGM even at redshifts where the average absorption in the forest is as high as 90%. We forecast the accuracy at which the z ≳ 5 IGM temperature can be measured using existing samples of high resolution quasar spectra, and find that interesting constraints are possible. For example, an early reionization model in which reionization ends at z ∼ 10 should be distinguishable—at high statistical significance—from a lower redshift model where reionization completes at z ∼ 6. We discuss improvements to our modeling that may be required to robustly interpret future measurements.

  3. Efficient adiabatic hydrodynamical simulations of the high-redshift intergalactic medium

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gaikwad, Prakash; Choudhury, Tirthankar Roy; Srianand, Raghunathan; Khaire, Vikram

    2018-02-01

    We present a post-processing tool for GADGET-2 adiabatic simulations to model various observed properties of the Ly α forest at 2.5 ≤ z ≤ 4 that enables an efficient parameter estimation. In particular, we model the thermal and ionization histories that are not computed self-consistently by default in GADGET-2. We capture the effect of pressure smoothing by running GADGET-2 at an elevated temperature floor and using an appropriate smoothing kernel. We validate our procedure by comparing different statistics derived from our method with those derived using self-consistent simulations with GADGET-3. These statistics are: line-of-sight density field power spectrum, flux probability distribution function, flux power spectrum, wavelet statistics, curvature statistics, H I column density (N_{H I}) distribution function, linewidth (b) distribution and b versus log N_{H I} scatter. For the temperature floor of 104 K and typical signal-to-noise ratio of 25, the results agree well within 20 per cent of the self-consistent GADGET-3 simulation. However, this difference is smaller than the expected 1σ sample variance for an absorption path length of ˜5.35 at z = 3. Moreover for a given cosmology, we gain a factor of ˜N in computing time for modelling the intergalactic medium under N ≫ 1 different thermal histories. In addition, our method allows us to simulate the non-equilibrium evolution of thermal and ionization state of the gas and include heating due to non-standard sources like cosmic rays and high-energy γ-rays from Blazars.

  4. The Dispersion of Fast Radio Bursts from a Structured Intergalactic Medium at Redshifts z < 1.5

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shull, J. Michael; Danforth, Charles W.

    2018-01-01

    We analyze the sources of free electrons that produce the large dispersion measures, {DM}≈ 300{--}1600 (in units of cm‑3 pc), observed toward fast radio bursts (FRBs). Individual galaxies typically produce {DM}∼ 25{--}60 {{cm}}-3 {pc} from ionized gas in their disk, disk-halo interface, and circumgalactic medium. Toward an FRB source at redshift z, a homogeneous intergalactic medium (IGM) containing a fraction {f}{IGM} of cosmological baryons will produce {DM}=(935 {{cm}}-3 {pc}){f}{IGM} {h}70-1I(z), where I{(z)=(2/3{{{Ω }}}m)[\\{{{{Ω }}}m(1+z)}3+{{{Ω }}}{{Λ }}\\}{}1/2-1]. A structured IGM of photoionized Lyα absorbers in the cosmic web produces similar dispersion, modeled from the observed distribution, {f}b(N,z), of H I (Lyα-forest) absorbers in column density and redshift with ionization corrections and scaling relations from cosmological simulations. An analytic formula for DM(z) applied to observed FRB dispersions suggests that {z}{FRB}≈ 0.2{--}1.5 for an IGM containing a significant baryon fraction, {f}{IGM}=0.6+/- 0.1. Future surveys of the statistical distribution, DM(z), of FRBs identified with specific galaxies and redshifts can be used to calibrate the IGM baryon fraction and distribution of Lyα absorbers. Fluctuations in DM at the level ±10 cm‑3 pc will arise from filaments and voids in the cosmic web.

  5. Probing the intergalactic medium with fast radio bursts

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zheng, Z.; Ofek, E. O.; Kulkarni, S. R.; Neill, J. D.; Juric, M.

    2014-01-01

    The recently discovered fast radio bursts (FRBs), presumably of extragalactic origin, have the potential to become a powerful probe of the intergalactic medium (IGM). We point out a few such potential applications. We provide expressions for the dispersion measure and rotation measure as a function of redshift, and we discuss the sensitivity of these measures to the He II reionization and the IGM magnetic field. Finally, we calculate the microlensing effect from an isolated, extragalactic stellar-mass compact object on the FRB spectrum. The time delays between the two lensing images will induce constructive and destructive interference, leaving a specific imprint on the spectra of FRBs. With a high all-sky rate, a large statistical sample of FRBs is expected to make these applications feasible.

  6. Tracing the cosmic metal evolution in the low-redshift intergalactic medium

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Michael Shull, J. [Also at Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 OHA, UK. (United Kingdom); Danforth, Charles W.; Tilton, Evan M., E-mail: michael.shull@colorado.edu, E-mail: danforth@colorado.edu, E-mail: evan.tilton@colorado.edu [CASA, Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309 (United States)

    2014-11-20

    Using the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph aboard the Hubble Space Telescope, we measured the abundances of six ions (C III, C IV, Si III, Si IV, N V, and O VI) in the low-redshift (z ≤ 0.4) intergalactic medium (IGM). Both C IV and Si IV have increased in abundance by a factor of ∼10 from z ≈ 5.5 to the present. We derive ion mass densities, ρ{sub ion} ≡ Ω{sub ion}ρ{sub cr}, with Ω{sub ion} expressed relative to the closure density. Our models of mass-abundance ratios, (Si III/Si IV) =0.67{sub −0.19}{sup +0.35}, (C III/C IV) =0.70{sub −0.20}{sup +0.43}, and (Ω{sub C} {sub III}+Ω{sub C} {sub IV})/(Ω{sub Si} {sub III}+Ω{sub Si} {sub IV})=4.9{sub −1.1}{sup +2.2}, are consistent with the photoionization parameter log U = –1.5 ± 0.4, hydrogen photoionization rate Γ{sub H} = (8 ± 2) × 10{sup –14} s{sup –1} at z < 0.4, and specific intensity I {sub 0} = (3 ± 1) × 10{sup –23} erg cm{sup –2} s{sup –1} Hz{sup –1} sr{sup –1} at the Lyman limit. Consistent ionization corrections for C and Si are scaled to an ionizing photon flux Φ{sub 0} = 10{sup 4} cm{sup –2} s{sup –1}, baryon overdensity Δ {sub b} ≈ 200 ± 50, and ''alpha-enhancement'' (Si/C enhanced to three times its solar ratio). We compare these metal abundances to the expected IGM enrichment and abundances in higher photoionized states of carbon (C V) and silicon (Si V, Si VI, and Si VII). Our ionization modeling infers IGM metal densities of (5.4 ± 0.5) × 10{sup 5} M {sub ☉} Mpc{sup –3} in the photoionized Lyα forest traced by the C and Si ions and (9.1 ± 0.6) × 10{sup 5} M {sub ☉} Mpc{sup –3} in hotter gas traced by O VI. Combining both phases, the heavy elements in the IGM have mass density ρ {sub Z} = (1.5 ± 0.8) × 10{sup 6} M {sub ☉} Mpc{sup –3} or Ω {sub Z} ≈ 10{sup –5}. This represents 10% ± 5% of the metals produced by (6 ± 2) × 10{sup 8} M {sub ☉} Mpc{sup –3} of integrated star formation with yield y{sub m} = 0

  7. The physics and early history of the intergalactic medium

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Barkana, Rennan; Loeb, Abraham

    2007-01-01

    The intergalactic medium-the cosmic gas that fills the great spaces between the galaxies-is affected by processes ranging from quantum fluctuations in the very early Universe to radiative emission from newly formed stars. This gives the intergalactic medium a dual role as a powerful probe both of fundamental physics and of astrophysics. The heading of fundamental physics includes conditions in the very early Universe and cosmological parameters that determine the age of the Universe and its matter content. The astrophysics refers to chapters of the long cosmic history of stars and galaxies that are being revealed through the effects of stellar feedback on the cosmic gas. This review describes the physics of the intergalactic medium, focusing on recent theoretical and observational developments in understanding early cosmic history. In particular, the earliest generation of stars is thought to have transformed the Universe from darkness to light and to have had an enormous impact on the intergalactic medium. Half a million years after the Big Bang the Universe was filled with atomic hydrogen. As gravity pulled gas clouds together, the first stars ignited and their radiation turned the surrounding atoms back into free electrons and ions. From the observed spectral absorption signatures of the gas between us and distant sources, we know that the process of reionization pervaded most of space a billion years after the Big Bang, so that only a small fraction of the primordial hydrogen atoms remained between galaxies. Knowing exactly when and how the reionization process happened is a primary goal of cosmologists, because this would tell us when the early stars and black holes formed and in what kinds of galaxies. The distribution and clustering of these galaxies is particularly interesting since it is driven by primordial density fluctuations in the dark matter. Cosmic reionization is beginning to be understood with the help of theoretical models and computer

  8. PATCHY BLAZAR HEATING: DIVERSIFYING THE THERMAL HISTORY OF THE INTERGALACTIC MEDIUM

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lamberts, Astrid; Chang, Philip; Pfrommer, Christoph; Puchwein, Ewald; Broderick, Avery E.; Shalaby, Mohamad

    2015-01-01

    TeV-blazars potentially heat the intergalactic medium (IGM) as their gamma rays interact with photons of the extragalactic background light to produce electron–positron pairs, which lose their kinetic energy to the surrounding medium through plasma instabilities. This results in a heating mechanism that is only weakly sensitive to the local density, and therefore approximately spatially uniform, naturally producing an inverted temperature–density relation in underdense regions. In this paper we go beyond the approximation of uniform heating and quantify the heating rate fluctuations due to the clustered distribution of blazars and how this impacts the thermal history of the IGM. We analytically compute a filtering function that relates the heating rate fluctuations to the underlying dark matter density field. We implement it in the cosmological code GADGET-3 and perform large-scale simulations to determine the impact of inhomogeneous heating. We show that because of blazar clustering, blazar heating is inhomogeneous for z ≳ 2. At high redshift, the temperature–density relation shows an important scatter and presents a low temperature envelope of unheated regions, in particular at low densities and within voids. However, the median temperature of the IGM is close to that in the uniform case, albeit slightly lower at low redshift. We find that blazar heating is more complex than initially assumed and that the temperature–density relation is not unique. Our analytic model for the heating rate fluctuations couples well with large-scale simulations and provides a cost-effective alternative to subgrid models

  9. Intergalactic medium heating by dark matter

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Ripamonti, E.; Mapelli, M.; Ferrara, A.

    2006-01-01

    Abstract: We derive the evolution of the energy deposition in the intergalactic medium (IGM) by dark matter (DM) decays/annihilations for both sterile neutrinos and light dark matter (LDM) particles. At z > 200 sterile neutrinos transfer a fraction f_abs~0.5 of their rest mass energy into the IGM;

  10. DETECTING THE WARM-HOT INTERGALACTIC MEDIUM THROUGH X-RAY ABSORPTION LINES

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yao Yangsen; Shull, J. Michael; Cash, Webster; Wang, Q. Daniel

    2012-01-01

    The warm-hot intergalactic medium (WHIM) at temperatures 10 5 -10 7 K is believed to contain 30%-50% of the baryons in the local universe. However, all current X-ray detections of the WHIM at redshifts z > 0 are of low statistical significance (∼ Ovii ∼10 15 cm -2 (corresponding to an equivalent width of 2.5 mÅ for a Doppler velocity of 50 km s –1 ) at ∼> 3σ significance level. The simulation results also suggest that it would take >60 Ms for Chandra and 140 Ms for XMM-Newton to measure the N Ovii at ≥4σ from a spectrum of a background QSO with flux of ∼0.2 mCrab (1 Crab = 2 × 10 –8 erg s –1 cm –2 at 0.5-2 keV). Future X-ray spectrographs need to be equipped with spectral resolution R ∼ 4000 and effective area A ≥ 100 cm 2 to accomplish the similar constraints with an exposure time of ∼2 Ms and would require ∼11 Ms to survey the 15 QSOs with flux ∼> 0.2 mCrab along which clear intergalactic O VI absorbers have been detected.

  11. Intergalactic stellar populations in intermediate redshift clusters

    Science.gov (United States)

    Melnick, J.; Giraud, E.; Toledo, I.; Selman, F.; Quintana, H.

    2012-11-01

    A substantial fraction of the total stellar mass in rich clusters of galaxies resides in a diffuse intergalactic component usually referred to as the intracluster light (ICL). Theoretical models indicate that these intergalactic stars originate mostly from the tidal interaction of the cluster galaxies during the assembly history of the cluster, and that a significant fraction of these stars could have formed in situ from the late infall of cold metal-poor gas clouds on to the cluster. However, these models also overpredict the fraction of stellar mass in the ICL by a substantial margin, something that is still not well understood. The models also make predictions about the age distribution of the ICL stars, which may provide additional observational constraints. Here we present population synthesis models for the ICL of an intermediate redshift (z = 0.29) X-ray cluster that we have extensively studied in previous papers. The advantage of observing intermediate redshift clusters rather than nearby ones is that the former fit the field of view of multi-object spectrographs in 8-m telescopes and therefore permit us to encompass most of the ICL with only a few well-placed slits. In this paper we show that by stacking spectra at different locations within the ICL it is possible to reach sufficiently high signal-to-noise ratios to fit population synthesis models and derive meaningful results. The models provide ages and metallicities for the dominant populations at several different locations within the ICL and the brightest cluster galaxies (BCG) halo, as well as measures of the kinematics of the stars as a function of distance from the BCG. We thus find that the ICL in our cluster is dominated by old metal-rich stars, at odds with what has been found in nearby clusters where the stars that dominate the ICL are old and metal poor. While we see weak evidence of a young, metal-poor component, if real, these young stars would amount to less than 1 per cent of the total ICL

  12. STAR FORMATION FEEDBACK AND METAL-ENRICHMENT HISTORY OF THE INTERGALACTIC MEDIUM

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cen Renyue; Chisari, Nora Elisa

    2011-01-01

    Using the state-of-the-art cosmological hydrodynamic simulations of the standard cold dark matter model with star formation feedback strength normalized to match the observed star formation history of the universe at z= 0-6, we compute the metal-enrichment history of the intergalactic medium (IGM). Overall we show that galactic superwind (GSW) feedback from star formation can transport metals to the IGM and that the properties of simulated metal absorbers match current observations. The distance of influence of GSW from galaxies is typically limited to about ≤0.5 Mpc and within regions of overdensity δ ≥ 10. Most C IV and O VI absorbers are located within shocked regions of elevated temperature (T ≥ 2 x 10 4 K), overdensity (δ ≥ 10), and metallicity ([Z/Z sun ] = [ - 2.5, - 0.5]), enclosed by double shocks propagating outward. O VI absorbers have typically higher metallicity, lower density, and higher temperature than C IV absorbers. For O VI absorbers, collisional ionization dominates over the entire redshift range z= 0-6, whereas for C IV absorbers the transition occurs at moderate redshift z ∼ 3 from collisionally dominated to photoionization dominated. We find that the observed column density distributions for C IV and O VI in the range log N cm 2 =12-15 are reasonably reproduced by the simulations. The evolution of mass densities contained in C IV and O VI lines, Ω CIV and Ω OVI , is also in good agreement with observations, which shows a near constancy at low redshifts and an exponential drop beyond redshift z= 3-4. For both C IV and O VI, most absorbers are transient and the amount of metals probed by C IV and O VI lines of column log N cm 2 =12-15 is only ∼2% of total metal density at any epoch. While gravitational shocks from large-scale structure formation dominate the energy budget (80%-90%) for turning about 50% of the IGM to the warm-hot intergalactic medium (WHIM) by z = 0, GSW feedback shocks are energetically dominant over

  13. RUNAWAY STARS AND THE ESCAPE OF IONIZING RADIATION FROM HIGH-REDSHIFT GALAXIES

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Conroy, Charlie; Kratter, Kaitlin M.

    2012-01-01

    Approximately 30% of all massive stars in the Galaxy are runaways with velocities exceeding 30 km s –1 . Their high speeds allow them to travel ∼0.1-1 kpc away from their birthplace before they explode at the end of their several Myr lifetimes. At high redshift, when galaxies were much smaller than in the local universe, runaways could venture far from the dense inner regions of their host galaxies. From these large radii, and therefore low column densities, much of their ionizing radiation is able to escape into the intergalactic medium. Runaways may therefore significantly enhance the overall escape fraction of ionizing radiation, f esc , from small galaxies at high redshift. We present simple models of the high-redshift runaway population and its impact on f esc as a function of halo mass, size, and redshift. We find that the inclusion of runaways enhances f esc by factors of ≈1.1-8, depending on halo mass, galaxy geometry, and the mechanism of runaway production, implying that runaways may contribute 50%-90% of the total ionizing radiation escaping from high-redshift galaxies. Runaways may therefore play an important role in reionizing the universe.

  14. GRB 130606A AS A PROBE OF THE INTERGALACTIC MEDIUM AND THE INTERSTELLAR MEDIUM IN A STAR-FORMING GALAXY IN THE FIRST Gyr AFTER THE BIG BANG

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chornock, Ryan; Berger, Edo; Lunnan, Ragnhild; Drout, Maria R.; Fong Wenfai; Laskar, Tanmoy; Fox, Derek B.; Roth, Katherine C.

    2013-01-01

    We present high signal-to-noise ratio Gemini and MMT spectroscopy of the optical afterglow of the gamma-ray burst (GRB) 130606A at redshift z = 5.913, discovered by Swift. This is the first high-redshift GRB afterglow to have spectra of comparable quality to those of z ≈ 6 quasars. The data exhibit a smooth continuum at near-infrared wavelengths that is sharply cut off blueward of 8410 Å due to absorption from Lyα at redshift z ≈ 5.91, with some flux transmitted through the Lyα forest between 7000 and 7800 Å. We use column densities inferred from metal absorption lines to constrain the metallicity of the host galaxy between a lower limit of [Si/H] ∼> –1.7 and an upper limit of [S/H] ∼ GP eff (Lyα) > 6.4). This is comparable to the lowest-redshift Gunn-Peterson troughs found in quasar spectra. Some Lyβ and Lyγ transmission is detected in this redshift window, indicating that it is not completely opaque, and hence that the intergalactic medium (IGM) is nonetheless mostly ionized at these redshifts. We set a 2σ upper limit of 0.11 on the neutral fraction of the IGM at the redshift of the GRB from the lack of a Lyα red damping wing, assuming a model with a constant neutral density. GRB 130606A thus for the first time realizes the promise of GRBs as probes of the first galaxies and cosmic reionization

  15. TEMPORAL SMEARING OF TRANSIENT RADIO SOURCES BY THE INTERGALACTIC MEDIUM

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Macquart, Jean-Pierre; Koay, Jun Yi

    2013-01-01

    The temporal smearing of impulsive radio events at cosmological redshifts probes the properties of the ionized intergalactic medium (IGM). We relate the degree of temporal smearing and the profile of a scattered source to the evolution of a turbulent structure in the IGM as a function of redshift. We estimate the degree of scattering expected by analyzing the contributions to the scattering measure of the various components of baryonic matter embedded in the IGM, including the diffuse IGM, intervening galaxies, and intracluster gas. These estimates predict that the amount of temporal smearing expected at 300 MHz is typically as low as ∼1 ms and suggests that these bursts may be detectable with low-frequency widefield arrays. A generalization of the dispersion-measure-scattering-measure relation observed for Galactic scattering to the densities and turbulent conditions relevant to the IGM suggests that scattering measures on the order of 10 –6 kpc m –20/3 would be expected at z ∼ 1. This scattering is sufficiently low enough that its effects would not, for most lines of sight, be manifested in existing observations of the scatter broadening in images of extragalactic compact sources. The redshift dependence on the temporal smearing discriminates between scattering that occurs in the host galaxy of the burst and the IGM, with τ host ∝(1 + z) –3 if the scattering probes length scales below the inner scale of the turbulence or τ host ∝(1 + z) –17/5 if the turbulence follows a Kolmogorov spectrum. This differs strongly from the expected IGM scaling τ IGM ∼ z 2 for z ∼ 0.2–0.5 for z ∼> 1

  16. Simulating the interaction of galaxies and the intergalactic medium

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carin, Robert A.

    2008-11-01

    The co-evolution of galaxies and the intergalactic medium as a function of environment is studied using hydrodynamic simulations of the ΛCDM cosmogony. It is demonstrated with non-radiative calculations that, in the absence of non-gravitational mechanisms, dark matter haloes accrete a near-universal fraction (˜ 0.9Ω_{b}/&Omega_;{m}) of baryons. The absence of a mass or redshift dependence of this fraction augurs well for parameter tests that use X-ray clusters as cosmological probes. Moreover, this result indicates that non-gravitational processes must efficiently regulate the formation of stars in dark matter haloes if the halo mass function is to be reconciled with the observed galaxy luminosity function. Simulations featuring stellar evolution and non-gravitational feedback mechanisms (photo-heating by the ultraviolet background, and thermal and kinetic supernovae feedback) are used to follow the evolution of star formation, and the thermo- and chemo-dynamical evolution of baryons. The observed star formation history of the Universe is reproduced, except at low redshift where it is overestimated by a factor of a few, possibly indicating the need for feedback from active galactic nuclei to quench cooling flows around massive galaxies. The simulations more accurately reproduce the observed abundance of galaxies with late-type morphologies than has been reported elsewhere. The unique initial conditions of these simulations, based on the Millennium Simulation, allow an unprecedented study of the role of large-scale environment to be conducted. The cosmic star formation rate density is found to vary by an order of magnitude across the extremes of environment expected in the local Universe. The mass fraction of baryons in the observationally elusive warm-hot intergalactic medium (WHIM), and the volume filling factor that this gas occupies, is also shown to vary by a factor of a few across such environments. This variation is attributed to differences in the halo

  17. The variance of dispersion measure of high-redshift transient objects as a probe of ionized bubble size during reionization

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yoshiura, Shintaro; Takahashi, Keitaro

    2018-01-01

    The dispersion measure (DM) of high-redshift (z ≳ 6) transient objects such as fast radio bursts can be a powerful tool to probe the intergalactic medium during the Epoch of Reionization. In this paper, we study the variance of the DMs of objects with the same redshift as a potential probe of the size distribution of ionized bubbles. We calculate the DM variance with a simple model with randomly distributed spherical bubbles. It is found that the DM variance reflects the characteristics of the probability distribution of the bubble size. We find that the variance can be measured precisely enough to obtain the information on the typical size with a few hundred sources at a single redshift.

  18. PAPER-64 CONSTRAINTS ON REIONIZATION. II. THE TEMPERATURE OF THE z = 8.4 INTERGALACTIC MEDIUM

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Pober, Jonathan C. [Physics Dept., U. Washington, Seattle, WA (United States); Ali, Zaki S.; Parsons, Aaron R.; Cheng, Carina; Liu, Adrian [Astronomy Dept., University of California, Berkeley, CA (United States); McQuinn, Matthew [Astronomy Dept., University of Washington, Seattle, WA (United States); Aguirre, James E.; Kohn, Saul A. [Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA (United States); Bernardi, Gianni; Grobbelaar, Jasper; Horrell, Jasper; Maree, Matthys [Square Kilometre Array South Africa (SKA SA), Pinelands (South Africa); Bradley, Richard F. [Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA (United States); Carilli, Chris L. [National Radio Astronomy Obs., Socorro, NM (United States); DeBoer, David R.; Dexter, Matthew R.; MacMahon, David H. E. [Radio Astronomy Lab., University of California, Berkeley, CA (United States); Furlanetto, Steven R. [Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles, CA (United States); Jacobs, Daniel C. [School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State U., Tempe, AZ (United States); Klima, Patricia J. [National Radio Astronomy Obs., Charlottesville, VA (United States); and others

    2015-08-10

    We present constraints on both the kinetic temperature of the intergalactic medium (IGM) at z = 8.4, and on models for heating the IGM at high-redshift with X-ray emission from the first collapsed objects. These constraints are derived using a semi-analytic method to explore the new measurements of the 21 cm power spectrum from the Donald C. Backer Precision Array for Probing the Epoch of Reionization (PAPER), which were presented in a companion paper, Ali et al. Twenty-one cm power spectra with amplitudes of hundreds of mK{sup 2} can be generically produced if the kinetic temperature of the IGM is significantly below the temperature of the cosmic microwave background (CMB); as such, the new results from PAPER place lower limits on the IGM temperature at z = 8.4. Allowing for the unknown ionization state of the IGM, our measurements find the IGM temperature to be above ≈5 K for neutral fractions between 10% and 85%, above ≈7 K for neutral fractions between 15% and 80%, or above ≈10 K for neutral fractions between 30% and 70%. We also calculate the heating of the IGM that would be provided by the observed high redshift galaxy population, and find that for most models, these galaxies are sufficient to bring the IGM temperature above our lower limits. However, there are significant ranges of parameter space that could produce a signal ruled out by the PAPER measurements; models with a steep drop-off in the star formation rate density at high redshifts or with relatively low values for the X-ray to star formation rate efficiency of high redshift galaxies are generally disfavored. The PAPER measurements are consistent with (but do not constrain) a hydrogen spin temperature above the CMB temperature, a situation which we find to be generally predicted if galaxies fainter than the current detection limits of optical/NIR surveys are included in calculations of X-ray heating.

  19. A luminous quasar at a redshift of z = 7.085.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mortlock, Daniel J; Warren, Stephen J; Venemans, Bram P; Patel, Mitesh; Hewett, Paul C; McMahon, Richard G; Simpson, Chris; Theuns, Tom; Gonzáles-Solares, Eduardo A; Adamson, Andy; Dye, Simon; Hambly, Nigel C; Hirst, Paul; Irwin, Mike J; Kuiper, Ernst; Lawrence, Andy; Röttgering, Huub J A

    2011-06-29

    The intergalactic medium was not completely reionized until approximately a billion years after the Big Bang, as revealed by observations of quasars with redshifts of less than 6.5. It has been difficult to probe to higher redshifts, however, because quasars have historically been identified in optical surveys, which are insensitive to sources at redshifts exceeding 6.5. Here we report observations of a quasar (ULAS J112001.48+064124.3) at a redshift of 7.085, which is 0.77 billion years after the Big Bang. ULAS J1120+0641 has a luminosity of 6.3 × 10(13)L(⊙) and hosts a black hole with a mass of 2 × 10(9)M(⊙) (where L(⊙) and M(⊙) are the luminosity and mass of the Sun). The measured radius of the ionized near zone around ULAS J1120+0641 is 1.9 megaparsecs, a factor of three smaller than is typical for quasars at redshifts between 6.0 and 6.4. The near-zone transmission profile is consistent with a Lyα damping wing, suggesting that the neutral fraction of the intergalactic medium in front of ULAS J1120+0641 exceeded 0.1.

  20. Interactions between intergalactic medium and galaxies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Einasto, J.; Saar, E.

    1977-01-01

    The interaction of galaxies with the environmental gas both in clusters and in small groups of galaxies is investigated. Interaction between galaxies and the ambient medium can be considered simply as final touches in the process of galaxy formation. Large relative velocities of galaxies in their clusters and of the intercluster gas result in a loss of the intergalactic gas, that in its turn affects the morphology of cluster galaxies. Interaction between the coronal clouds and the gas in the disk of spiral galaxies may result in regular patterns of star formation and in the bending of planes of galaxies

  1. GRB 130606A AS A PROBE OF THE INTERGALACTIC MEDIUM AND THE INTERSTELLAR MEDIUM IN A STAR-FORMING GALAXY IN THE FIRST Gyr AFTER THE BIG BANG

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chornock, Ryan; Berger, Edo; Lunnan, Ragnhild; Drout, Maria R.; Fong Wenfai; Laskar, Tanmoy [Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States); Fox, Derek B. [Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pennsylvania State University, 525 Davey Laboratory, University Park, PA 16802 (United States); Roth, Katherine C., E-mail: rchornock@cfa.harvard.edu [Gemini Observatory, 670 North Aohoku Place, Hilo, HI 96720 (United States)

    2013-09-01

    We present high signal-to-noise ratio Gemini and MMT spectroscopy of the optical afterglow of the gamma-ray burst (GRB) 130606A at redshift z = 5.913, discovered by Swift. This is the first high-redshift GRB afterglow to have spectra of comparable quality to those of z Almost-Equal-To 6 quasars. The data exhibit a smooth continuum at near-infrared wavelengths that is sharply cut off blueward of 8410 A due to absorption from Ly{alpha} at redshift z Almost-Equal-To 5.91, with some flux transmitted through the Ly{alpha} forest between 7000 and 7800 A. We use column densities inferred from metal absorption lines to constrain the metallicity of the host galaxy between a lower limit of [Si/H] {approx}> -1.7 and an upper limit of [S/H] {approx}< -0.5 set by the non-detection of S II absorption. We demonstrate consistency between the dramatic evolution in the transmission fraction of Ly{alpha} seen in this spectrum over the redshift range z = 4.9-5.85 with that previously measured from observations of high-redshift quasars. There is an extended redshift interval of {Delta}z = 0.12 in the Ly{alpha} forest at z = 5.77 with no detected transmission, leading to a 3{sigma} upper limit on the mean Ly{alpha} transmission fraction of {approx}<0.2% (or {tau}{sub GP}{sup eff} (Ly{alpha}) > 6.4). This is comparable to the lowest-redshift Gunn-Peterson troughs found in quasar spectra. Some Ly{beta} and Ly{gamma} transmission is detected in this redshift window, indicating that it is not completely opaque, and hence that the intergalactic medium (IGM) is nonetheless mostly ionized at these redshifts. We set a 2{sigma} upper limit of 0.11 on the neutral fraction of the IGM at the redshift of the GRB from the lack of a Ly{alpha} red damping wing, assuming a model with a constant neutral density. GRB 130606A thus for the first time realizes the promise of GRBs as probes of the first galaxies and cosmic reionization.

  2. Suprathermal grains: on intergalactic magnetic fields

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dasgupta, A.K.

    1979-01-01

    Charged dust grains of radii a approximately equal to 3 x 10 -6 to approximately 3 x 10 -5 cm may be driven out of the galaxy due to radiation pressure of starlight. Once clear of the main gas-dust layer, dust grains may then escape into intergalactic space. Such grains are virtually indestructible-being evaporated only during formation. The dust grains, once injected into the intergalactic medium, may acquire suprathermal energy, thus 'suprathermal grains' in collision with magnetized cloud by the Fermi process. In order to attain relativistic energy, suprathermal grains have to move in and out ('scattering') of the magnetic field of the medium. It is now well established that high energy cosmic rays are of the order 10 20 eV or more. It has been speculated that these high energy (> = 10 18 eV) cosmic ray particles are charged dust grains, of intergalactic origin. This is possible only if there exists a magnetic field in the intergalactic medium. (Auth.)

  3. DETECTING THE WARM-HOT INTERGALACTIC MEDIUM THROUGH X-RAY ABSORPTION LINES

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Yao Yangsen; Shull, J. Michael; Cash, Webster [Center for Astrophysics and Space Astronomy, Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences, University of Colorado, 389 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309 (United States); Wang, Q. Daniel, E-mail: yaoys@colorado.edu [Department of Astronomy, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003 (United States)

    2012-02-20

    The warm-hot intergalactic medium (WHIM) at temperatures 10{sup 5}-10{sup 7} K is believed to contain 30%-50% of the baryons in the local universe. However, all current X-ray detections of the WHIM at redshifts z > 0 are of low statistical significance ({approx}< 3{sigma}) and/or controversial. In this work, we aim to establish the detection limits of current X-ray observatories and explore requirements for next-generation X-ray telescopes for studying the WHIM through X-ray absorption lines. We analyze all available grating observations of Mrk 421 and obtain spectra with signal-to-noise ratios (S/Ns) of {approx}90 and 190 per 50 mA spectral bin from Chandra and XMM-Newton observations, respectively. Although these spectra are two of the best ever collected with Chandra and XMM-Newton, we cannot confirm the two WHIM systems reported by Nicastro et al. in 2005. Our bootstrap simulations indicate that spectra with such high S/N cannot constrain the WHIM with O VII column densities N{sub Ovii}{approx}10{sup 15} cm{sup -2} (corresponding to an equivalent width of 2.5 mA for a Doppler velocity of 50 km s{sup -1}) at {approx}> 3{sigma} significance level. The simulation results also suggest that it would take >60 Ms for Chandra and 140 Ms for XMM-Newton to measure the N{sub Ovii} at {>=}4{sigma} from a spectrum of a background QSO with flux of {approx}0.2 mCrab (1 Crab = 2 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup -8} erg s{sup -1} cm{sup -2} at 0.5-2 keV). Future X-ray spectrographs need to be equipped with spectral resolution R {approx} 4000 and effective area A {>=} 100 cm{sup 2} to accomplish the similar constraints with an exposure time of {approx}2 Ms and would require {approx}11 Ms to survey the 15 QSOs with flux {approx}> 0.2 mCrab along which clear intergalactic O VI absorbers have been detected.

  4. Intergalactic dust and quasar distribution

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Soltan, A.

    1979-01-01

    Non-homogeneous intergalactic extinction may considerably affect the quasar distribution. Especially samples of quasars isolated on the basis of B-V colours are subject to this phenomenon. Apparent grouping and close pairs of quasars reported in the literature may be a result of intergalactic dust. Using surface distribution of faint blue objects selected by Hawkins and Reddish it is estimated that intergalactic extinction in B should reach approximately 1 mag out to the redshift of approximately 1. This is slightly larger than predicted by theory and comparable to the mean dust density derived from observations. (Author)

  5. GALEX FAR-ULTRAVIOLET COLOR SELECTION OF UV-BRIGHT HIGH-REDSHIFT QUASARS

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Worseck, Gabor; Prochaska, J. Xavier

    2011-01-01

    We study the small population of high-redshift (z em >2.7) quasars detected by the Galaxy Evolution Explorer(GALEX), whose far-UV emission is not extinguished by intervening H I Lyman limit systems. These quasars are of particular importance to detect intergalactic He II absorption along their sight lines. We correlate almost all verified z em >2.7 quasars to the GALEX GR4 source catalog covering ∼ 25,000 deg 2 , yielding 304 sources detected at signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) >3. However, ∼50% of these are only detected in the GALEX NUV band, signaling the truncation of the FUV flux by low-redshift optically thick Lyman limit systems. We exploit the GALEX UV color m FUV - m NUV to cull the most promising targets for follow-up studies, with blue (red) GALEX colors indicating transparent (opaque) sight lines. Extensive Monte Carlo simulations indicate an He II detection rate of ∼60% for quasars with m FUV - m NUV ∼ em ∼ 3 to be most promising for Hubble Space Telescope follow-up, with an additional 114 quasars if we consider S/N >2 detections in the FUV. Combining the statistical properties of H I absorbers with the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) quasar luminosity function, we predict a large all-sky population of ∼200 quasars with z em >2.7 and i ∼ 304 em ∼ em ∼ em ∼< 3.5 quasars have likely underestimated their space density by selecting intergalactic medium sight lines with an excess of strong H I absorbers.

  6. Physics of the interstellar and intergalactic medium

    CERN Document Server

    Draine, Bruce T

    2010-01-01

    This is a comprehensive and richly illustrated textbook on the astrophysics of the interstellar and intergalactic medium--the gas and dust, as well as the electromagnetic radiation, cosmic rays, and magnetic and gravitational fields, present between the stars in a galaxy and also between galaxies themselves. Topics include radiative processes across the electromagnetic spectrum; radiative transfer; ionization; heating and cooling; astrochemistry; interstellar dust; fluid dynamics, including ionization fronts and shock waves; cosmic rays; distribution and evolution of the interstellar medium; and star formation. While it is assumed that the reader has a background in undergraduate-level physics, including some prior exposure to atomic and molecular physics, statistical mechanics, and electromagnetism, the first six chapters of the book include a review of the basic physics that is used in later chapters. This graduate-level textbook includes references for further reading, and serves as an invaluable resourc...

  7. El Universo a alto redshift

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alonso, M. V.

    The Universe we see today is the result of structures and galaxies that have been evolving since earlier times. Looking the evolution of the galaxy population at z ˜ 1 has emphasized the important role played by high redshift data. This is the case of the morphology - density relationship, where the morphological type of galaxies in distant clusters has given us a clear vision of evolutionary processes, partly led by environmental effects. I review part of the data available at high redshifts that are fundamental today to check the validity of galaxy formation models in reproducing local and basic galaxy properties. Briefly, I will comment about high redshift studies, a still little explored portion of the Universe, and the current strategies that allow us the study. In this sense, the epoch of reionization is essential for understanding the formation of structures because it is the phase where the first protogalaxies were formed, creating stars and enriching the intergalactic medium. Because of the great distances involved in these studies, gamma-ray bursts, quasars and Lyman-α galaxies are the best tools to study these earlier times. FULL TEXT IN SPANISH

  8. Probing the nature of dark matter through the metal enrichment of the intergalactic medium

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bremer, Jonas; Dayal, Pratika; Ryan-Weber, Emma V.

    2018-06-01

    We focus on exploring the metal enrichment of the intergalactic medium (IGM) in cold and warm (1.5 and 3 keV) dark matter (DM) cosmologies, and the constraints this yields on the DM particle mass, using a semi-analytic model, DELPHI, that jointly tracks the DM and baryonic assembly of galaxies at z ≃ 4-20 including both supernova (SN) and (a range of) reionization feedback (models). We find that while M_{UV}≳ -15 galaxies contribute half of all IGM metals in the cold dark matter (CDM) model by z ≃ 4.5, given the suppression of low-mass haloes, larger haloes with M_{UV}≲ -15 provide about 80 per cent of the IGM metal budget in 1.5 keV warm dark matter (WDM) models using two different models for the metallicity of the interstellar medium. Our results also show that the only models compatible with two different high-redshift data sets, provided by the evolving ultraviolet luminosity function (UV LF) at z ≃ 6-10 and IGM metal density, are standard CDM and 3 keV WDM that do not include any reionization feedback; a combination of the UV LF and the Díaz et al. point provides a weaker constraint, allowing CDM and 3 and 1.5 keV WDM models with SN feedback only, as well as CDM with complete gas suppression of all haloes with v_{circ} ≲ 30 km s^{-1}. Tightening the error bars on the IGM metal enrichment, future observations, at z ≳ 5.5, could therefore represent an alternative way of shedding light on the nature of DM.

  9. Evolution of the intergalactic medium - What happened during the epoch z = 3-10?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ikeuchi, S.; Ostriker, J. P.

    1986-01-01

    An attempt is made to model consistently the thermal and dynamic history of the intergalactic medium (IGM) from the era of reheating (z = 10-5) to the present, and to provide a unified explanation for the origin of ordinary galaxies, blue compact objects, and Lyman-alpha clouds. The evolution of the intergalactic gas is analyzed, treating the IGM as perfectly homogeneous at every epoch and taking into account radiative and Compton cooling, adiabatic cooling, shock heating, and heating produced by the diffuse UV flux. It is suggested that the IGM must have been heated to higher than a 10 to the 6th K by shock heasting caused either by explosions of pregalactic objects or expanding voids. The formation of intergalactic clouds by fragmentation of the resulting shells and the subsequent collapse of the shells to form galaxies are studied. An attempt is made to determine model parameters on the basis of an analysis of Lyman-alpha absorption lines.

  10. A photoionization instability in the early intergalactic medium

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hogan, Craig J.

    1992-01-01

    It is argued that any fairly uniform source of ionizing photons can be the cause of an instability in the pregalactic medium on scales larger than a photon path length. Underdense regions receive more ionizing energy per atom and reach higher temperature and entropy, driving the density down still further. Fluctuations created by this instability can lead to the formation of structures resembling protogalaxies and intergalactic clouds, obviating the need for gas clouds or density perturbations of earlier cosmological provenance, as is usually assumed in theories of galaxy and structure formation. Characteristic masses for clouds produced by the instability, with log mass in solar units plotted against log radius in kpc, are illustrated.

  11. Intergalactic extinction and the deceleration parameter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Meinel, R.

    1981-01-01

    The deceleration parameter q 0 is calculated from the relation between apparent magnitudes m of the brightest galaxies in clusters and their redshifts z considering an intergalactic extinction. The calculation is valid for a Friedman universe, homogeneously filled with dust grains, assuming the extinction to be 0.5 mag at z = 1 and aΛ -1 -law of extinction (according to Oleak and Schmidt 1976). Using the m,z-values of Kristian, Sandage, and Westphal (1978) a formal value of q 0 approximately 2.1 is obtained instead of q 0 approximately 1.6 without consideration of intergalactic extinction. (author)

  12. THE COSMOLOGICAL IMPACT OF LUMINOUS TeV BLAZARS. II. REWRITING THE THERMAL HISTORY OF THE INTERGALACTIC MEDIUM

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chang, Philip; Broderick, Avery E; Pfrommer, Christoph [Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics, 60 St. George Street, Toronto, ON M5S 3H8 (Canada)

    2012-06-10

    The universe is opaque to extragalactic very high energy gamma rays (VHEGRs, E > 100 GeV) because they annihilate and pair produce on the extragalactic background light. The resulting ultrarelativistic pairs are commonly assumed to lose energy primarily through inverse Compton scattering of cosmic microwave background (CMB) photons, reprocessing the original emission from TeV to GeV energies. In Broderick et al., we argued that this is not the case; powerful plasma instabilities driven by the highly anisotropic nature of the ultrarelativistic pair distribution provide a plausible way to dissipate the kinetic energy of the TeV-generated pairs locally, heating the intergalactic medium (IGM). Here, we explore the effect of this heating on the thermal history of the IGM. We collate the observed extragalactic VHEGR sources to determine a local VHEGR heating rate. Given the pointed nature of VHEGR observations, we estimate the correction for the various selection effects using Fermi observations of high- and intermediate-peaked BL Lac objects. As the extragalactic component of the local VHEGR flux is dominated by TeV blazars, we then estimate the evolution of the TeV blazar luminosity density by tying it to the well-observed quasar luminosity density and producing a VHEGR heating rate as a function of redshift. This heating is relatively homogeneous for z {approx}< 4, but there is greater spatial variation at higher redshift (order unity at z {approx} 6) because of the reduced number of blazars that contribute to local heating. We show that this new heating process dominates photoheating in the low-redshift evolution of the IGM and calculate the effect of this heating in a one-zone model. As a consequence, the inclusion of TeV blazar heating qualitatively and quantitatively changes the structure and history of the IGM. Due to the homogeneous nature of the extragalactic background light, TeV blazars produce a uniform volumetric heating rate. This heating is sufficient to

  13. THE COSMOLOGICAL IMPACT OF LUMINOUS TeV BLAZARS. II. REWRITING THE THERMAL HISTORY OF THE INTERGALACTIC MEDIUM

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chang, Philip; Broderick, Avery E.; Pfrommer, Christoph

    2012-01-01

    The universe is opaque to extragalactic very high energy gamma rays (VHEGRs, E > 100 GeV) because they annihilate and pair produce on the extragalactic background light. The resulting ultrarelativistic pairs are commonly assumed to lose energy primarily through inverse Compton scattering of cosmic microwave background (CMB) photons, reprocessing the original emission from TeV to GeV energies. In Broderick et al., we argued that this is not the case; powerful plasma instabilities driven by the highly anisotropic nature of the ultrarelativistic pair distribution provide a plausible way to dissipate the kinetic energy of the TeV-generated pairs locally, heating the intergalactic medium (IGM). Here, we explore the effect of this heating on the thermal history of the IGM. We collate the observed extragalactic VHEGR sources to determine a local VHEGR heating rate. Given the pointed nature of VHEGR observations, we estimate the correction for the various selection effects using Fermi observations of high- and intermediate-peaked BL Lac objects. As the extragalactic component of the local VHEGR flux is dominated by TeV blazars, we then estimate the evolution of the TeV blazar luminosity density by tying it to the well-observed quasar luminosity density and producing a VHEGR heating rate as a function of redshift. This heating is relatively homogeneous for z ∼< 4, but there is greater spatial variation at higher redshift (order unity at z ∼ 6) because of the reduced number of blazars that contribute to local heating. We show that this new heating process dominates photoheating in the low-redshift evolution of the IGM and calculate the effect of this heating in a one-zone model. As a consequence, the inclusion of TeV blazar heating qualitatively and quantitatively changes the structure and history of the IGM. Due to the homogeneous nature of the extragalactic background light, TeV blazars produce a uniform volumetric heating rate. This heating is sufficient to increase

  14. MEASURING THE SOURCES OF THE INTERGALACTIC IONIZING FLUX

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cowie, L. L.; Barger, A. J.; Trouille, L.

    2009-01-01

    We use a wide-field (0.9 deg 2 ) X-ray sample with optical and Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) ultraviolet observations to measure the contribution of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) to the ionizing flux as a function of redshift. Our analysis shows that the AGN contribution to the metagalactic ionizing background peaks at around z = 2. The measured values of the ionizing background from the AGNs are lower than previous estimates and confirm that ionization from AGNs is insufficient to maintain the observed ionization of the intergalactic medium (IGM) at z > 3. We show that only X-ray sources with broad lines in their optical spectra have detectable ionizing flux and that the ionizing flux seen in an AGN is not correlated with its X-ray color. We also use the GALEX observations of the GOODS-N region to place a 2σ upper limit of 0.008 on the average ionization fraction f ν (700 A)/f ν (1500 A) for 626 UV selected galaxies in the redshift range z = 0.9-1.4. We then use this limit to estimate an upper bound to the galaxy contribution in the redshift range z = 0-5. If the z ∼ 1.15 ionization fraction is appropriate for higher-redshift galaxies, then contributions from the galaxy population are also too low to account for the IGM ionization at the highest redshifts (z > 4).

  15. COINCIDENCES BETWEEN O VI AND O VII LINES: INSIGHTS FROM HIGH-RESOLUTION SIMULATIONS OF THE WARM-HOT INTERGALACTIC MEDIUM

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cen Renyue

    2012-01-01

    With high-resolution (0.46 h –1 kpc), large-scale, adaptive mesh-refinement Eulerian cosmological hydrodynamic simulations we compute properties of O VI and O VII absorbers from the warm-hot intergalactic medium (WHIM) at z = 0. Our new simulations are in broad agreement with previous simulations with ∼40% of the intergalactic medium being in the WHIM. Our simulations are in agreement with observed properties of O VI absorbers with respect to the line incidence rate and Doppler-width-column-density relation. It is found that the amount of gas in the WHIM below and above 10 6 K is roughly equal. Strong O VI absorbers are found to be predominantly collisionally ionized. It is found that (61%, 57%, 39%) of O VI absorbers of log N(O VI) cm 2 = (12.5-13, 13-14, > 14) have T 5 K. Cross correlations between galaxies and strong [N(O VI) > 10 14 cm –2 ] O VI absorbers on ∼100-300 kpc scales are suggested as a potential differentiator between collisional ionization and photoionization models. Quantitative prediction is made for the presence of broad and shallow O VI lines that are largely missed by current observations but will be detectable by Cosmic Origins Spectrograph observations. The reported 3σ upper limit on the mean column density of coincidental O VII lines at the location of detected O VI lines by Yao et al. is above our predicted value by a factor of 2.5-4. The claimed observational detection of O VII lines by Nicastro et al., if true, is 2σ above what our simulations predict.

  16. The Column Density Distribution and Continuum Opacity of the Intergalactic and Circumgalactic Medium at Redshift langzrang = 2.4

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rudie, Gwen C.; Steidel, Charles C.; Shapley, Alice E.; Pettini, Max

    2013-06-01

    We present new high-precision measurements of the opacity of the intergalactic and circumgalactic medium (IGM; CGM) at langzrang = 2.4. Using Voigt profile fits to the full Lyα and Lyβ forests in 15 high-resolution high-S/N spectra of hyperluminous QSOs, we make the first statistically robust measurement of the frequency of absorbers with H I column densities 14 \\lesssim log (N_H\\,\\scriptsize{ I}/ {cm}^{-2}) \\lesssim 17.2. We also present the first measurements of the frequency distribution of H I absorbers in the volume surrounding high-z galaxies (the CGM, 300 pkpc), finding that the incidence of absorbers in the CGM is much higher than in the IGM. In agreement with Rudie et al., we find that there are fractionally more high-N H I absorbers than low-N H I absorbers in the CGM compared to the IGM, leading to a shallower power law fit to the CGM frequency distribution. We use these new measurements to calculate the total opacity of the IGM and CGM to hydrogen-ionizing photons, finding significantly higher opacity than most previous studies, especially from absorbers with log (N_H\\,\\scriptsize{ I}/ {cm}^{-2}) law parameterization of the frequency distribution with a break near N H I ≈1015 cm-2. We compute new estimates of the mean free path (λmfp) to hydrogen-ionizing photons at z em = 2.4, finding λmfp = 147 ± 15 Mpc when considering only IGM opacity. If instead, we consider photons emanating from a high-z star-forming galaxy and account for the local excess opacity due to the surrounding CGM of the galaxy itself, the mean free path is reduced to λmfp = 121 ± 15 Mpc. These λmfp measurements are smaller than recent estimates and should inform future studies of the metagalactic UV background and of ionizing sources at z ≈ 2-3. Based on data obtained at the W. M. Keck Observatory, which is operated as a scientific partnership among the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space

  17. The physical state of the intergalactic medium

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Barcons, X.; Fabian, A.C.; Rees, M.J.

    1991-01-01

    Because the process of galaxy formation is most unlikely to be perfectly efficient, there is a strong possibility that some baryonic gas remains outside collapsed structures such as galaxies and clusters of galaxies. What fraction of the baryonic content of the Universe resides in this intergalactic medium (IGM) and what physical state it is in are open questions. Here we use observational limits on the density of neutral hydrogen in the IGM, on the lack of deviations from a black-body spectrum of the cosmic microwave background (MBR), and on the extragalactic component of the soft X-ray background (XRB) to constrain the state of the IGM. From the lack of MBR fluctuations, any energetic IGM (containing as much energy as the binding energy in galaxies) is inferred to be smoothly distributed on scales greater than galactic. This rules out hot IGM models for the origin of the hard X-ray background, as well as the hypothesis that cosmic explosions may have given rise to cosmological structure on scales larger than galaxies. (author)

  18. Extended H I regions around spiral galaxies: a probe for galactic structure and the intergalactic medium

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bergeron, J.

    1977-01-01

    The H I disks observed at large radii around nearby spiral galaxies provide sensitive probes for the mass distributions in these galaxies and of their environments. We show, for a few well-observed systems, that there is an unseen component which dominates the mass at large radii. This additional matter cannot be gas, either neutral or ionized. The data do not distinguish strongly between flat and spherical spatial distributions for this mass, though they suggest that the distribution is spherical. An observational test is proposed to differentiate the two. We investigate the thermal interaction between a hot intergalactic medium near the closure density and these extended H I regions in the assumption of magnetic field lines extended outward into the intergalactic medium (IGM). We show that, with plausible initial conditions, the intergalactic temperature at present cannot exceed 1 x 10 7 K if the H I is to have survived until now. Consideration of conditions in the past places even more stringent limits on the temperature and density of the IGM. Survival of the H I disk also implies that these galaxies cannot have persistent hot, dense halos. The X-ray observations of M31, in particular, cannot be interpreted in terms of a thermal bremsstrahlung halo model, unless this halo is younger than about 10 7 yr

  19. The concerted impact of galaxies and QSOs on the ionization and thermal state of the intergalactic medium

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kakiichi, Koki; Graziani, Luca; Ciardi, Benedetta; Meiksin, Avery; Compostella, Michele; Eide, Marius B.; Zaroubi, Saleem

    2017-07-01

    We present a detailed analysis of the ionization and thermal structure of the intergalactic medium (IGM) around a high-redshift (z = 10) QSO, using a large suite of cosmological, multifrequency radiative transfer simulations, exploring the contribution from galaxies as well as the QSO, and the effect of X-rays and secondary ionization. We show that in high-z QSO environments both the central QSO and the surrounding galaxies concertedly control the reionization morphology of hydrogen and helium and have a non-linear impact on the thermal structure of the IGM. A QSO imprints a distinctive morphology on H II regions if its total ionizing photon budget exceeds that of the surrounding galaxies since the onset of hydrogen reionization; otherwise, the morphology shows little difference from that of H II regions produced only by galaxies. In addition, the spectral shape of the collective radiation field from galaxies and QSOs controls the thickness of the I-fronts. While a UV-obscured QSO can broaden the I-front, the contribution from other UV sources, either galaxies or unobscured QSOs, is sufficient to maintain a sharp I-front. X-ray photons from the QSO are responsible for a prominent extended tail of partial ionization ahead of the I-front. QSOs leave a unique imprint on the morphology of He II/He III regions. We suggest that, while the physical state of the IGM is modified by QSOs, the most direct test to understand the role of galaxies and QSOs during reionization is to perform galaxy surveys in a region of sky imaged by 21 cm tomography.

  20. Red galaxies at high redshift

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Wuyts, Stijn Elisabeth Raphaël

    2007-01-01

    From its origin at the center of a star to the edge, through the surrounding gas and dust in the distant galaxy, through the intergalactic medium, traveling billions of light years only to be reflected by a mirror and captured by a detector; the little amount of light observed from galaxies in the

  1. Does Light from Steady Sources Bear Any Observable Imprint of the Dispersive Intergalactic Medium?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lieu, Richard; Duan, Lingze

    2018-02-01

    There has recently been some interest in the prospect of detecting ionized intergalactic baryons by examining the properties of incoherent light from background cosmological sources, namely quasars. Although the paper by Lieu et al. proposed a way forward, it was refuted by the later theoretical work of Hirata & McQuinn and the observational study of Hales et al. In this paper we investigate in detail the manner in which incoherent radiation passes through a dispersive medium both from the frameworks of classical and quantum electrodynamics, leading us to conclude that the premise of Lieu et al. would only work if the pulses involved are genuinely classical ones containing many photons per pulse; unfortunately, each photon must not be treated as a pulse that is susceptible to dispersive broadening. We are nevertheless able to change the tone of the paper at this juncture by pointing out that because current technology allows one to measure the phase of individual modes of radio waves from a distant source, the most reliable way of obtaining irrefutable evidence of dispersion, namely via the detection of its unique signature of a quadratic spectral phase, may well be already accessible. We demonstrate how this technique is only applied to measure the column density of the ionized intergalactic medium.

  2. Probing the Intergalactic Medium with Ly α and 21 cm Fluctuations

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Heneka, Caroline [Dark Cosmology Center, Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Juliane Maries Vej 30, DK-2100 Copenhagen (Denmark); Cooray, Asantha; Feng, Chang [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697 (United States)

    2017-10-10

    We study 21 cm and Ly α fluctuations, as well as H α , while distinguishing between Ly α emission of galactic, diffuse, and scattered intergalactic medium (IGM) origin. Cross-correlation information about the state of the IGM is obtained, testing neutral versus ionized medium cases with different tracers in a seminumerical simulation setup. In order to pave the way toward constraints on reionization history and modeling beyond power spectrum information, we explore parameter dependencies of the cross-power signal between 21 cm and Ly α , which displays a characteristic morphology and a turnover from negative to positive correlation at scales of a couple Mpc{sup −1}. In a proof of concept for the extraction of further information on the state of the IGM using different tracers, we demonstrate the use of the 21 cm and H α cross-correlation signal to determine the relative strength of galactic and IGM emission in Ly α . We conclude by showing the detectability of the 21 cm and Ly α cross-correlation signal over more than one decade in scale at high signal-to-noise ratio for upcoming probes like SKA and the proposed all-sky intensity mapping satellites SPHEREx and CDIM, while also including the Ly α damping tail and 21 cm foreground avoidance in the modeling.

  3. Galaxy luminosity function: evolution at high redshift

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martinet, N.; Durret, F.; Guennou, L.; Adami, C.

    2014-12-01

    There are some disagreements about the abundance of faint galaxies in high redshift clusters. DAFT/FADA (Dark energy American French Team) is a medium redshift (0.4redshifts for 30 clusters in B, V, R and I restframe bands. We show that completeness is a key parameter to understand the different observed behaviors when fitting the GLFs. We also investigate the evolution of GLFs with redshift for red and blue galaxy populations separately. We find a drop of the faint end of red GLFs which is more important at higher redshift while the blue GLF faint end remains flat in our redshift range. These results can be interpreted in terms of galaxy quenching. Faint blue galaxies transform into red ones which enrich the red sequence from high to low redshifts in clusters while some blue galaxies are still accreted from the environment, compensating for this evolution so that the global GLF does not seem to evolve.

  4. Quasar Absorption in the UV: Probing the Intergalactic Medium

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weinberg, David; Katz, Neal

    1998-01-01

    The purpose of this project is to model the low-redshift Lyman-alpha forest and exploration of the relation between Lyman-alpha absorbers and galaxies. This paper shows that the simulation models that are so successful at explaining properties of the high-redshift forest also account for the most important results of observational studies of the low-redshift forest, from HST (especially the Quasar Absorption Line Key Project) and ground-based follow-up.

  5. Probing Pre-Galactic Metal Enrichment with High-Redshift Gamma-Ray Bursts

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, F. Y.; Bromm, Volker; Greif, Thomas H.; Stacy, Athena; Dai, Z. G.; Loeb, Abraham; Cheng, K. S.

    2012-01-01

    We explore high-redshift gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) as promising tools to probe pre-galactic metal enrichment. We utilize the bright afterglow of a Population III (Pop III) GRB exploding in a primordial dwarf galaxy as a luminous background source, and calculate the strength of metal absorption lines that are imprinted by the first heavy elements in the intergalactic medium (IGM). To derive the GRB absorption line diagnostics, we use an existing highly resolved simulation of the formation of a first galaxy which is characterized by the onset of atomic hydrogen cooling in a halo with virial temperature approximately greater than10(exp 4) K.We explore the unusual circumburst environment inside the systems that hosted Pop III stars, modeling the density evolution with the self-similar solution for a champagne flow. For minihalos close to the cooling threshold, the circumburst density is roughly proportional to (1 + z) with values of about a few cm(exp -3). In more massive halos, corresponding to the first galaxies, the density may be larger, n approximately greater than100 cm(exp -3). The resulting afterglow fluxes are weakly dependent on redshift at a fixed observed time, and may be detectable with the James Webb Space Telescope and Very Large Array in the near-IR and radio wavebands, respectively, out to redshift z approximately greater than 20. We predict that the maximum of the afterglow emission shifts from near-IR to millimeter bands with peak fluxes from mJy to Jy at different observed times. The metal absorption line signature is expected to be detectable in the near future. GRBs are ideal tools for probing the metal enrichment in the early IGM, due to their high luminosities and featureless power-law spectra. The metals in the first galaxies produced by the first supernova (SN) explosions are likely to reside in low-ionization stages (C II, O I, Si II and Fe II). We show that, if the afterglow can be observed sufficiently early, analysis of the metal lines may

  6. Comparison of Plasma-Redshift Cosmology and Big-Bang Cosmology

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brynjolfsson, Ari

    2009-05-01

    Plasma redshift is derived theoretically from conventional axioms of physics by using more accurate methods than those conventionally used. The main difference is the proper inclusion of the dielectric constant. The force acting on the electron is proportional to E=D/ɛ and not D as is conventionally surmised. This correction is not important in ordinary laboratory plasmas; but in the hot sparse plasmas of the intergalactic space, it explains the gradual energy loss (the cosmological redshift) of photons. This energy loss of photons is transferred to the plasma and makes it very hot. The plasma redshift explains long range of phenomena, including the intrinsic redshift of Sun, stars, galaxies and quasars, and the cosmological redshift. It explains also the beautiful black body spectrum of the CMB, and it predicts the observed XRB, and much more. There is no need for Big Bang, Inflation, Dark Energy, Dark Matter, Black Holes and much more. The universe is quasi-static and can renew itself forever. There is no cosmic time dilation. In intergalactic space the average temperature is 2.7.10^6 K, and the average electron density (Ne)avg= 2 .10-4 cm-3.

  7. Diagnosing the reionization of the universe - The absorption spectrum of the intergalactic medium and Lyman alpha clouds

    Science.gov (United States)

    Giroux, Mark L.; Shapiro, Paul R.

    1991-01-01

    The thermal and ionization evolution of a uniform intergalactic medium composed of H and He and undergoing reionization is studied. The diagnosis of the metagalactic ionizing radiation background at z of about three using metal line ratios for Lyman limit quasar absorption line systems is addressed. The use of the He II Gunn-Peterson effect to diagnose the reionization source and/or nature of the Hy-alpha forest clouds is considered.

  8. X-ray ionization of the intergalactic medium by quasars

    Science.gov (United States)

    Graziani, Luca; Ciardi, B.; Glatzle, M.

    2018-06-01

    We investigate the impact of quasars on the ionization of the surrounding intergalactic medium (IGM) with the radiative transfer code CRASH4, now accounting for X-rays and secondary electrons. After comparing with analytic solutions, we post-process a cosmic volume (≈1.5 × 104 Mpc3h-3) containing a ULAS J1120+0641-like quasar (QSO) hosted by a 5 × 1011M⊙h-1 dark matter (DM) halo. We find that: (i) the average HII region (R ˜ 3.2 pMpc in a lifetime tf = 107 yrs) is mainly set by UV flux, in agreement with semi-analytic scaling relations; (ii) a largely neutral (xHII < 0.001), warm (T ˜ 103 K) tail extends up to few Mpc beyond the ionization front, as a result of the X-ray flux; (iii) LyC-opaque inhomogeneities induce a line of sight (LOS) scatter in R as high as few physical Mpc, consistent with the DLA scenario proposed to explain the anomalous size of the ULAS J1120+0641 ionized region. On the other hand, with an ionization rate \\dot{N}_{γ ,0} ˜ 10^{57} s-1, the assumed DLA clustering and gas opacity, only one LOS shows an HII region compatible with the observed one. We deduce that either the ionization rate of the QSO is at least one order of magnitude lower or the ULAS J1120+0641 bright phase is shorter than 107 yrs.

  9. HIGH-REDSHIFT METALS. I. THE DECLINE OF C IV AT z > 5.3

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Becker, George D.; Rauch, Michael; Sargent, Wallace L. W.

    2009-01-01

    We present the results from our search for C IV absorption systems at redshifts z = 5.3-6.0. We have observed four z ∼ 6 QSOs with Keck/NIRSPEC in echelle mode. The data are the most sensitive yet taken to search for C IV at these redshifts, being 50% complete at column densities log N CIV ∼ 13.4(cm -2 ). We find no clear C IV systems in any of the four sight lines. Taking into account our completeness, this translates into a decline in the number density of C IV absorbers in the range 13.2 CIV < 15.0 of at least a factor ∼4.1 (95% confidence) from z ∼ 2-4.5, over which the number density is relatively constant. We use our lack of detections, along with results from previous studies, to set limits on the slope and normalization of the column density distribution at z = 5.3-6.0. The rapid evolution of C IV at these redshifts suggests that the decrease in the number density may largely be due to ionization effects, in which case many of the metals in the z ∼ 4.5 intergalactic medium (IGM) could already be in place at z ∼ 5.3, but in lower ionization states. The lack of weak systems in our data, combined with the presence of strong C IV absorbers along at least one other sight line, further suggests that there may be large-scale variations in the enrichment and/or ionization state of the z ∼ 6 IGM. Alternatively, the known C IV absorbers at these redshifts may not reside in the general IGM, but may be associated with rare, UV-bright star-forming galaxies.

  10. STELLAR POPULATIONS IN MEDIUM REDSHIFT CLUSTERS .2. OPTICAL-INFRARED PHOTOMETRY AND SPECTRA

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    PICKLES, AJ; VANDERKRUIT, PC

    1991-01-01

    We present optical and infrared photometry (BV RI, J H K) and spectra of galaxies in 6 medium redshift clusters covering the redshift range 0.19 less-than-or-equal-to z less-than-or-equal-to 0.4. The array photometry is used to note the radial distribution of the cluster galaxies with optical and

  11. The cosmic transparency measured with Type Ia supernovae: implications for intergalactic dust

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goobar, Ariel; Dhawan, Suhail; Scolnic, Daniel

    2018-06-01

    Observations of high-redshift Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) are used to study the cosmic transparency at optical wavelengths. Assuming a flat Λ cold dark matter (ΛCDM) cosmological model based on baryon acoustic oscillations and cosmic microwave background measurements, redshift dependent deviations of SN Ia distances are used to constrain mechanisms that would dim light. The analysis is based on the most recent Pantheon SN compilation, for which there is a 0.03 ± 0.01 {({stat})} mag discrepancy in the distant supernova distance moduli relative to the ΛCDM model anchored by supernovae at z < 0.05. While there are known systematic uncertainties that combined could explain the observed offset, here we entertain the possibility that the discrepancy may instead be explained by scattering of supernova light in the intergalactic medium (IGM). We focus on two effects: Compton scattering by free electrons and extinction by dust in the IGM. We find that if the discrepancy is entirely due to dimming by dust, the measurements can be modelled with a cosmic dust density Ω _IGM^dust = 8 × 10^{-5} (1+z)^{-1}, corresponding to an average attenuation of 2 × 10-5 mag Mpc-1 in V band. Forthcoming SN Ia studies may provide a definitive measurement of the IGM dust properties, while still providing an unbiased estimate of cosmological parameters by introducing additional parameters in the global fits to the observations.

  12. A Determination of the Intergalactic Redshift Dependent UV-Optical-NIR Photon Density Using Deep Galaxy Survey Data and the Gamma-ray Opacity of the Universe

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stecker, Floyd W.; Malkan, Matthew A.; Scully, Sean T.

    2012-01-01

    We calculate the intensity and photon spectrum of the intergalactic background light (IBL) as a function of redshift using an approach based on observational data obtained in many different wavelength bands from local to deep galaxy surveys. This allows us to obtain an empirical determination of the IBL and to quantify its observationally based uncertainties. Using our results on the IBL, we then place 68% confidence upper and lower limits on the opacity of the universe to gamma-rays, free of the theoretical assumptions that were needed for past calculations. We compare our results with measurements of the extragalactic background light and upper limits obtained from observations made by the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope.

  13. Measurement of the small-scale structure of the intergalactic medium using close quasar pairs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rorai, Alberto; Hennawi, Joseph F; Oñorbe, Jose; White, Martin; Prochaska, J Xavier; Kulkarni, Girish; Walther, Michael; Lukić, Zarija; Lee, Khee-Gan

    2017-04-28

    The distribution of diffuse gas in the intergalactic medium (IGM) imprints a series of hydrogen absorption lines on the spectra of distant background quasars known as the Lyman-α forest. Cosmological hydrodynamical simulations predict that IGM density fluctuations are suppressed below a characteristic scale where thermal pressure balances gravity. We measured this pressure-smoothing scale by quantifying absorption correlations in a sample of close quasar pairs. We compared our measurements to hydrodynamical simulations, where pressure smoothing is determined by the integrated thermal history of the IGM. Our findings are consistent with standard models for photoionization heating by the ultraviolet radiation backgrounds that reionized the universe. Copyright © 2017, American Association for the Advancement of Science.

  14. THE DISTORTION OF THE COSMIC MICROWAVE BACKGROUND SPECTRUM DUE TO INTERGALACTIC DUST

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Imara, Nia; Loeb, Abraham, E-mail: nimara@cfa.harvard.edu [Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States)

    2016-07-10

    Infrared emission from intergalactic dust might compromise the ability of future experiments to detect subtle spectral distortions in the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) from the early universe. We provide the first estimate of foreground contamination of the CMB signal due to diffuse dust emission in the intergalactic medium. We use models of the extragalactic background light to calculate the intensity of intergalactic dust emission and find that emission by intergalactic dust at z ≲ 0.5 exceeds the sensitivity of the planned Primordial Inflation Explorer to CMB spectral distortions by 1–3 orders of magnitude. In the frequency range ν = 150–2400 GHz, we place an upper limit of 0.06% on the contribution to the far-infrared background from intergalactic dust emission.

  15. On the contribution of active galactic nuclei to the high-redshift metagalactic ionizing background

    Science.gov (United States)

    D'Aloisio, Anson; Upton Sanderbeck, Phoebe R.; McQuinn, Matthew; Trac, Hy; Shapiro, Paul R.

    2017-07-01

    Motivated by the claimed detection of a large population of faint active galactic nuclei (AGNs) at high redshift, recent studies have proposed models in which AGNs contribute significantly to the z > 4 H I ionizing background. In some models, AGNs are even the chief sources of reionization. If proved true, these models would make necessary a complete revision to the standard view that galaxies dominated the high-redshift ionizing background. It has been suggested that AGN-dominated models can better account for two recent observations that appear to be in conflict with the standard view: (1) large opacity variations in the z ˜ 5.5 H I Ly α forest, and (2) slow evolution in the mean opacity of the He II Ly α forest. Large spatial fluctuations in the ionizing background from the brightness and rarity of AGNs may account for the former, while the earlier onset of He II reionization in these models may account for the latter. Here we show that models in which AGN emissions source ≳50 per cent of the ionizing background generally provide a better fit to the observed H I Ly α forest opacity variations compared to standard galaxy-dominated models. However, we argue that these AGN-dominated models are in tension with constraints on the thermal history of the intergalactic medium (IGM). Under standard assumptions about the spectra of AGNs, we show that the earlier onset of He II reionization heats up the IGM well above recent temperature measurements. We further argue that the slower evolution of the mean opacity of the He II Ly α forest relative to simulations may reflect deficiencies in current simulations rather than favour AGN-dominated models as has been suggested.

  16. Efficient cold outflows driven by cosmic rays in high-redshift galaxies and their global effects on the IGM

    Science.gov (United States)

    Samui, Saumyadip; Subramanian, Kandaswamy; Srianand, Raghunathan

    2018-05-01

    We present semi-analytical models of galactic outflows in high-redshift galaxies driven by both hot thermal gas and non-thermal cosmic rays. Thermal pressure alone may not sustain a large-scale outflow in low-mass galaxies (i.e. M ˜ 108 M⊙), in the presence of supernovae feedback with large mass loading. We show that inclusion of cosmic ray pressure allows outflow solutions even in these galaxies. In massive galaxies for the same energy efficiency, cosmic ray-driven winds can propagate to larger distances compared to pure thermally driven winds. On an average gas in the cosmic ray-driven winds has a lower temperature which could aid detecting it through absorption lines in the spectra of background sources. Using our constrained semi-analytical models of galaxy formation (that explains the observed ultraviolet luminosity functions of galaxies), we study the influence of cosmic ray-driven winds on the properties of the intergalactic medium (IGM) at different redshifts. In particular, we study the volume filling factor, average metallicity, cosmic ray and magnetic field energy densities for models invoking atomic cooled and molecular cooled haloes. We show that the cosmic rays in the IGM could have enough energy that can be transferred to the thermal gas in presence of magnetic fields to influence the thermal history of the IGM. The significant volume filling and resulting strength of IGM magnetic fields can also account for recent γ-ray observations of blazars.

  17. University of Arizona High Energy Physics Program at the Cosmic Frontier 2014-2016

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    abate, alex [Univ. of Arizona, Tucson, AZ (United States); cheu, elliott [Univ. of Arizona, Tucson, AZ (United States)

    2016-10-24

    This is the final technical report from the University of Arizona High Energy Physics program at the Cosmic Frontier covering the period 2014-2016. The work aims to advance the understanding of dark energy using the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST). Progress on the engineering design of the power supplies for the LSST camera is discussed. A variety of contributions to photometric redshift measurement uncertainties were studied. The effect of the intergalactic medium on the photometric redshift of very distant galaxies was evaluated. Computer code was developed realizing the full chain of calculations needed to accurately and efficiently run large-scale simulations.

  18. University of Arizona High Energy Physics Program at the Cosmic Frontier 2014-2016

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Abate, Alex; Cheu, Elliott

    2016-01-01

    This is the final technical report from the University of Arizona High Energy Physics program at the Cosmic Frontier covering the period 2014-2016. The work aims to advance the understanding of dark energy using the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST). Progress on the engineering design of the power supplies for the LSST camera is discussed. A variety of contributions to photometric redshift measurement uncertainties were studied. The effect of the intergalactic medium on the photometric redshift of very distant galaxies was evaluated. Computer code was developed realizing the full chain of calculations needed to accurately and efficiently run large-scale simulations.

  19. A cosmic web filament revealed in Lyman-α emission around a luminous high-redshift quasar.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cantalupo, Sebastiano; Arrigoni-Battaia, Fabrizio; Prochaska, J Xavier; Hennawi, Joseph F; Madau, Piero

    2014-02-06

    Simulations of structure formation in the Universe predict that galaxies are embedded in a 'cosmic web', where most baryons reside as rarefied and highly ionized gas. This material has been studied for decades in absorption against background sources, but the sparseness of these inherently one-dimensional probes preclude direct constraints on the three-dimensional morphology of the underlying web. Here we report observations of a cosmic web filament in Lyman-α emission, discovered during a survey for cosmic gas fluorescently illuminated by bright quasars at redshift z ≈ 2.3. With a linear projected size of approximately 460 physical kiloparsecs, the Lyman-α emission surrounding the radio-quiet quasar UM 287 extends well beyond the virial radius of any plausible associated dark-matter halo and therefore traces intergalactic gas. The estimated cold gas mass of the filament from the observed emission-about 10(12.0 ± 0.5)/C(1/2) solar masses, where C is the gas clumping factor-is more than ten times larger than what is typically found in cosmological simulations, suggesting that a population of intergalactic gas clumps with subkiloparsec sizes may be missing in current numerical models.

  20. EXCITATION TEMPERATURE OF THE WARM NEUTRAL MEDIUM AS A NEW PROBE OF THE Lyα RADIATION FIELD

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Murray, Claire E.; Lindner, Robert R.; Stanimirović, Snežana; Pingel, Nickolas M.; Lawrence, Allen; Babler, Brian L. [Department of Astronomy, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706 (United States); Goss, W. M.; Jencson, Jacob [National Radio Astronomy Observatory, P.O. Box O, 1003 Lopezville, Socorro, NM 87801 (United States); Heiles, Carl [Radio Astronomy Laboratory, UC Berkeley, 601 Campbell Hall, Berkeley, CA 94720 (United States); Dickey, John [University of Tasmania, School of Maths and Physics, Private Bag 37, Hobart, TAS 7001 (Australia); Hennebelle, Patrick, E-mail: cmurray@astro.wisc.edu [Laboratoire AIM, Paris-Saclay, CEA/IRFU/SAp—CNRS—Université Paris Diderot, F-91191 Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex (France)

    2014-02-01

    We use the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array to conduct a high-sensitivity survey of neutral hydrogen (H I) absorption in the Milky Way. In combination with corresponding H I emission spectra obtained mostly with the Arecibo Observatory, we detect a widespread warm neutral medium component with excitation temperature 〈T{sub s}〉=7200{sub −1200}{sup +1800} K (68% confidence). This temperature lies above theoretical predictions based on collisional excitation alone, implying that Lyα scattering, the most probable additional source of excitation, is more important in the interstellar medium (ISM) than previously assumed. Our results demonstrate that H I absorption can be used to constrain the Lyα radiation field, a critical quantity for studying the energy balance in the ISM and intergalactic medium yet notoriously difficult to model because of its complicated radiative transfer, in and around galaxies nearby and at high redshift.

  1. Clustering at high redshifts

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shaver, P.A.

    1986-01-01

    Evidence for clustering of and with high-redshift QSOs is discussed. QSOs of different redshifts show no clustering, but QSOs of similar redshifts appear to be clustered on a scale comparable to that of galaxies at the present epoch. In addition, spectroscopic studies of close pairs of QSOs indicate that QSOs are surrounded by a relatively high density of absorbing matter, possibly clusters of galaxies

  2. The effect of UV stars on the intergalactic medium. II

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sonnanstine, A.E.; Hills, J.G.

    1976-01-01

    The effect of ionizing radiation from the UV stars (hot prewhite dwarfs) on the intergalactic medium (IGM) has been investigated. If the UV stars are powered only by gravitational contraction they radiate most of their energy at a typical surface temperature of 1.5 x 10 5 K which produces a very highly ionized IGM in which the elements carbon, nitrogen and oxygen are left with only one or two electrons. This result in these elements being very inefficient coolants. The gas is cooled principally by free-free emission and the collisional ionization of hydrogen and helium. For a typical UV star temperature of T=1.5 x 10 5 K, the temperature of the ionized gas in the IGM is Tsub(g)=1.2 x 10 5 K for a Hubble constant H 0 =75 kms -1 Mpc -1 and a hydrogen density nsub(H)=10 -6 cm -3 . Heating by cosmic rays and X-rays is insignificant in the IGM except perhaps in the H I clouds because when a hydrogen atom recombines in the IGM it is far more likely to be re-ionized by a UV-star photon than by either of the other two types of particles due to the greater space density of UV-star photons and their appreciably larger ionization cross sections. If the UV stars radiate a substantial fraction of their energy in a helium-burning stage in which they have surface temperatures of about 5 x 10 4 K, the temperature of the IGM could be lowered to about 5 x 10 4 K. (Auth.)

  3. A magnified young galaxy from about 500 million years after the Big Bang.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zheng, Wei; Postman, Marc; Zitrin, Adi; Moustakas, John; Shu, Xinwen; Jouvel, Stephanie; Høst, Ole; Molino, Alberto; Bradley, Larry; Coe, Dan; Moustakas, Leonidas A; Carrasco, Mauricio; Ford, Holland; Benítez, Narciso; Lauer, Tod R; Seitz, Stella; Bouwens, Rychard; Koekemoer, Anton; Medezinski, Elinor; Bartelmann, Matthias; Broadhurst, Tom; Donahue, Megan; Grillo, Claudio; Infante, Leopoldo; Jha, Saurabh W; Kelson, Daniel D; Lahav, Ofer; Lemze, Doron; Melchior, Peter; Meneghetti, Massimo; Merten, Julian; Nonino, Mario; Ogaz, Sara; Rosati, Piero; Umetsu, Keiichi; van der Wel, Arjen

    2012-09-20

    Re-ionization of the intergalactic medium occurred in the early Universe at redshift z ≈ 6-11, following the formation of the first generation of stars. Those young galaxies (where the bulk of stars formed) at a cosmic age of less than about 500 million years (z ≲ 10) remain largely unexplored because they are at or beyond the sensitivity limits of existing large telescopes. Understanding the properties of these galaxies is critical to identifying the source of the radiation that re-ionized the intergalactic medium. Gravitational lensing by galaxy clusters allows the detection of high-redshift galaxies fainter than what otherwise could be found in the deepest images of the sky. Here we report multiband observations of the cluster MACS J1149+2223 that have revealed (with high probability) a gravitationally magnified galaxy from the early Universe, at a redshift of z = 9.6 ± 0.2 (that is, a cosmic age of 490 ± 15 million years, or 3.6 per cent of the age of the Universe). We estimate that it formed less than 200 million years after the Big Bang (at the 95 per cent confidence level), implying a formation redshift of ≲14. Given the small sky area that our observations cover, faint galaxies seem to be abundant at such a young cosmic age, suggesting that they may be the dominant source for the early re-ionization of the intergalactic medium.

  4. Physical conditions of the interstellar medium in high-redshift submillimetre bright galaxies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Chentao

    2017-12-01

    The discovery of a population of high- redshift dust-obscured submillimeter galaxies (SMGs) from ground-based submm cameras has revolutionised our understanding of galaxy evolution and star formation in extreme conditions. They are the strongest starbursts in the Universe approaching the Eddington limit and are believed to be the progenitors of the most massive galaxies today. However, theoretical models of galaxy evolution have even been challenged by a large number of detections of high-redshift SMGs. A very few among them are gravitationally lensed by an intervening galaxy. Recent wide-area extragalactic surveys have discovered hundreds of such strongly lensed SMGs, opening new exciting opportunities for observing the interstellar medium in these exceptional objects. We have thus carefully selected a sample of strongly gravitational lensed SMGs based on the submillimeter flux limit from the Herschel-ATLAS sample. Using IRAM telescopes, we have built a rich H2O-line-detected sample of 16 SMGs. We found a close-to-linear tight correlation between the H2O line and total infrared luminosity. This indicates the importance of far-IR pumping to the excitation of the H2O lines. Using a far-IR pumping model, we have derived the physical properties of the H2O gas and the dust. We showed that H2O lines trace a warm dense gas that may be closely related to the active star formation. Along with the H2O lines, several H2O+ lines have also been detected in three of our SMGs. We also find a tight correlation between the luminosity of the lines of H2O and H2O+ from local ULIRGs to high-redshift SMGs. The flux ratio between H2O+ and H2O suggests that cosmic rays from strong star forming activities are possibly driving the related oxygen chemistry. Another important common molecular gas tracer is the CO line. We have observed multiple transitions of the CO lines in each of our SMGs with IRAM 30m telescope. By analysing the CO line profile, we discovered a significant differential

  5. SHOCK BREAKOUT IN TYPE II PLATEAU SUPERNOVAE: PROSPECTS FOR HIGH-REDSHIFT SUPERNOVA SURVEYS

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tominaga, N.; Morokuma, T.; Blinnikov, S. I.; Nomoto, K.; Baklanov, P.; Sorokina, E. I.

    2011-01-01

    Shock breakout is the brightest radiative phenomenon in a supernova (SN) but is difficult to be observed owing to the short duration and X-ray/ultraviolet (UV)-peaked spectra. After the first observation from the rising phase reported in 2008, its observability at high redshift is attracting enormous attention. We perform multigroup radiation hydrodynamics calculations of explosions for evolutionary presupernova models with various main-sequence masses M MS , metallicities Z, and explosion energies E. We present multicolor light curves of shock breakouts in Type II plateau SNe, being the most frequent core-collapse SNe, and predict apparent multicolor light curves of shock breakout at various redshifts z. We derive the observable SN rate and reachable redshift as functions of filter x and limiting magnitude m x,lim by taking into account an initial mass function, cosmic star formation history, intergalactic absorption, and host galaxy extinction. We propose a realistic survey strategy optimized for shock breakout. For example, the g'-band observable SN rate for m g',lim = 27.5 mag is 3.3 SNe deg -2 day -1 and half of them are located at z ≥ 1.2. It is clear that the shock breakout is a beneficial clue for probing high-z core-collapse SNe. We also establish ways to identify shock breakout and constrain SN properties from the observations of shock breakout, brightness, timescale, and color. We emphasize that the multicolor observations in blue optical bands with ∼hour intervals, preferably over ≥2 continuous nights, are essential to efficiently detect, identify, and interpret shock breakout.

  6. The rest-frame submillimeter spectrum of high-redshift, dusty, star-forming galaxies

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Spilker, J. S.; Marrone, D. P. [Steward Observatory, University of Arizona, 933 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721 (United States); Aguirre, J. E. [University of Pennsylvania, 209 South 33rd Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104 (United States); Aravena, M. [European Southern Observatory, Alonso de Cordova 3107, Casilla 19001 Vitacura Santiago (Chile); Ashby, M. L. N. [Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States); Béthermin, M. [Laboratoire AIM-Paris-Saclay, CEA/DSM/Irfu-CNRS-Université Paris Diderot, CEA-Saclay, Orme des Merisiers, F-91191 Gif-sur-Yvette (France); Bradford, C. M. [Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109 (United States); Bothwell, M. S. [Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, JJ Thompson Ave, Cambridge CB3 0HA (United Kingdom); Brodwin, M. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Missouri, 5110 Rockhill Road, Kansas City, MO 64110 (United States); Carlstrom, J. E.; Crawford, T. M. [Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics, University of Chicago, 5640 South Ellis Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637 (United States); Chapman, S. C. [Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia (Canada); De Breuck, C.; Gullberg, B. [European Southern Observatory, Karl Schwarzschild Straße 2, D-85748 Garching (Germany); Fassnacht, C. D. [Department of Physics, University of California, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616 (United States); Gonzalez, A. H. [Department of Astronomy, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611 (United States); Greve, T. R. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT (United Kingdom); Hezaveh, Y. [Department of Physics, McGill University, 3600 Rue University, Montreal, Quebec H3A 2T8 (Canada); Holzapfel, W. L., E-mail: jspilker@as.arizona.edu [Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720 (United States); and others

    2014-04-20

    We present the average rest-frame spectrum of high-redshift dusty, star-forming galaxies from 250 to 770 GHz. This spectrum was constructed by stacking Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) 3 mm spectra of 22 such sources discovered by the South Pole Telescope and spanning z = 2.0-5.7. In addition to multiple bright spectral features of {sup 12}CO, [C I], and H{sub 2}O, we also detect several faint transitions of {sup 13}CO, HCN, HNC, HCO{sup +}, and CN, and use the observed line strengths to characterize the typical properties of the interstellar medium of these high-redshift starburst galaxies. We find that the {sup 13}CO brightness in these objects is comparable to that of the only other z > 2 star-forming galaxy in which {sup 13}CO has been observed. We show that the emission from the high-critical density molecules HCN, HNC, HCO{sup +}, and CN is consistent with a warm, dense medium with T {sub kin} ∼ 55 K and n{sub H{sub 2}}≳10{sup 5.5} cm{sup –3}. High molecular hydrogen densities are required to reproduce the observed line ratios, and we demonstrate that alternatives to purely collisional excitation are unlikely to be significant for the bulk of these systems. We quantify the average emission from several species with no individually detected transitions, and find emission from the hydride CH and the linear molecule CCH for the first time at high redshift, indicating that these molecules may be powerful probes of interstellar chemistry in high-redshift systems. These observations represent the first constraints on many molecular species with rest-frame transitions from 0.4 to 1.2 mm in star-forming systems at high redshift, and will be invaluable in making effective use of ALMA in full science operations.

  7. THE COSMOLOGICAL IMPACT OF LUMINOUS TeV BLAZARS. I. IMPLICATIONS OF PLASMA INSTABILITIES FOR THE INTERGALACTIC MAGNETIC FIELD AND EXTRAGALACTIC GAMMA-RAY BACKGROUND

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Broderick, Avery E; Chang, Philip; Pfrommer, Christoph [Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics, 60 St. George Street, Toronto, ON M5S 3H8 (Canada)

    2012-06-10

    Inverse Compton cascades (ICCs) initiated by energetic gamma rays (E {approx}> 100 GeV) enhance the GeV emission from bright, extragalactic TeV sources. The absence of this emission from bright TeV blazars has been used to constrain the intergalactic magnetic field (IGMF), and the stringent limits placed on the unresolved extragalactic gamma-ray background (EGRB) by Fermi have been used to argue against a large number of such objects at high redshifts. However, these are predicated on the assumption that inverse Compton scattering is the primary energy-loss mechanism for the ultrarelativistic pairs produced by the annihilation of the energetic gamma rays on extragalactic background light photons. Here, we show that for sufficiently bright TeV sources (isotropic-equivalent luminosities {approx}> 10{sup 42} erg s{sup -1}) plasma beam instabilities, specifically the 'oblique' instability, present a plausible mechanism by which the energy of these pairs can be dissipated locally, heating the intergalactic medium. Since these instabilities typically grow on timescales short in comparison to the inverse Compton cooling rate, they necessarily suppress the ICCs. As a consequence, this places a severe constraint on efforts to limit the IGMF from the lack of a discernible GeV bump in TeV sources. Similarly, it considerably weakens the Fermi limits on the evolution of blazar populations. Specifically, we construct a TeV-blazar luminosity function from those objects currently observed and find that it is very well described by the quasar luminosity function at z {approx} 0.1, shifted to lower luminosities and number densities, suggesting that both classes of sources are regulated by similar processes. Extending this relationship to higher redshifts, we show that the magnitude and shape of the EGRB above {approx}10 GeV are naturally reproduced with this particular example of a rapidly evolving TeV-blazar luminosity function.

  8. The evolution of the intergalactic medium and the origin of the galaxy luminosity function

    Science.gov (United States)

    Valls-Gabaud, David; Blanchard, Alain; Mamon, Gary

    1993-01-01

    The coupling of the Press and Schechter prescription with the CDM scenario and the Hoyle-Rees-Ostriker cooling criterion leads to a galaxy formation scenario in which galaxies are overproduced by a large factor. Although star formation might be suppressed in the smaller halos, a large amount of energy per galactic mass is needed to account for the present number density of galaxies. The evolution of the intergalactic medium (IGM) provides a simple criterion to prevent galaxy formation without requiring feedback, since halos with small virial temperatures are not able to retain the infalling hot gas of the IGM. If the ionizing background has decreased since z is approximately 1 - 2, then this criterion explains the slope of the luminosity function at the faint end. In addition, this scenario predicts two populations of dwarf galaxies, well differentiated in age, gas content, stellar populations, and clustering properties, which can be identified with dE and dIm galaxies.

  9. FIREBall-2: Trailblazing observations of the space UV circumgalactic medium

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martin, Christopher

    The Faint Intergalactic-medium Redshifted Emission Balloon (FIREBall-2) is designed to discover and map faint emission from the circumgalactic medium of low redshift galaxies (0.3zz 0.7, conduct a targeted search of circumquasar (CQM) media for selected targets, and conduct follow up on likely tar-gets selected via GALEX and a pilot survey conducted by our group. We will also conduct a statistical search for the faint IGM via statistical stacking of our data. The FIREBall-2 team includes two female graduate students in key roles (both of whom are finishing their PhDs in 2016) and is overseen by a female Postdoctoral scholar (supported by NSF AAPF and Caltech Millikan Fellowships, in addition to a recent Roman Technology Fellowship award). Additional funding is necessary to keep this highly qualified balloon team together for a second flight. FIREBall-2 will test key technologies and science strategies for a future space mission to map emission from CGM and IGM baryons. Its flights will continue to provide important training for the next generation of space astrophysicists working in UV and other wavelength instrumentation. Most importantly, FIREBall-2 will detect emission from the CGM of nearby galaxies, providing the first census of the density and kinematics of this material for low z galaxies and open-ing a new field of CGM science.

  10. High redshift quasars and high metallicities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ferland, Gary J.

    1997-01-01

    A large-scale code called Cloudy was designed to simulate non-equilibrium plasmas and predict their spectra. The goal was to apply it to studies of galactic and extragalactic emission line objects in order to reliably deduce abundances and luminosities. Quasars are of particular interest because they are the most luminous objects in the universe and the highest redshift objects that can be observed spectroscopically, and their emission lines can reveal the composition of the interstellar medium (ISM) of the universe when it was well under a billion years old. The lines are produced by warm (approximately 10(sup 4)K) gas with moderate to low density (n less than or equal to 10(sup 12) cm(sup -3)). Cloudy has been extended to include approximately 10(sup 4) resonance lines from the 495 possible stages of ionization of the lightest 30 elements, an extension that required several steps. The charge transfer database was expanded to complete the needed reactions between hydrogen and the first four ions and fit all reactions with a common approximation. Radiative recombination rate coefficients were derived for recombination from all closed shells, where this process should dominate. Analytical fits to Opacity Project (OP) and other recent photoionization cross sections were produced. Finally, rescaled OP oscillator strengths were used to compile a complete set of data for 5971 resonance lines. The major discovery has been that high redshift quasars have very high metallicities and there is strong evidence that the quasar phenomenon is associated with the birth of massive elliptical galaxies.

  11. Gas flows in the circumgalactic medium around simulated high-redshift galaxies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mitchell, Peter D.; Blaizot, Jérémy; Devriendt, Julien; Kimm, Taysun; Michel-Dansac, Léo; Rosdahl, Joakim; Slyz, Adrianne

    2018-03-01

    We analyse the properties of circumgalactic gas around simulated galaxies in the redshift range z ≥ 3, utilizing a new sample of cosmological zoom simulations. These simulations are intended to be representative of the observed samples of Lyman α (Ly α) emitters recently obtained with the multi unit spectroscopic explorer (MUSE) instrument (halo masses ˜1010-1011 M⊙). We show that supernova feedback has a significant impact on both the inflowing and outflowing circumgalactic medium (CGM) by driving outflows, reducing diffuse inflow rates, and by increasing the neutral fraction of inflowing gas. By temporally stacking simulation outputs, we find that significant net mass exchange occurs between inflowing and outflowing phases: none of the phases are mass-conserving. In particular, we find that the mass in neutral outflowing hydrogen declines exponentially with radius as gas flows outwards from the halo centre. This is likely caused by a combination of both fountain-like cycling processes and gradual photoionization/collisional ionization of outflowing gas. Our simulations do not predict the presence of fast-moving neutral outflows in the CGM. Neutral outflows instead move with modest radial velocities (˜50 km s-1), and the majority of the kinetic energy is associated with tangential rather than radial motion.

  12. An optical spectrum of the afterglow of a gamma-ray burst at a redshift of z = 6.295.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kawai, N; Kosugi, G; Aoki, K; Yamada, T; Totani, T; Ohta, K; Iye, M; Hattori, T; Aoki, W; Furusawa, H; Hurley, K; Kawabata, K S; Kobayashi, N; Komiyama, Y; Mizumoto, Y; Nomoto, K; Noumaru, J; Ogasawara, R; Sato, R; Sekiguchi, K; Shirasaki, Y; Suzuki, M; Takata, T; Tamagawa, T; Terada, H; Watanabe, J; Yatsu, Y; Yoshida, A

    2006-03-09

    The prompt gamma-ray emission from gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) should be detectable out to distances of z > 10 (ref. 1), and should therefore provide an excellent probe of the evolution of cosmic star formation, reionization of the intergalactic medium, and the metal enrichment history of the Universe. Hitherto, the highest measured redshift for a GRB has been z = 4.50 (ref. 5). Here we report the optical spectrum of the afterglow of GRB 050904 obtained 3.4 days after the burst; the spectrum shows a clear continuum at the long-wavelength end of the spectrum with a sharp cut-off at around 9,000 A due to Lyman alpha absorption at z approximately 6.3 (with a damping wing). A system of absorption lines of heavy elements at z = 6.295 +/- 0.002 was also detected, yielding the precise measurement of the redshift. The Si ii fine-structure lines suggest a dense, metal-enriched environment around the progenitor of the GRB.

  13. Reionization in a cold dark matter universe: The feedback of galaxy formation on the intergalactic medium

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shapiro, Paul R.; Giroux, Mark L.; Babul, Arif

    1994-01-01

    We study the coupled evolution of the intergalactic medium (IGM) and the emerging structure in the universe in the context of the cold dark matter (CDM) model, with a special focus on the consequences of imposing reionization and the Gunn-Peterson constraint as a boundary condition on the model. We have calculated the time-varying density of the IGM by coupling our detailed, numerical calculations of the thermal and ionization balance and radiative transfer in a uniform, spatially averaged IGM of H and He, including the mean opacity of an evolving distribution of gas clumps which correspond to quasar absorption line clouds, to the linearized equations for the growth of density fluctuations in both the gaseous and dark matter components in a CDM universe. We use the linear growth equations to identify the fraction of the gas which must have collapsed out at each epoch, an approach similar in spirit to the so-called Press-Schechter formalism. We identify the IGM density with the uncollapsed baryon fraction. The collapsed fraction is postulated to be a source of energy injection into the IGM, by radiation or bulk hydrodynamical heating (e.g., via shocks) or both, at a rate which is marginally enough to satisfy the Gunn-Peterson constraint at z less than 5. Our results include the following: (1) We find that the IGM in a CDM model must have contained a substantial fraction of the total baryon density of the universe both during and after its reionization epoch. (2) As a result, our previous conclusion that the observed Quasi-Stellar Objects (QSOs) at high redshift are not sufficient to ionize the IGM enough to satisfy the Gunn-Peterson constraint is confirmed. (3) We predict a detectable He II Gunn-Peterson effect at 304(1 + z) A in the spectra of quasars at a range of redshift z greater than or approx. 3, depending on the nature of the sources of IGM reionization. (4) We find, moreover, that a CDM model with high bias parameter b (i.e., b greater than or approx. 2

  14. A galaxy rapidly forming stars 700 million years after the Big Bang at redshift 7.51.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Finkelstein, S L; Papovich, C; Dickinson, M; Song, M; Tilvi, V; Koekemoer, A M; Finkelstein, K D; Mobasher, B; Ferguson, H C; Giavalisco, M; Reddy, N; Ashby, M L N; Dekel, A; Fazio, G G; Fontana, A; Grogin, N A; Huang, J-S; Kocevski, D; Rafelski, M; Weiner, B J; Willner, S P

    2013-10-24

    Of several dozen galaxies observed spectroscopically that are candidates for having a redshift (z) in excess of seven, only five have had their redshifts confirmed via Lyman α emission, at z = 7.008, 7.045, 7.109, 7.213 and 7.215 (refs 1-4). The small fraction of confirmed galaxies may indicate that the neutral fraction in the intergalactic medium rises quickly at z > 6.5, given that Lyman α is resonantly scattered by neutral gas. The small samples and limited depth of previous observations, however, makes these conclusions tentative. Here we report a deep near-infrared spectroscopic survey of 43 photometrically-selected galaxies with z > 6.5. We detect a near-infrared emission line from only a single galaxy, confirming that some process is making Lyman α difficult to detect. The detected emission line at a wavelength of 1.0343 micrometres is likely to be Lyman α emission, placing this galaxy at a redshift z = 7.51, an epoch 700 million years after the Big Bang. This galaxy's colours are consistent with significant metal content, implying that galaxies become enriched rapidly. We calculate a surprisingly high star-formation rate of about 330 solar masses per year, which is more than a factor of 100 greater than that seen in the Milky Way. Such a galaxy is unexpected in a survey of our size, suggesting that the early Universe may harbour a larger number of intense sites of star formation than expected.

  15. Probing the Metal Enrichment of the Intergalactic Medium at z = 5–6 Using the Hubble Space Telescope

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cai, Zheng; Fan, Xiaohui; Dave, Romeel; Finlator, Kristian; Oppenheimer, Ben

    2017-01-01

    We test the galactic outflow model by probing associated galaxies of four strong intergalactic C iv absorbers at z = 5–6 using the Hubble Space Telescope ( HST ) Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) ramp narrowband filters. The four strong C iv absorbers reside at z = 5.74, 5.52, 4.95, and 4.87, with column densities ranging from N Civ = 10 13.8 to 10 14.8 cm −2 . At z = 5.74, we detect an i-dropout Ly α emitter (LAE) candidate with a projected impact parameter of 42 physical kpc from the C iv absorber. This LAE candidate has a Ly α -based star formation rate (SFR Lyα ) of 2 M ⊙ yr −1 and a UV-based SFR of 4 M ⊙ yr −1 . Although we cannot completely rule out that this i-dropout emitter may be an [O ii] interloper, its measured properties are consistent with the C iv powered galaxy at z = 5.74. For C iv absorbers at z = 4.95 and z = 4.87, although we detect two LAE candidates with impact parameters of 160 and 200 kpc, such distances are larger than that predicted from the simulations. Therefore, we treat them as nondetections. For the system at z = 5.52, we do not detect LAE candidates, placing a 3 σ upper limit of SFR Lyα ≈ 1.5 M ⊙ yr −1 . In summary, in these four cases, we only detect one plausible C iv source at z = 5.74. Combining the modest SFR of the one detection and the three nondetections, our HST observations strongly support that smaller galaxies (SFR Lyα ≲ 2 M ⊙ yr −1 ) are main sources of intergalactic C iv absorbers, and such small galaxies play a major role in the metal enrichment of the intergalactic medium at z ≳ 5.

  16. Probing the Metal Enrichment of the Intergalactic Medium at z = 5–6 Using the Hubble Space Telescope

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cai, Zheng [UCO/Lick Observatory, University of California, 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95064 (United States); Fan, Xiaohui [Steward Observatory, University of Arizona, 933 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721 (United States); Dave, Romeel [Institute for Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, Royal Observatory, Edinburgh EH9 3HJ (United Kingdom); Finlator, Kristian [New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM 88003 (United States); Oppenheimer, Ben, E-mail: zcai@ucolick.org [CASA, Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences, University of Colorado, 389 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309 (United States)

    2017-11-01

    We test the galactic outflow model by probing associated galaxies of four strong intergalactic C iv absorbers at z = 5–6 using the Hubble Space Telescope ( HST ) Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) ramp narrowband filters. The four strong C iv absorbers reside at z = 5.74, 5.52, 4.95, and 4.87, with column densities ranging from N {sub Civ} = 10{sup 13.8} to 10{sup 14.8} cm{sup −2}. At z = 5.74, we detect an i-dropout Ly α emitter (LAE) candidate with a projected impact parameter of 42 physical kpc from the C iv absorber. This LAE candidate has a Ly α -based star formation rate (SFR{sub Lyα} ) of 2 M {sub ⊙} yr{sup −1} and a UV-based SFR of 4 M {sub ⊙} yr{sup −1}. Although we cannot completely rule out that this i-dropout emitter may be an [O ii] interloper, its measured properties are consistent with the C iv powered galaxy at z = 5.74. For C iv absorbers at z = 4.95 and z = 4.87, although we detect two LAE candidates with impact parameters of 160 and 200 kpc, such distances are larger than that predicted from the simulations. Therefore, we treat them as nondetections. For the system at z = 5.52, we do not detect LAE candidates, placing a 3 σ upper limit of SFR{sub Lyα} ≈ 1.5 M {sub ⊙} yr{sup −1}. In summary, in these four cases, we only detect one plausible C iv source at z = 5.74. Combining the modest SFR of the one detection and the three nondetections, our HST observations strongly support that smaller galaxies (SFR{sub Lyα} ≲ 2 M {sub ⊙} yr{sup −1}) are main sources of intergalactic C iv absorbers, and such small galaxies play a major role in the metal enrichment of the intergalactic medium at z ≳ 5.

  17. VizieR Online Data Catalog: VANDELS High-Redshift Galaxy Evolution (McLure+, 2017)

    Science.gov (United States)

    McLure, R.; Pentericci, L.; Vandels Team

    2017-11-01

    This is the first data release (DR1) of the VANDELS survey, an ESO public spectroscopy survey targeting the high-redshift Universe. The VANDELS survey uses the VIMOS spectrograph on ESO's VLT to obtain ultra-deep, medium resolution, optical spectra of galaxies within the UKIDSS Ultra Deep Survey (UDS) and Chandra Deep Field South (CDFS) survey fields (0.2 sq. degree total area). Using robust photometric redshift pre-selection, VANDELS is targeting ~2100 galaxies in the redshift interval 1.0=3. In addition, VANDELS is targeting a substantial number of passive galaxies in the redshift interval 1.0filter, which covers the wavelength range 4800-10000Å at a dispersion of 2.5Å/pix and a spectral resolution of R~600. Each galaxy receives between a minimum of 20-hours and a maximum of 80-hours of on-source integration time. The fundamental aim of the survey is to provide the high signal-to-noise spectra necessary to measure key physical properties such as stellar population ages, metallicities and outflow velocities from detailed absorption-line studies. By targeting two extra-galactic survey fields with superb multi-wavelength imaging data, VANDELS is designed to produce a unique legacy dataset for exploring the physics underpinning high-redshift galaxy evolution. (2 data files).

  18. An Investigation of Blazars without Redshifts: Not a Missing Population at High Redshift

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mao, Peiyuan; Urry, C. Megan [Yale Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Physics Department, New Haven, CT 06520 (United States)

    2017-06-01

    We investigate a sample of 622 blazars with measured fluxes at 12 wavebands across the radio-to-gamma-ray spectrum but without spectroscopic or photometric redshifts. This sample includes hundreds of sources with newly analyzed X-ray spectra reported here. From the synchrotron peak frequencies, estimated by fitting the broadband spectral energy distributions (SEDs), we find that the fraction of high-synchrotron-peaked blazars in these 622 sources is roughly the same as in larger samples of blazars that do have redshifts. We characterize the no-redshift blazars using their infrared colors, which lie in the distinct locus called the WISE blazar strip, then estimate their redshifts using a KNN regression based on the redshifts of the closest blazars in the WISE color–color plot. Finally, using randomly drawn values from plausible redshift distributions, we simulate the SEDs of these blazars and compare them to known blazar SEDs. Based on all these considerations, we conclude that blazars without redshift estimates are unlikely to be high-luminosity, high-synchrotron-peaked objects, which had been suggested in order to explain the “blazar sequence”—an observed trend of SED shape with luminosity—as a selection effect. Instead, the observed properties of no-redshift blazars are compatible with a causal connection between jet power and electron cooling, i.e., a true blazar sequence.

  19. A model for the distribution of dark matter, galaxies, and the intergalactic medium in a cold dark matter-dominated universe

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ryu, Dongsu; Vishniac, Ethan T.; Chiang, Wei-Hwan

    1989-01-01

    The spatial distribution of the cold-dark-matter (CDM) and baryonic components of CDM-dominated cosmological models are characterized, summarizing the results of recent theoretical investigations. The evolution and distribution of matter in an Einstein-de Sitter universe on length scales small enough so that the Newtonian approximation is valid is followed chronologically, assuming (1) that the galaxies, CDM, and the intergalactic medium (IGM) are coupled by gravity, (2) that galaxies form by taking mass and momentum from the IGM, and (3) that the IGM responds to the energy input from the galaxies. The results of the numerical computations are presented in extensive graphs and discussed in detail.

  20. Probing intergalactic magnetic fields with simulations of electromagnetic cascades

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Alves Batista, Rafael; Saveliev, Andrey; Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow; Sigl, Guenter; Vachaspati, Tanmay

    2016-12-01

    We determine the effect of intergalactic magnetic fields on the distribution of high energy gamma rays by performing three-dimensional Monte Carlo simulations of the development of gamma-ray-induced electromagnetic cascades in the magnetized intergalactic medium. We employ the so-called ''Large Sphere Observer'' method to efficiently simulate blazar gamma ray halos. We study magnetic fields with a Batchelor spectrum and with maximal left- and right-handed helicities. We also consider the case of sources whose jets are tilted with respect to the line of sight. We verify the formation of extended gamma ray halos around the source direction, and observe spiral-like patterns if the magnetic field is helical. We apply the Q-statistics to the simulated halos to extract their spiral nature and also propose an alternative method, the S-statistics. Both methods provide a quantative way to infer the helicity of the intervening magnetic fields from the morphology of individual blazar halos for magnetic field strengths B>or similar 10"-"1"5 G and magnetic coherence lengths L_c>or similar 100 Mpc. We show that the S-statistics has a better performance than the Q-statistics when assessing magnetic helicity from the simulated halos.

  1. The Faint End of the Quasar Luminosity Function at z ~ 4: Implications for Ionization of the Intergalactic Medium and Cosmic Downsizing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Glikman, Eilat; Djorgovski, S. G.; Stern, Daniel; Dey, Arjun; Jannuzi, Buell T.; Lee, Kyoung-Soo

    2011-02-01

    We present an updated determination of the z ~ 4 QSO luminosity function (QLF), improving the quality of the determination of the faint end of the QLF presented by Glikman et al. (2010). We have observed an additional 43 candidates from our survey sample, yielding one additional QSO at z = 4.23 and increasing the completeness of our spectroscopic follow-up to 48% for candidates brighter than R = 24 over our survey area of 3.76 deg2. We study the effect of using K-corrections to compute the rest-frame absolute magnitude at 1450 Å compared with measuring M 1450 directly from the object spectra. We find a luminosity-dependent bias: template-based K-corrections overestimate the luminosity of low-luminosity QSOs, likely due to their reliance on templates derived from higher luminosity QSOs. Combining our sample with bright quasars from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and using spectrum-based M 1450 for all the quasars, we fit a double power law to the binned QLF. Our best fit has a bright-end slope, α = 3.3 ± 0.2, and faint-end slope, β = 1.6+0.8 -0.6. Our new data revise the faint-end slope of the QLF down to flatter values similar to those measured at z ~ 3. The break luminosity, though poorly constrained, is at M* = -24.1+0.7 -1.9, approximately 1-1.5 mag fainter than at z ~ 3. This QLF implies that QSOs account for about half the radiation needed to ionize the intergalactic medium at these redshifts. The data presented herein were obtained at the W. M. Keck Observatory, which is operated as a scientific partnership among the California Institute of Technology, the University of California and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The Observatory was made possible by the generous financial support of the W. M. Keck Foundation.

  2. THE SIZE AND ORIGIN OF METAL-ENRICHED REGIONS IN THE INTERGALACTIC MEDIUM FROM SPECTRA OF BINARY QUASARS

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Martin, Crystal L.; Fournier, Amanda P.; Scannapieco, Evan; Ellison, Sara L.; Hennawi, Joseph F.; Djorgovski, S. G.

    2010-01-01

    We present tomography of the circum-galactic metal distribution at redshift 1.7-4.5 derived from echellete spectroscopy of binary quasars. We find C IV systems at similar redshifts in paired sightlines more often than expected for sightline-independent redshifts. As the separation of the sightlines increases from 36 kpc to 907 kpc, the amplitude of this clustering decreases. At the largest separations, the C IV systems cluster similar to the Lyman-break galaxies studied by Adelberger et al. in 2005. The C IV systems are significantly less correlated than these galaxies, however, at separations less than R 1 ≅ 0.42 ± 0.15 h -1 comoving Mpc. Measured in real space, i.e., transverse to the sightlines, this length scale is significantly smaller than the break scale estimated previously from the line-of-sight correlation function in redshift space by Scannapieco et al. in 2006. Using a simple model, we interpret the new real-space measurement as an indication of the typical physical size of enriched regions. We adopt this size for enriched regions and fit the redshift-space distortion in the line-of-sight correlation function. The fitted velocity kick is consistent with the peculiar velocity of galaxies as determined by the underlying mass distribution and places an upper limit on the average outflow (or inflow) speed of metals. The implied timescale for dispersing metals is larger than the typical stellar ages of Lyman-break galaxies, and we argue that enrichment by galaxies at z ≥ 4.3 played a greater role in dispersing metals. To further constrain the growth of enriched regions, we discuss empirical constraints on the evolution of the C IV correlation function with cosmic time. This study demonstrates the potential of tomography for measuring the metal enrichment history of the circum-galactic medium.

  3. Universe opacity and EBL

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Vavryčuk, Václav

    2017-01-01

    Roč. 465, č. 2 (2017), s. 1532-1542 ISSN 0035-8711 Institutional support: RVO:67985530 Keywords : cosmic background radiation * dust, extinction * early Universe * galaxies: high redshift * galaxies: ISM * intergalactic medium Subject RIV: BN - Astronomy, Celestial Mechanics, Astrophysics OBOR OECD: Astronomy (including astrophysics,space science) Impact factor: 4.961, year: 2016

  4. Effects on the spectrum of the cosmic microwave background due to intergalactic dust

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kurtz, R.C.

    1981-01-01

    A model for intergalactic dust composed of graphite grains is presented. The model is examined in the context of the Rayleigh approximation for results due to long-wavelength scattering and absorption by the grains. The temperature of the scattering grains as a function of redshift is found, based on reasonable assumptions of the density of optical wavelength radiation in the universe. Mechanisms for aligning the grains on a scale large enough to produce polarization in the microwave region are discussed. The results are used to predict features that may be present in the observed cosmic microwave background radiation spectrum

  5. Dimming of supernovae by photon-pseudoscalar conversion and the intergalactic plasma

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Deffayet, Cedric; Harari, Diego; Uzan, Jean-Philippe; Zaldarriaga, Matias

    2002-01-01

    It has been suggested recently that the observed dimming of distant type Ia supernovae may be a consequence of mixing of the photons with very light axions. We point out that the effect of the plasma, in which the photons are propagating, must be taken into account. This effect changes the oscillation probability and renders the dimming frequency dependent, contrary to observations. One may hope to accommodate the data by averaging the oscillations over many different coherence domains. We estimate the effect of coherence loss, either due to the inhomogeneities of the magnetic field or of the intergalactic plasma. These estimates indicate that the achromaticity problem can be resolved only with very specific, and probably unrealistic, properties of the intergalactic medium

  6. Power-law to Power-law Mapping of Blazar Spectra from Intergalactic Absorption

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Stecker, F W; Scully, S T

    2007-01-01

    We have derived a useful analytic approximation for determining the effect of intergalactic absorption on the γ-ray spectra of TeV blazars the energy range 0.2 TeV γ γ ) is approximately logarithmic. The effect of this energy dependence is to steepen intrinsic source spectra such that a source with an approximate power-law spectral index Γ s is converted to one with an observed spectral index Γ o ≅ Γ s + ΔΓ(z) where ΔΓ(z) is a linear function of z in the redshift range 0.05-0.4. We apply this approximation to the spectra of 7 TeV blazars

  7. Probing intergalactic magnetic fields with simulations of electromagnetic cascades

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Alves Batista, Rafael [Oxford Univ. (United Kingdom). Dept. of Physics and Astrophysics; Saveliev, Andrey [Hamburg Univ. (Germany). 2. Inst. fuer Theoretische Physik; Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow (Russian Federation). Keldysh Inst. of Applied Mathematics; Sigl, Guenter [Hamburg Univ. (Germany). 2. Inst. fuer Theoretische Physik; Vachaspati, Tanmay [Arizona State Univ., Tempe, AZ (United States). Dept. of Physics

    2016-12-15

    We determine the effect of intergalactic magnetic fields on the distribution of high energy gamma rays by performing three-dimensional Monte Carlo simulations of the development of gamma-ray-induced electromagnetic cascades in the magnetized intergalactic medium. We employ the so-called ''Large Sphere Observer'' method to efficiently simulate blazar gamma ray halos. We study magnetic fields with a Batchelor spectrum and with maximal left- and right-handed helicities. We also consider the case of sources whose jets are tilted with respect to the line of sight. We verify the formation of extended gamma ray halos around the source direction, and observe spiral-like patterns if the magnetic field is helical. We apply the Q-statistics to the simulated halos to extract their spiral nature and also propose an alternative method, the S-statistics. Both methods provide a quantative way to infer the helicity of the intervening magnetic fields from the morphology of individual blazar halos for magnetic field strengths B>or similar 10{sup -15} G and magnetic coherence lengths L{sub c}>or similar 100 Mpc. We show that the S-statistics has a better performance than the Q-statistics when assessing magnetic helicity from the simulated halos.

  8. Missing dust signature in the cosmic microwave background

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Vavryčuk, Václav

    2017-01-01

    Roč. 470, č. 1 (2017), L44-L48 ISSN 0035-8711 Institutional support: RVO:67985530 Keywords : dust, extinction * galaxies: high redshift * galaxies: ISM * intergalactic medium * cosmic background radiation * early Universe Subject RIV: BN - Astronomy, Celestial Mechanics, Astrophysics OBOR OECD: Astronomy (including astrophysics,space science) Impact factor: 4.961, year: 2016

  9. HYDRODYNAMICS OF HIGH-REDSHIFT GALAXY COLLISIONS: FROM GAS-RICH DISKS TO DISPERSION-DOMINATED MERGERS AND COMPACT SPHEROIDS

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bournaud, Frederic; Chapon, Damien; Teyssier, Romain; Powell, Leila C.; Duc, Pierre-Alain; Elmegreen, Bruce G.; Elmegreen, Debra Meloy; Contini, Thierry; Epinat, Benoit; Shapiro, Kristen L.

    2011-01-01

    Disk galaxies at high redshift (z ∼ 2) are characterized by high fractions of cold gas, strong turbulence, and giant star-forming clumps. Major mergers of disk galaxies at high redshift should then generally involve such turbulent clumpy disks. Merger simulations, however, model the interstellar medium as a stable, homogeneous, and thermally pressurized medium. We present the first merger simulations with high fractions of cold, turbulent, and clumpy gas. We discuss the major new features of these models compared to models where the gas is artificially stabilized and warmed. Gas turbulence, which is already strong in high-redshift disks, is further enhanced in mergers. Some phases are dispersion dominated, with most of the gas kinetic energy in the form of velocity dispersion and very chaotic velocity fields, unlike merger models using a thermally stabilized gas. These mergers can reach very high star formation rates, and have multi-component gas spectra consistent with SubMillimeter Galaxies. Major mergers with high fractions of cold turbulent gas are also characterized by highly dissipative gas collapse to the center of mass, with the stellar component following in a global contraction. The final galaxies are early type with relatively small radii and high Sersic indices, like high-redshift compact spheroids. The mass fraction in a disk component that survives or re-forms after a merger is severely reduced compared to models with stabilized gas, and the formation of a massive disk component would require significant accretion of external baryons afterwards. Mergers thus appear to destroy extended disks even when the gas fraction is high, and this lends further support to smooth infall as the main formation mechanism for massive disk galaxies.

  10. Redshift determination of the BL Lac object 3C 66A by the detection of its host galaxy cluster at z = 0.340

    Science.gov (United States)

    Torres-Zafra, Juanita; Cellone, Sergio A.; Buzzoni, Alberto; Andruchow, Ileana; Portilla, José G.

    2018-03-01

    The BL Lac object 3C 66A is one of the most luminous extragalactic sources at TeV γ-rays (very high energy, i.e. E > 100 GeV). Since TeV γ-ray radiation is absorbed by the extragalactic background light (EBL), it is crucial to know the redshift of the source in order to reconstruct its original spectral energy distribution, as well as to constrain EBL models. However, the optical spectrum of this BL Lac is almost featureless, so a direct measurement of z is very difficult; in fact, the published redshift value for this source (z = 0.444) has been strongly questioned. Based on EBL absorption arguments, several constraints to its redshift, in the range 0.096 GMOS-N multi-object spectroscopy. We found spectroscopic evidence of two galaxy groups along the blazar's line of sight: one at z ≃ 0.020 and the second one at z ≃ 0.340. The first one is consistent with a known foreground structure, while the second group presented here has six spectroscopically confirmed members. Their location along a red sequence in the colour-magnitude diagram allows us to identify 34 additional candidate members of the more distant group. The blazar's spectrum shows broad absorption features that we identify as arising in the intergalactic medium, thus allowing us to tentatively set a redshift lower limit at z_3C66A ≳ 0.33. As a consequence, we propose that 3C 66A is hosted in a galaxy that belongs to a cluster at z = 0.340.

  11. Dust Formation, Evolution, and Obscuration Effects in the Very High-Redshift Universe

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dwek, Eli; Staguhn, Johannes; Arendt, Richard G.; Kovacs, Attila; Su, Ting; Benford, Dominic J.

    2014-01-01

    The evolution of dust at redshifts z > or approx. 9, and consequently the dust properties, differs greatly from that in the local universe. In contrast to the local universe, core collapse supernovae (CCSNe) are the only source of thermally-condensed dust. Because of the low initial dust-to-gas mass ratio, grain destruction rates are low, so that CCSNe are net producers of interstellar dust. Galaxies with large initial gas mass or high mass infall rate will therefore have a more rapid net rate of dust production comported to galaxies with lower gas mass, even at the same star formation rate. The dust composition is dominated by silicates, which exhibit a strong rise in the UV opacity near the Lyman break. This "silicate-UV break" may be confused with the Lyman break, resulting in a misidentification of a galaxies' photometric redshift. In this paper we demonstrate these effects by analyzing the spectral energy distribution (SED) of MACS1149-JD, a lensed galaxy at z = 9.6. A potential 2mm counterpart of MACS1149-JD has been identified with GISMO. While additional observations are required to corroborate this identification, we use this possible association to illustrate the physical processes and the observational effects of dust in the very high redshift universe. Subject headings: galaxies: high-redshift - galaxies: evolution - galaxies: individual (MACS1149- JD) - Interstellar medium (ISM), nebulae: dust, extinction - physical data and processes: nuclear reactions, nucleosynthesis, abundances.

  12. Highly Accreting Quasars at High Redshift

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martínez-Aldama, Mary L.; Del Olmo, Ascensión; Marziani, Paola; Sulentic, Jack W.; Negrete, C. Alenka; Dultzin, Deborah; Perea, Jaime; D'Onofrio, Mauro

    2017-12-01

    We present preliminary results of a spectroscopic analysis for a sample of type 1 highly accreting quasars (LLedd>0.2) at high redshift, z 2-3. The quasars were observed with the OSIRIS spectrograph on the GTC 10.4 m telescope located at the Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos in La Palma. The highly accreting quasars were identified using the 4D Eigenvector 1 formalism, which is able to organize type 1 quasars over a broad range of redshift and luminosity. The kinematic and physical properties of the broad line region have been derived by fitting the profiles of strong UV emission lines such as AlIII, SiIII and CIII. The majority of our sources show strong blueshifts in the high-ionization lines and high Eddington ratios which are related with the productions of outflows. The importance of highly accreting quasars goes beyond a detailed understanding of their physics: their extreme Eddington ratio makes them candidates standard candles for cosmological studies.

  13. Gamma-ray bursts at high redshift

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Wijers, R.A.M.J.

    1999-01-01

    Gamma-ray bursts are much brighter than supernovae, and could therefore possibly probe the Universe to high redshift. The presently established GRB redshifts range from 0.83 to 5, and quite possibly even beyond that. Since most proposed mechanisms for GRB link them closely to deaths of massive

  14. CONSTRAINING DUST AND COLOR VARIATIONS OF HIGH-z SNe USING NICMOS ON THE HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nobili, S.; Amanullah, R.; Goobar, A.

    2009-01-01

    We present data from the Supernova Cosmology Project for five high redshift Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) that were obtained using the NICMOS infrared camera on the Hubble Space Telescope. We add two SNe from this sample to a rest-frame I-band Hubble diagram, doubling the number of high redshift supernovae on this diagram. This I-band Hubble diagram is consistent with a flat universe (Ω M , Ω Λ ) = (0.29, 0.71). A homogeneous distribution of large grain dust in the intergalactic medium (replenishing dust) is incompatible with the data and is excluded at the 5σ confidence level, if the SN host galaxy reddening is corrected assuming R V = 1.75. We use both optical and infrared observations to compare photometric properties of distant SNe Ia with those of nearby objects. We find generally good agreement with the expected color evolution for all SNe except the highest redshift SN in our sample (SN 1997ek at z = 0.863) which shows a peculiar color behavior. We also present spectra obtained from ground-based telescopes for type identification and determination of redshift.

  15. Moderate resolution spectrophotometry of high redshift quasars

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schneider, Donald P.; Schmidt, Maarten; Gunn, James E.

    1991-01-01

    A uniform set of photometry and high signal-to-noise moderate resolution spectroscopy of 33 quasars with redshifts larger than 3.1 is presented. The sample consists of 17 newly discovered quasars (two with redshifts in excess of 4.4) and 16 sources drawn from the literature. The objects in this sample have r magnitudes between 17.4 and 21.4; their luminosities range from -28.8 to -24.9. Three of the 33 objects are broad absorption line quasars. A number of possible high redshift damped Ly-alpha systems were found.

  16. Intervening O vi Quasar Absorption Systems at Low Redshift: A Significant Baryon Reservoir.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tripp; Savage; Jenkins

    2000-05-01

    Far-UV echelle spectroscopy of the radio-quiet QSO H1821+643 (zem=0.297), obtained with the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) at approximately 7 km s-1 resolution, reveals four definite O vi absorption-line systems and one probable O vi absorber at 0.15quasar in redshift; these are likely intervening systems unrelated to the background QSO. In the case of the strong O vi system at zabs=0.22497, multiple components are detected in Si iii and O vi as well as H i Lyman series lines, and the differing component velocity centroids and b-values firmly establish that this is a multiphase absorption system. A weak O vi absorber is detected at zabs=0.22637, i.e., offset by approximately 340 km s-1 from the zabs=0.22497 system. Lyalpha absorption is detected at zabs=0.22613, but no Lyalpha absorption is significantly detected at 0.22637. Other weak O vi absorbers at zabs=0.24531 and 0.26659 and the probable O vi system at 0.21326 have widely diverse O vi/H i column density ratios with N(O vi)/N(H i) ranging from high, dN&solm0;dz approximately 48, which implies with a high (90%) confidence that it is greater than 17 in the low-redshift intergalactic medium. We conservatively estimate that the cosmological mass density of the O vi systems is Omegab(Ovi&parr0; greater, similar0.0008 h-175. With an assumed metallicity of 1/10 solar and a conservative assumption that the fraction of oxygen in the O vi ionization stage is 0.2, we obtain Omegab(Ovi&parr0; greater, similar0.004 h-175. This is comparable to the combined cosmological mass density of stars and cool gas in galaxies and X-ray-emitting gas in galaxy clusters at low redshift.

  17. Highly Accreting Quasars at High Redshift

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mary L. Martínez-Aldama

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available We present preliminary results of a spectroscopic analysis for a sample of type 1 highly accreting quasars (L/LEdd ~ 1.0 at high redshift, z ~2–3. The quasars were observed with the OSIRIS spectrograph on the GTC 10.4 m telescope located at the Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos in La Palma. The highly accreting quasars were identified using the 4D Eigenvector 1 formalism, which is able to organize type 1 quasars over a broad range of redshift and luminosity. The kinematic and physical properties of the broad line region have been derived by fitting the profiles of strong UV emission lines such as Aliiiλ1860, Siiii]λ1892 and Ciii]λ1909. The majority of our sources show strong blueshifts in the high-ionization lines and high Eddington ratios which are related with the productions of outflows. The importance of highly accreting quasars goes beyond a detailed understanding of their physics: their extreme Eddington ratio makes them candidates standard candles for cosmological studies.

  18. Cosmic gamma-ray burst from intergalactic relativistic dust grains

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dasgupta, A.K.

    1979-01-01

    Charged dust grains of radii a approximately 3 x 10 -6 approximately 3 x 10 -5 cm may acquire relativistic energy (>10 18 eV) in the intergalactic medium. In order to attain relativistic energy, dust grains have to move in and out ('scattering') of the magnetic field of the medium. A relativistic grain of radius a -5 cm with Lorentz factor γ approximately 10 3 approaching the Earth will break up either due to electrostatic charge or due to sputtering about 150 approximately 100 km, and may scatter solar photons via a fluorescence process. Dust grains may also melt into droplets in the solar vicinity and may contribute towards observed gamma-ray bursts. (Auth.)

  19. A new measurement of the intergalactic temperature at z ˜ 2.55-2.95

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rorai, Alberto; Carswell, Robert F.; Haehnelt, Martin G.; Becker, George D.; Bolton, James S.; Murphy, Michael T.

    2018-03-01

    We present two measurements of the temperature-density relationship (TDR) of the intergalactic medium (IGM) in the redshift range 2.55 law parameters T0 and γ describing the TDR. This approach yields T0/103 K = 15.6 ± 4.4 and γ = 1.45 ± 0.17 independent of the assumed pressure smoothing of the small-scale density field. In order to explore the information contained in the overall b-N_{H I} distribution rather than only the lower cut-off, we obtain a second measurement based on a similar Bayesian analysis of the median Doppler parameter for separate column-density ranges of the absorbers. In this case, we obtain T0/103 K = 14.6 ± 3.7 and γ = 1.37 ± 0.17 in good agreement with the first measurement. Our Bayesian analysis reveals strong anticorrelations between the inferred T0 and γ for both methods as well as an anticorrelation of the inferred T0 and the pressure smoothing length for the second method, suggesting that the measurement accuracy can in the latter case be substantially increased if independent constraints on the smoothing are obtained. Our results are in good agreement with other recent measurements of the thermal state of the IGM probing similar (over-)density ranges.

  20. FIREBall-2: Trailblazing observations of the space UV circumgalactic medium (Columbia University, Co-I Proposal)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schiminovich, David

    Columbia University is a Co-I institution in a collaborative research program with Caltech, the Lead Institution (PI: Christopher Martin). The Faint Intergalactic-medium Redshifted Emission Balloon (FIREBall-2) is designed to discover and map faint emission from the circumgalactic medium of low redshift galaxies (0.3zz 0.7, conduct a targeted search of circumquasar (CQM) media for selected targets, and conduct follow up on likely tar-gets selected via GALEX and a pilot survey conducted by our group. We will also conduct a statistical search for the faint IGM via statistical stacking of our data. The FIREBall-2 team includes two female graduate students in key roles (both of whom are finishing their PhDs in 2016) and is overseen by a female Postdoctoral scholar (supported by NSF AAPF and Caltech Millikan Fellowships, in addition to a recent Roman Technology Fellowship award). Additional funding is necessary to keep this highly qualified balloon team together for a second flight. FIREBall-2 will test key technologies and science strategies for a future space mission to map emission from CGM and IGM baryons. Its flights will continue to provide important training for the next generation of space astrophysicists working in UV and other wavelength instrumentation. Most importantly, FIREBall-2 will detect emission from the CGM of nearby galaxies, providing the first census of the density and kinematics of this material for low z galaxies and open-ing a new field of CGM science.

  1. Discovery and spectrophotometry of high-redshift quasars

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    MacAlpine, G.M.; Feldman, F.R.

    1982-01-01

    We report on the discovery and spectrophotometry of 30 new high-redshift quasars, which were detected using the Curtis Schmidt technique. We also discuss new follow-up spectrophotometry for 23 quasar candidates from University of Michigan Lists I--IV. Our program sample contains eight quasars with z>3, at least five objects exhibiting broad absorption troughs, and a pair of quasars which are 1' apart on the sky and nearly identical in redshift, at z near 2.13. The redshift distribution for the majority of quasars in UM List IV suggests that most of the single-line quasar candidates in the UM List have low to moderate redshifts, with the reported line often being Mg II lambda2798 or C III] lambda1909. For 17 high-redshift quasars where lambda912 at the emission-line redshift could be examined, we did not find any definite Lyman limit cutoffs. Although three objects show a decline of the continuum within 100 A of lambda912, we do not believe them to be unambiguous examples for emission-line clouds situated in the line of sight. When our O I lambda1304 measurements are combined with the data of others to yield a composite spectrum, we obtain O I lambda1304/lambda8446 = 1.35. This suggests reddening with E/sub B/-Vroughly-equal0.23. Finally, our data exhibit a correlation between Lyα emission line velocity widths and redshift. The higher z quasars in the sample tend to have narrower lines, due, at least in part, to bias in the detection technique

  2. THE SURPRISINGLY CONSTANT STRENGTH OF O VI ABSORBERS OVER COSMIC TIME

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fox, Andrew J.

    2011-01-01

    O VI absorption is observed in a wide range of astrophysical environments, including the local interstellar medium, the disk and halo of the Milky Way, high-velocity clouds, the Magellanic Clouds, starburst galaxies, the intergalactic medium (IGM), damped Lyα systems, and gamma-ray-burst host galaxies. Here, a new compilation of 775 O VI absorbers drawn from the literature is presented, all observed at high resolution (instrumental FWHM ≤ 20 km s -1 ) and covering the redshift range z = 0-3. In galactic environments [log N(H I) ∼> 20], the mean O VI column density is shown to be insensitive to metallicity, taking a value log N(O VI) ∼ 14.5 for galaxies covering the range -1.6 ∼ 4 K) clouds and hot (∼10 6 K) plasma, although many such layers would have to be intersected by a typical galaxy-halo sight line to build up the characteristic galactic N(O VI). The alternative, widely used model of single-phase photoionization for intergalactic O VI is ruled out by kinematic evidence in the majority of IGM O VI components at low and high redshift.

  3. The Formation and Physical Origin of Highly Ionized Cooling Gas

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bordoloi, Rongmon [MIT-Kavli Center for Astrophysics and Space Research, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA, 02139 (United States); Wagner, Alexander Y. [University of Tsukuba, Center for Computational Sciences, Tennodai 1-1-1, Tsukuba, Ibaraki (Japan); Heckman, Timothy M.; Norman, Colin A., E-mail: bordoloi@mit.edu, E-mail: bordoloi@mit.edu [Department of Physics and Astronomy, John Hopkins University, 21218, Baltimore, MD (United States)

    2017-10-20

    We present a simple model that explains the origin of warm, diffuse gas seen primarily as highly ionized absorption-line systems in the spectra of background sources. We predict the observed column densities of several highly ionized transitions such as O vi, O vii, Ne viii, N v, and Mg x, and we present a unified comparison of the model predictions with absorption lines seen in the Milky Way disk, Milky Way halo, starburst galaxies, the circumgalactic medium, and the intergalactic medium at low and high redshifts. We show that diffuse gas seen in such diverse environments can be simultaneously explained by a simple model of radiatively cooling gas. We show that most such absorption-line systems are consistent with being collisionally ionized, and we estimate the maximum-likelihood temperature of the gas in each observation. This model satisfactorily explains why O vi is regularly observed around star-forming low- z L* galaxies, and why N v is rarely seen around the same galaxies. We further present some consequences of this model in quantifying the dynamics of the cooling gas around galaxies and predict the shock velocities associated with such flows. A unique strength of this model is that while it has only one free (but physically well-constrained) parameter, it nevertheless successfully reproduces the available data on O vi absorbers in the interstellar, circumgalactic, intragroup, and intergalactic media, as well as the available data on other absorption lines from highly ionized species.

  4. Escape of ionizing radiation from high redshift dwarf galaxies: role of AGN feedback

    Science.gov (United States)

    Trebitsch, Maxime; Volonteri, Marta; Dubois, Yohan; Madau, Piero

    2018-05-01

    While low mass, star forming galaxies are often considered as the primary driver of reionization, their actual contribution to the cosmic ultraviolet background is still uncertain, mostly because the escape fraction of ionizing photons is only poorly constrained. Theoretical studies have shown that efficient supernova feedback is a necessary condition to create paths through which ionizing radiation can escape into the intergalactic medium. We investigate the possibility that accreting supermassive black holes in early dwarf galaxies may provide additional feedback and enhance the leakage of ionizing radiation. We use a series of high resolution cosmological radiation hydrodynamics simulations where we isolate the different sources of feedback. We find that supernova feedback prevents the growth of the black hole, thus quenching its associated feedback. Even in cases where the black hole can grow, the structure of the interstellar medium is strongly dominated by supernova feedback. We conclude that, in the dwarf galaxy regime, supermassive black holes do not appear to play a significant role in enhancing the escape fraction and in contributing to the early UV background.

  5. Characterizing the 21-cm Signal from Neutral Hydrogen in the IGM at Redshifts 27>z>6 with EDGES

    Science.gov (United States)

    Monsalve, Raul A.; Rogers, Alan E. E.; Bowman, Judd D.; Mozdzen, Thomas J.; Mahesh, Nivedita

    2018-01-01

    Understanding the period when the first stars formed and ionized the InterGalactic Medium (IGM) during the Epoch of Reionization (EoR) represents one of the main objectives of modern cosmology. The Experiment to Detect the Global EoR Signature (EDGES) strives to characterize this period by measuring, for the first time, the all-sky spectrum of the 21-cm signal produced by neutral hydrogen in the IGM at redshifts 27>z>6. In this talk I will describe recent EDGES constraints for the 21-cm signal. Specifically, with measurements from the EDGES High-Band instrument in the range 90-190 MHz, we rule out traditional Tanh models for the epoch of reionization with durations of up to dz=1 over the redshift range 14>z>7. We also rule out a wide range of phenomenological and physically-motivated 21-cm models that contain a large absorption feature in this redshift range, produced by the complex interaction between UV and X-ray radiation from the first sources and the neutral hydrogen in the IGM. Finally, I will describe our efforts to detect the 21-cm signal in the range 27>z>13 with two Low-Band instruments that have observed over 50-100 MHz since 2015. These instruments implement refined calibration techniques and lessons learned from previous generations of EDGES, and have achieved a level of systematic uncertainty low enough to enable detection. I will present Low-Band analysis results, including a variety of cross-checks performed to discriminate between residual instrumental effects and spectral structure that is intrinsic to the sky. I will conclude by describing the preparation of the next observational campaign with upgraded instrumentation.

  6. Rotation in [C II]-emitting gas in two galaxies at a redshift of 6.8

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smit, Renske; Bouwens, Rychard J.; Carniani, Stefano; Oesch, Pascal A.; Labbé, Ivo; Illingworth, Garth D.; van der Werf, Paul; Bradley, Larry D.; Gonzalez, Valentino; Hodge, Jacqueline A.; Holwerda, Benne W.; Maiolino, Roberto; Zheng, Wei

    2018-01-01

    The earliest galaxies are thought to have emerged during the first billion years of cosmic history, initiating the ionization of the neutral hydrogen that pervaded the Universe at this time. Studying this ‘epoch of reionization’ involves looking for the spectral signatures of ancient galaxies that are, owing to the expansion of the Universe, now very distant from Earth and therefore exhibit large redshifts. However, finding these spectral fingerprints is challenging. One spectral characteristic of ancient and distant galaxies is strong hydrogen-emission lines (known as Lyman-α lines), but the neutral intergalactic medium that was present early in the epoch of reionization scatters such Lyman-α photons. Another potential spectral identifier is the line at wavelength 157.4 micrometres of the singly ionized state of carbon (the [C II] λ = 157.74 μm line), which signifies cooling gas and is expected to have been bright in the early Universe. However, so far Lyman-α-emitting galaxies from the epoch of reionization have demonstrated much fainter [C II] luminosities than would be expected from local scaling relations, and searches for the [C II] line in sources without Lyman-α emission but with photometric redshifts greater than 6 (corresponding to the first billion years of the Universe) have been unsuccessful. Here we identify [C II] λ = 157.74 μm emission from two sources that we selected as high-redshift candidates on the basis of near-infrared photometry; we confirm that these sources are two galaxies at redshifts of z = 6.8540 ± 0.0003 and z = 6.8076 ± 0.0002. Notably, the luminosity of the [C II] line from these galaxies is higher than that found previously in star-forming galaxies with redshifts greater than 6.5. The luminous and extended [C II] lines reveal clear velocity gradients that, if interpreted as rotation, would indicate that these galaxies have similar dynamic properties to the turbulent yet rotation

  7. Weighing the Low-Redshift Lyman-alpha Forest

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shull, Mike

    2005-01-01

    In 2003-2004, our FUSE research group prepared several major surveys of the amount of baryonic matter in the intergalactic medium (IGM), using the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) satellite. These surveys include measurements of the Lyman-alpha absorption line of neutral hydrogen (H I), the far-ultraviolet (1032,1038 Angstrom) doublet of highly ionized oxygen ( O VI), the higher Lyman-series lines (Ly-beta, Ly-gamma, etc) of H I, and the 977 Angstrom line of c III. As an overview, our FUSE spectroscopic studies, taken together with data from the Hubble Space Telescope, show that approximately 30% of the normal matter is contained in intergalactic hydrogen gas clouds (the Lyman-alpha forest). Another 5-10% resides in hotter gas at temperatures of 10(exp 5) to 10(exp 6) K, visible in 0 VI and C III absorption. Along with the matter attributed to galaxies, we have now accounted for approximately HALF of all the baryonic matter in the universe. Where is the other half? That matter my exist in even hotter gas, invisible through the ultraviolet absorption lines, but perhaps detectable through X-ray absorption lines of more highly ionized oxygen and neon.

  8. Luminosity function of high redshift quasars

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vaucher, B.G.

    1982-01-01

    Data from ten different emission-line surveys are included in a study of the luminosity function of high redshift quasars. Five of the surveys are analyzed through microdensitometric techniques and the data for new quasars are given. The uncertainties in magnitudes, redshifts, and line equivalent widths are assessed and found to be +-0.3 mag. +-0.04 in z and approx. 30%, respectively. Criteria for selecting the redshift range 1.8 less than or equal to z - 1 Mpc - 1 for each of two cosmologies (q 0 = 1 and q 0 = 0). For either cosmology, the function exhibits a steep increase with magnitude at high luminosities and a gentler increase at intermediate luminosities. Data from the new surveys indicate a possible turnover at the faint end of the distribution. Total volume densities of quasars are computed for each of three extrapolations of the trend of the data to low luminosities. These densities are compared to those of active galaxies and field galaxies

  9. Gamma-ray Burst Formation Environment: Comparison of Redshift Distributions of GRB Afterglows

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sung-Eun Kim

    2005-12-01

    Full Text Available Since gamma-ray bursts(GRBs have been first known to science societites in 1973, many scientists are involved in their studies. Observations of GRB afterglows provide us with much information on the environment in which the observed GRBs are born. Study of GRB afterglows deals with longer timescale emissions in lower energy bands (e.g., months or even up to years than prompt emissions in gamma-rays. Not all the bursts accompany afterglows in whole ranges of wavelengths. It has been suggested as a reason for that, for instance, that radio and/or X-ray afterglows are not recorded mainly due to lower sensitivity of detectors, and optical afterglows due to extinctions in intergalactic media or self-extinctions within a host galaxy itself. Based on the idea that these facts may also provide information on the GRB environment, we analyze statistical properties of GRB afterglows. We first select samples of the redshift-known GRBs according to the wavelength of afterglow they accompanied. We then compare their distributions as a function of redshift, using statistical methods. As a results, we find that the distribution of the GRBs with X-ray afterglows is consistent with that of the GRBs with optical afterglows. We, therefore, conclude that the lower detection rate of optical afterglows is not due to extinctions in intergalactic media.

  10. Distribution of dark matter, galaxies, and the intergalactic medium in a cold dark matter dominated universe

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ryu, D.; Vishniac, E.T.; Chiang, W.H.

    1988-11-01

    The evolution and distribution of galaxies and the intergalactic medium (IGM) have been studied, along with collisionless dark matter in a Universe dominated by cold dark matter. The Einstein-deSitter universe with omega sub 0 = 1 and h = 0.5 was considered (here h = H sub 0 bar 100/kms/Mpc and H sub 0 is the present value of the Hubble constant). It is assumed that initially dark matter composes 90 pct and baryonic matter composes 10 pct of total mass, and that the primordial baryonic matter is comprised of H and He, with the abundance of He equal to 10 pct of H by number. Galaxies are allowed to form out of the IGM, if the total density and baryonic density satisfy an overdensity criterion. Subsequently, the newly formed galaxies release 10 to the 60th ergs of energy into the IGM over a period of 10 to the 8th years. Calculations have been performed with 32 to the 3rd dark matter particles and 32 to the 3rd cells in a cube with comoving side length L = 9.6/h Mpc. Dark matter particles and galaxies have been followed with an N-body code, while the IGM has been followed with a fluid code

  11. Distribution of dark matter, galaxies, and the intergalactic medium in a cold dark matter dominated universe

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ryu, D.; Vishniac, E.T.; Chiang, W.H.

    1988-11-01

    The evolution and distribution of galaxies and the intergalactic medium (IGM) have been studied, along with collisionless dark matter in a Universe dominated by cold dark matter. The Einstein-deSitter universe with omega sub 0 = 1 and h = 0.5 was considered (here h = H sub 0 bar 100/kms/Mpc and H sub 0 is the present value of the Hubble constant). It is assumed that initially dark matter composes 90 pct and baryonic matter composes 10 pct of total mass, and that the primordial baryonic matter is comprised of H and He, with the abundance of He equal to 10 pct of H by number. Galaxies are allowed to form out of the IGM, if the total density and baryonic density satisfy an overdensity criterion. Subsequently, the newly formed galaxies release 10 to the 60th ergs of energy into the IGM over a period of 10 to the 8th years. Calculations have been performed with 32 to the 3rd dark matter particles and 32 to the 3rd cells in a cube with comoving side length L = 9.6/h Mpc. Dark matter particles and galaxies have been followed with an N-body code, while the IGM has been followed with a fluid code.

  12. Ultraviolet spectropolarimetry of high-redshift quasars with the Hubble Space Telescope

    Science.gov (United States)

    Impey, C. D.; Malkan, Matthew A.; Webb, Wayne; Petry, C. E.

    1995-01-01

    Ultraviolet spectropolarimetry of three bright high-redshift low-polarization quasars (LPQs) was obtained with the Faint Object Spectrograph of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). Two of the quasars, PG 1634+706 and PG 2302+029, had polarizations p approximately = 0.5%-1.0% throughout the ultraviolet, and showed no significant variation of polarization amplitude or position angle with wavelength. PG 2302+029 was also marginally (2.4 sigma) circularly polarized in the optical continuum. For the highest redshift quasar, PG 1222+228 (Ton 1530), the polarization was measured down to rest wavelengths below 800 A. Although the continuum of PG 1222+228 was weakened by Lyman limit absorption from an intergalactic gas cloud, the polarization increased sharply from 1% to about 4.5%, a change of 4 sigma significance. This abrupt rise in polarization does not appear attributable to any known instrumental artifact. These UV polarizations were only slightly less than those previously observed for these same objects in the optical. The polarization spectra were flat with a typical slope of the polarized flux pF(sub nu) proportional to nu(exp -0.8 +/- 0.5). Unlike the case of several high luminosity Seyfert 1 nuclei studied previously, polarization caused by scattering from dust grains does not provide the best fit to the polarization spectra of these luminous quasars. These observed spectra are consistent with a wavelength-independent polarization proportional to the total nonstellar light or, possibly, to the contribution of the blue thermal component. The polarization spectra have insufficient signal-to-noise to locate the scatterers with respect to the continuum source and the much larger broad line region. A decrease in amplitude and rotation of the position angle of the polarization vector at the shortest wavelengths, which could result from general relativistic effects near a spinning black hole, was not observed. In fact, in PG 1222+228, the polarization was observed to

  13. Thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect in the intergalactic medium with primordial magnetic fields

    Science.gov (United States)

    Minoda, Teppei; Hasegawa, Kenji; Tashiro, Hiroyuki; Ichiki, Kiyotomo; Sugiyama, Naoshi

    2017-12-01

    The presence of ubiquitous magnetic fields in the universe is suggested from observations of radiation and cosmic ray from galaxies or the intergalactic medium (IGM). One possible origin of cosmic magnetic fields is the magnetogenesis in the primordial universe. Such magnetic fields are called primordial magnetic fields (PMFs), and are considered to affect the evolution of matter density fluctuations and the thermal history of the IGM gas. Hence the information of PMFs is expected to be imprinted on the anisotropies of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) through the thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (tSZ) effect in the IGM. In this study, given an initial power spectrum of PMFs as P (k )∝B1Mpc 2knB , we calculate dynamical and thermal evolutions of the IGM under the influence of PMFs, and compute the resultant angular power spectrum of the Compton y -parameter on the sky. As a result, we find that two physical processes driven by PMFs dominantly determine the power spectrum of the Compton y -parameter; (i) the heating due to the ambipolar diffusion effectively works to increase the temperature and the ionization fraction, and (ii) the Lorentz force drastically enhances the density contrast on small scale just after the recombination epoch. These facts result in making the anisotropies of the CMB temperature on small scales, and we find that the signal goes up to 10 μ K2 around ℓ˜106 with B1 Mpc=0.1 nG and nB=0.0 . Therefore, CMB measurements on such small scales may provide a hint for the existence of the PMFs.

  14. The Intergalactic Medium as a Cosmological Tool

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Viel, Matteo, E-mail: viel@oats.inaf.i [INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste, Via G.B. Tiepolo 11, I-34131 Trieste (Italy); INFN/National Institute for Nuclear Physics, Via Valerio 2, I-34127 Trieste (Italy)

    2009-10-15

    In this talk I will review the capabilities of high-resolution (UVES and Keck) and low resolution (Sloan Digital Sky Survey - SDSS) quasar (QSO) Lyman-alpha absorption spectra as cosmological tools to probe the dark matter distribution in the high redshift universe. I will first summarize the results in terms of cosmological parameters and then discuss consistency with the parameters derived from other large scale structure observable such as the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) and weak lensing surveys. When the Lyman-alpha forest data are combined with CMB data and the weak lensing results of the z-COSMOS survey the constraints are: sigma{sub 8}=0.800+-0.023, n{sub s}=0.971+-0.011OMEGA{sub m}=0.247+-0.016 (1-sigma error bars), in perfect agreement with the CMB results of WMAP year five alone. I will briefly address the importance of Lyman-alpha for constraining the neutrino mass fraction. Furthermore, I will present constraints on the mass of warm dark matter (WDM) particles derived from the Lyman-alpha flux power spectrum of 55 high-resolution HIRES Lyman-alpha forest spectra at 2.0=1.2keV (2sigma) if the WDM consists of early decoupled thermal relics and m{sub WDM}>=5.6keV (2sigma) for sterile neutrinos. Adding the SDSS Lyman-alpha flux power spectrum at 2.2=4keV and m{sub WDM}>=28keV (2sigma) for thermal relics and sterile neutrinos. These results improve previous findings by a factor two and are currently the tightest constraints on the coldness of cold dark matter. Finally, I will discuss: i) recent results for a mixture of cold and warm dark matter and the constraints for sterile neutrinos as dark matter candidates in a physically motivated framework (resonant production); ii) perspectives of cross-correlating the Lyman-alpha forest with convergence maps of the cosmic microwave background; iii) fitting of the flux probability distribution function.

  15. X-ray emission from high-redshift miniquasars: self-regulating the population of massive black holes through global warming

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tanaka, Takamitsu; Perna, Rosalba; Haiman, Zoltán.

    2012-10-01

    Observations of high-redshift quasars at z ≳6 imply that supermassive black holes (SMBHs) with masses M≳109 M were in place less than 1 Gyr after the big bang. If these SMBHs assembled from 'seed' BHs left behind by the first stars, then they must have accreted gas at close to the Eddington limit during a large fraction (>rsim 50 per cent) of the time. A generic problem with this scenario, however, is that the mass density in M ˜ 106 M⊙ SMBHs at z ˜ 6 already exceeds the locally observed SMBH mass density by several orders of magnitude; in order to avoid this overproduction, BH seed formation and growth must become significantly less efficient in less massive protogalaxies through some form of feedback, while proceeding unabated in the most massive galaxies that formed first. Using Monte Carlo realizations of the merger and growth history of BHs, we show that X-rays from the earliest accreting BHs can provide such a feedback mechanism, on a global scale. Our calculations paint a self-consistent picture of BH-made climate change, in which the first miniquasars - among them the ancestors of the z ˜ 6 quasar SMBHs - globally warm the intergalactic medium and suppress the formation and growth of subsequent generations of BHs. We present two specific models with global miniquasar feedback that provide excellent agreement with recent estimates of the z = 6 SMBH mass function. For each of these models, we estimate the rate of BH mergers at z > 6 that could be detected by the proposed gravitational-wave observatory eLISA/NGO.

  16. IGMtransmission: Transmission curve computation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harrison, Christopher M.; Meiksin, Avery; Stock, David

    2015-04-01

    IGMtransmission is a Java graphical user interface that implements Monte Carlo simulations to compute the corrections to colors of high-redshift galaxies due to intergalactic attenuation based on current models of the Intergalactic Medium. The effects of absorption due to neutral hydrogen are considered, with particular attention to the stochastic effects of Lyman Limit Systems. Attenuation curves are produced, as well as colors for a wide range of filter responses and model galaxy spectra. Photometric filters are included for the Hubble Space Telescope, the Keck telescope, the Mt. Palomar 200-inch, the SUBARU telescope and UKIRT; alternative filter response curves and spectra may be readily uploaded.

  17. High-redshift quasars in the Cold Dark Matter cosmogony

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Efstathiou, G.; Rees, M.J.

    1988-01-01

    The relationship between high-redshift quasars and the epoch of galaxy formation in the Cold Dark Matter (CDM) cosmogony is investigated. Luminous quasars could only form after galactic sized systems had collapsed. A constant comoving density of luminous quasars between z = 2 and z = 4 is compatible with the CDM model if quasars are short-lived and radiate at about the Eddington limit. However, according to the CDM model the abundance of high-luminosity quasars must decline exponentially at higher redshifts. Even if all protogalaxies form quasars, and about 1 per cent of the baryons within a protogalaxy collapse into a compact object, a steep fall in the density of quasars with L > 10 47 erg s -1 at redshifts z ≥ 5. The existence of a 'cut-off' in the quasar numbers at high redshift could therefore supply an important test of the CDM theory. (author)

  18. DETECTING RELATIVISTIC X-RAY JETS IN HIGH-REDSHIFT QUASARS

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    McKeough, Kathryn [Department of Statistics, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States); Siemiginowska, Aneta; Kashyap, Vinay L.; Lee, N. P.; Harris, D. E.; Schwartz, D. A. [Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States); Cheung, C. C. [Space Science Division, Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC 20375-5352 (United States); Stawarz, Łukasz [Astronomical Observatory, Jagiellonian University, ul. Orla 171, 30-244, Kraków (Poland); Stein, Nathan [Department of Statistics, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, 400 Jon M. Huntsman Hall, 3730 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6340 (United States); Stampoulis, Vasileios; Dyk, David A. van [Statistics Section, Imperial College London, Huxley Building, South Kensington Campus, London SW7 (United Kingdom); Wardle, J. F. C. [Department of Physics, MS 057, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA 02454 (United States); Donato, Davide [CRESST and Astroparticle Physics Laboratory NASA/GSFC, Greenbelt, MD 20771 (United States); Maraschi, Laura; Tavecchio, Fabrizio, E-mail: kathrynmckeough@g.harvard.edu [INAF Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera, via Brera 28, I-20124, Milano (Italy)

    2016-12-10

    We analyze Chandra X-ray images of a sample of 11 quasars that are known to contain kiloparsec scale radio jets. The sample consists of five high-redshift ( z  ≥ 3.6) flat-spectrum radio quasars, and six intermediate redshift (2.1 <  z  < 2.9) quasars. The data set includes four sources with integrated steep radio spectra and seven with flat radio spectra. A total of 25 radio jet features are present in this sample. We apply a Bayesian multi-scale image reconstruction method to detect and measure the X-ray emission from the jets. We compute deviations from a baseline model that does not include the jet, and compare observed X-ray images with those computed with simulated images where no jet features exist. This allows us to compute p -value upper bounds on the significance that an X-ray jet is detected in a pre-determined region of interest. We detected 12 of the features unambiguously, and an additional six marginally. We also find residual emission in the cores of three quasars and in the background of one quasar that suggest the existence of unresolved X-ray jets. The dependence of the X-ray to radio luminosity ratio on redshift is a potential diagnostic of the emission mechanism, since the inverse Compton scattering of cosmic microwave background photons (IC/CMB) is thought to be redshift dependent, whereas in synchrotron models no clear redshift dependence is expected. We find that the high-redshift jets have X-ray to radio flux ratios that are marginally inconsistent with those from lower redshifts, suggesting that either the X-ray emissions are due to the IC/CMB rather than the synchrotron process, or that high-redshift jets are qualitatively different.

  19. Low-redshift Lyman limit systems as diagnostics of cosmological inflows and outflows

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hafen, Zachary; Faucher-Giguère, Claude-André; Anglés-Alcázar, Daniel; Kereš, Dušan; Feldmann, Robert; Chan, T. K.; Quataert, Eliot; Murray, Norman; Hopkins, Philip F.

    2017-08-01

    We use cosmological hydrodynamic simulations with stellar feedback from the FIRE (Feedback In Realistic Environments) project to study the physical nature of Lyman limit systems (LLSs) at z ≤ 1. At these low redshifts, LLSs are closely associated with dense gas structures surrounding galaxies, such as galactic winds, dwarf satellites and cool inflows from the intergalactic medium. Our analysis is based on 14 zoom-in simulations covering the halo mass range Mh ≈ 109-1013 M⊙ at z = 0, which we convolve with the dark matter halo mass function to produce cosmological statistics. We find that the majority of cosmologically selected LLSs are associated with haloes in the mass range 1010 ≲ Mh ≲ 1012 M⊙. The incidence and H I column density distribution of simulated absorbers with columns in the range 10^{16.2} ≤ N_{H I} ≤ 2× 10^{20} cm-2 are consistent with observations. High-velocity outflows (with radial velocity exceeding the halo circular velocity by a factor of ≳ 2) tend to have higher metallicities ([X/H] ˜ -0.5) while very low metallicity ([X/H] standard deviation) [X/H] = -0.9 (0.4) and does not show significant evidence for bimodality, in contrast to recent observational studies, but consistent with LLSs arising from haloes with a broad range of masses and metallicities.

  20. Gas inflow and outflow in an interacting high-redshift galaxy. The remarkable host environment of GRB 080810 at z = 3.35

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wiseman, P.; Perley, D. A.; Schady, P.; Prochaska, J. X.; de Ugarte Postigo, A.; Krühler, T.; Yates, R. M.; Greiner, J.

    2017-11-01

    We reveal multiple components of an interacting galaxy system at z ≈ 3.35 through a detailed analysis of the exquisite high-resolution Keck/HIRES spectrum of the afterglow of a gamma-ray burst (GRB). Through Voigt-profile fitting of absorption lines from the Lyman series, we constrain the neutral hydrogen column density to NH I ≤ 1018.35 cm-2 for the densest of four distinct systems at the host redshift of GRB 080810, which is among the lowest NH I ever observed in a GRB host, even though the line of sight passes within a projected 5 kpc of the galaxy centres. By detailed analysis of the corresponding metal absorption lines, we derive chemical, ionic, and kinematic properties of the individual absorbing systems, and thus build a picture of the host as a whole. Striking differences between the systems imply that the line of sight passes through several phases of gas: the star-forming regions of the GRB host; enriched material in the form of a galactic outflow; the hot and ionised halo of a second interacting galaxy falling towards the host at a line-of-sight velocity of 700 km s-1; and a cool metal-poor cloud that may represent one of the best candidates yet for the inflow of metal-poor gas from the intergalactic medium. The reduced spectrum is only available at the CDS via anonymous ftp to http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (http://130.79.128.5) or via http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr/viz-bin/qcat?J/A+A/607/A107

  1. Filling the Void: A Comprehensive Survey of the Intergalactic Medium at z 1 Using STIS/COS Archival Spectra

    Science.gov (United States)

    Khaire, Vikram

    2017-08-01

    There exists a large void in our understanding of the intergalactic medium (IGM) at z=0.5-1.5, spanning a significant cosmic time of 4 Gyr. This hole resulted from a paucity of near-UV QSO spectra, which were historically very expensive to obtain. However, with the advent of COS and the HST UV initiative, sufficient STIS/COS NUV spectra have finally become available, enabling the first statistical analyses. We propose a comprehensive study of the z 1 IGM using the Ly-alpha forest of 26 archival QSO spectra. This analysis will: (1) measure the distribution of HI absorbers to several percent precision down to log NHI science cases. These results, along with our state-of-the-art hydrodynamical simulations, and theoretical models of the UVB, will fill the 4 Gyr hole in our understanding of the IGM. When combined with existing HST and ground-based data from lower and higher z, they will lead to a complete, empirical description of the IGM from HI reionization to the present, spanning more than 10 Gyr of cosmic history, adding substantially to Hubble's legacy of discovery on the IGM.

  2. The distribution of dark matter, galaxies, and the intergalactic medium in a cold dark matter dominated universe

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ryu, Dongsu; Vishniac, Ethan T.; Chiang, Wei-Hwan

    1988-01-01

    The evolution and distribution of galaxies and the intergalactic medium (IGM) have been studied, along with collisionless dark matter in a Universe dominated by cold dark matter. The Einstein-deSitter universe with omega sub 0 = 1 and h = 0.5 was considered (here h = H sub 0 bar 100/kms/Mpc and H sub 0 is the present value of the Hubble constant). It is assumed that initially dark matter composes 90 pct and baryonic matter composes 10 pct of total mass, and that the primordial baryonic matter is comprised of H and He, with the abundance of He equal to 10 pct of H by number. Galaxies are allowed to form out of the IGM, if the total density and baryonic density satisfy an overdensity criterion. Subsequently, the newly formed galaxies release 10 to the 60th ergs of energy into the IGM over a period of 10 to the 8th years. Calculations have been performed with 32 to the 3rd dark matter particles and 32 to the 3rd cells in a cube with comoving side length L = 9.6/h Mpc. Dark matter particles and galaxies have been followed with an N-body code, while the IGM has been followed with a fluid code.

  3. The distribution of dark matter, galaxies, and the intergalactic medium in a cold dark matter dominated universe

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ryu, Dongsu; Vishniac, Ethan T.; Chiang, Wei-Hwan

    1988-11-01

    The evolution and distribution of galaxies and the intergalactic medium (IGM) have been studied, along with collisionless dark matter in a Universe dominated by cold dark matter. The Einstein-deSitter universe with omega0 = 1 and h = 0.5 was considered (here h = H0 bar 100/kms/Mpc and H0 is the present value of the Hubble constant). It is assumed that initially dark matter composes 90 pct and baryonic matter composes 10 pct of total mass, and that the primordial baryonic matter is comprised of H and He, with the abundance of He equal to 10 pct of H by number. Galaxies are allowed to form out of the IGM, if the total density and baryonic density satisfy an overdensity criterion. Subsequently, the newly formed galaxies release 10 to the 60th ergs of energy into the IGM over a period of 10 to the 8th years. Calculations have been performed with 32 to the 3rd dark matter particles and 32 to the 3rd cells in a cube with comoving side length L = 9.6/h Mpc. Dark matter particles and galaxies have been followed with an N-body code, while the IGM has been followed with a fluid code.

  4. New solution to the problem of the tension between the high-redshift and low-redshift measurements of the Hubble constant

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bolejko, Krzysztof

    2018-01-01

    During my talk I will present results suggesting that the phenomenon of emerging spatial curvature could resolve the conflict between Planck's (high-redshift) and Riess et al. (low-redshift) measurements of the Hubble constant. The phenomenon of emerging spatial curvature is absent in the Standard Cosmological Model, which has a flat and fixed spatial curvature (small perturbations are considered in the Standard Cosmological Model but their global average vanishes, leading to spatial flatness at all times).In my talk I will show that with the nonlinear growth of cosmic structures the global average deviates from zero. As a result, the spatial curvature evolves from spatial flatness of the early universe to a negatively curved universe at the present day, with Omega_K ~ 0.1. Consequently, the present day expansion rate, as measured by the Hubble constant, is a few percent higher compared to the high-redshift constraints. This provides an explanation why there is a tension between high-redshift (Planck) and low-redshift (Riess et al.) measurements of the Hubble constant. In the presence of emerging spatial curvature these two measurements should in fact be different: high redshift measurements should be slightly lower than the Hubble constant inferred from the low-redshift data.The presentation will be based on the results described in arXiv:1707.01800 and arXiv:1708.09143 (which discuss the phenomenon of emerging spatial curvature) and on a paper that is still work in progress but is expected to be posted on arxiv by the AAS meeting (this paper uses mock low-redshift data to show that starting from the Planck's cosmological models (in the early universe) but with the emerging spatial curvature taken into account, the low-redshift Hubble constant should be 72.4 km/s/Mpc.

  5. The MUSE Hubble Ultra Deep Field Survey. II. Spectroscopic redshifts and comparisons to color selections of high-redshift galaxies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Inami, H.; Bacon, R.; Brinchmann, J.; Richard, J.; Contini, T.; Conseil, S.; Hamer, S.; Akhlaghi, M.; Bouché, N.; Clément, B.; Desprez, G.; Drake, A. B.; Hashimoto, T.; Leclercq, F.; Maseda, M.; Michel-Dansac, L.; Paalvast, M.; Tresse, L.; Ventou, E.; Kollatschny, W.; Boogaard, L. A.; Finley, H.; Marino, R. A.; Schaye, J.; Wisotzki, L.

    2017-11-01

    We have conducted a two-layered spectroscopic survey (1' × 1' ultra deep and 3' × 3' deep regions) in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field (HUDF) with the Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE). The combination of a large field of view, high sensitivity, and wide wavelength coverage provides an order of magnitude improvement in spectroscopically confirmed redshifts in the HUDF; i.e., 1206 secure spectroscopic redshifts for Hubble Space Telescope (HST) continuum selected objects, which corresponds to 15% of the total (7904). The redshift distribution extends well beyond z> 3 and to HST/F775W magnitudes as faint as ≈ 30 mag (AB, 1σ). In addition, 132 secure redshifts were obtained for sources with no HST counterparts that were discovered in the MUSE data cubes by a blind search for emission-line features. In total, we present 1338 high quality redshifts, which is a factor of eight increase compared with the previously known spectroscopic redshifts in the same field. We assessed redshifts mainly with the spectral features [O II] at zcolor selection (dropout) diagrams of high-z galaxies. The selection condition for F336W dropouts successfully captures ≈ 80% of the targeted z 2.7 galaxies. However, for higher redshift selections (F435W, F606W, and F775W dropouts), the success rates decrease to ≈ 20-40%. We empirically redefine the selection boundaries to make an attempt to improve them to ≈ 60%. The revised boundaries allow bluer colors that capture Lyα emitters with high Lyα equivalent widths falling in the broadbands used for the color-color selection. Along with this paper, we release the redshift and line flux catalog. Based on observations made with ESO telescopes at the La Silla Paranal Observatory under program IDs 094.A-0289(B), 095.A-0010(A), 096.A-0045(A) and 096.A-0045(B).MUSE Ultra Deep Field redshift catalogs (Full Table A.1) are available at the CDS via anonymous ftp to http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (http://130.79.128.5) or via http

  6. Discovery of 16 New z  ∼ 5.5 Quasars: Filling in the Redshift Gap of Quasar Color Selection

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Yang, Jinyi; Wu, Xue-Bing; Wang, Feige; Yang, Qian; Yue, Minghao; Wang, Shu; Li, Zefeng [Department of Astronomy, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing 100871 (China); Fan, Xiaohui; Jiang, Linhua [Kavli Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Peking University, Beijing 100871 (China); Bian, Fuyan [Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Australian National University, Weston Creek, ACT 2611 (Australia); McGreer, Ian D.; Green, Richard; Ding, Jiani [Steward Observatory, University of Arizona, 933 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721 (United States); Yi, Weimin [Yunnan Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming 650011 (China); Dye, Simon [School of Physics and Astronomy, Nottingham University, University Park, Nottingham, NG7 2RD (United Kingdom); Lawrence, Andy [Institute for Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, Royal Observatory, Blackford Hill, Edinburgh, EH9 3HJ (United Kingdom)

    2017-04-01

    We present initial results from the first systematic survey of luminous z  ∼ 5.5 quasars. Quasars at z ∼ 5.5, the post-reionization epoch, are crucial tools to explore the evolution of intergalactic medium, quasar evolution, and the early super-massive black hole growth. However, it has been very challenging to select quasars at redshifts 5.3 ≤ z ≤ 5.7 using conventional color selections, due to their similar optical colors to late-type stars, especially M dwarfs, resulting in a glaring redshift gap in quasar redshift distributions. We develop a new selection technique for z ∼ 5.5 quasars based on optical, near-IR, and mid-IR photometric data from Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), UKIRT InfraRed Deep Sky Surveys—Large Area Survey (ULAS), VISTA Hemisphere Survey (VHS), and Wide Field Infrared Survey Explorer . From our pilot observations in the SDSS-ULAS/VHS area, we have discovered 15 new quasars at 5.3 ≤ z ≤ 5.7 and 6 new lower redshift quasars, with SDSS z band magnitude brighter than 20.5. Including other two z ∼ 5.5 quasars already published in our previous work, we now construct a uniform quasar sample at 5.3 ≤ z ≤ 5.7, with 17 quasars in a ∼4800 square degree survey area. For further application in a larger survey area, we apply our selection pipeline to do a test selection by using the new wide field J-band photometric data from a preliminary version of the UKIRT Hemisphere Survey (UHS). We successfully discover the first UHS selected z ∼ 5.5 quasar.

  7. Detectability of Gravitational Waves from High-Redshift Binaries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rosado, Pablo A; Lasky, Paul D; Thrane, Eric; Zhu, Xingjiang; Mandel, Ilya; Sesana, Alberto

    2016-03-11

    Recent nondetection of gravitational-wave backgrounds from pulsar timing arrays casts further uncertainty on the evolution of supermassive black hole binaries. We study the capabilities of current gravitational-wave observatories to detect individual binaries and demonstrate that, contrary to conventional wisdom, some are, in principle, detectable throughout the Universe. In particular, a binary with rest-frame mass ≳10^{10}M_{⊙} can be detected by current timing arrays at arbitrarily high redshifts. The same claim will apply for less massive binaries with more sensitive future arrays. As a consequence, future searches for nanohertz gravitational waves could be expanded to target evolving high-redshift binaries. We calculate the maximum distance at which binaries can be observed with pulsar timing arrays and other detectors, properly accounting for redshift and using realistic binary waveforms.

  8. The SPT+Herschel+ALMA+Spitzer Legacy Survey: The stellar content of high redshift strongly lensed systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vieira, Joaquin; Ashby, Matt; Carlstrom, John; Chapman, Scott; DeBreuck, Carlos; Fassnacht, Chris; Gonzalez, Anthony; Phadke, Kedar; Marrone, Dan; Malkan, Matt; Reuter, Cassie; Rotermund, Kaja; Spilker, Justin; Weiss, Axel

    2018-05-01

    The South Pole Telescope (SPT) has systematically identified 90 high-redshift strongly gravitationally lensed submillimeter galaxies (SMGs) in a 2500 square-degree cosmological survey of the millimeter (mm) sky. These sources are selected by their extreme mm flux, which is largely independent of redshift and lensing configuration. We are undertaking a comprehensive and systematic followup campaign to use these "cosmic magnifying glasses" to study the infrared background in unprecedented detail, inform the condition of the interstellar medium in starburst galaxies at high redshift, and place limits on dark matter substructure. Here we ask for 115.4 hours of deep Spitzer/IRAC imaging to complete our survey of 90 systems to a uniform depth of 30min integrations at 3.6um and 60min at 4.5um. In our sample of 90 systems, 16 have already been fully observed, 30 have been partially observed, and 44 have not been observed at all. Our immediate goals are to: 1) constrain the specific star formation rates of the background high-redshift submillimeter galaxies by combining these Spitzer observations with our APEX, Herschel, and ALMA data, 2) robustly determine the stellar masses and mass-to-light ratios of all the foreground lensing galaxies in the sample by combining these observations with our VLT and Gemini data, the Dark Energy Survey, and ALMA; and 3) provide complete, deep, and uniform NIR coverage of our entire sample of lensed systems to characterize the environments of high redshift SMGs, maximize the discovery potential for additional spectacular and rare sources, and prepare for JWST. This program will provide the cornerstone data set for two PhD theses: Kedar Phadke at Illinois will lead the analysis of stellar masses for the background SMGs, and Kaja Rotermund at Dalhousie will lead the analysis of stellar masses for the foreground lenses.

  9. Identifying high-redshift gamma-ray bursts with RATIR

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Littlejohns, O. M.; Butler, N. R. [School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University, AZ 85287 (United States); Cucchiara, A. [Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771 (United States); Watson, A. M.; Lee, W. H.; Richer, M. G.; De Diego, J. A.; Georgiev, L.; González, J.; Román-Zúñiga, C. G. [Instituto de Astronomía, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Apartado Postal 70-264, 04510 México, D. F. (Mexico); Kutyrev, A. S.; Troja, E.; Gehrels, N.; Moseley, H. [NASA, Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771 (United States); Klein, C. R.; Fox, O. D.; Bloom, J. S. [Astronomy Department, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-7450 (United States); Prochaska, J. X.; Ramirez-Ruiz, E. [Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, UCO/Lick Observatory, University of California, 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95064 (United States)

    2014-07-01

    We present a template-fitting algorithm for determining photometric redshifts, z {sub phot}, of candidate high-redshift gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). Using afterglow photometry, obtained by the Reionization and Transients InfraRed (RATIR) camera, this algorithm accounts for the intrinsic GRB afterglow spectral energy distribution, host dust extinction, and the effect of neutral hydrogen (local and cosmological) along the line of sight. We present the results obtained by this algorithm and the RATIR photometry of GRB 130606A, finding a range of best-fit solutions, 5.6 < z {sub phot} < 6.0, for models of several host dust extinction laws (none, the Milky Way, Large Magellanic Clouds, and Small Magellanic Clouds), consistent with spectroscopic measurements of the redshift of this GRB. Using simulated RATIR photometry, we find that our algorithm provides precise measures of z {sub phot} in the ranges of 4 < z {sub phot} ≲ 8 and 9 < z {sub phot} < 10 and can robustly determine when z {sub phot} > 4. Further testing highlights the required caution in cases of highly dust-extincted host galaxies. These tests also show that our algorithm does not erroneously find z {sub phot} < 4 when z {sub sim} > 4, thereby minimizing false negatives and allowing us to rapidly identify all potential high-redshift events.

  10. Identifying high-redshift gamma-ray bursts with RATIR

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Littlejohns, O. M.; Butler, N. R.; Cucchiara, A.; Watson, A. M.; Lee, W. H.; Richer, M. G.; De Diego, J. A.; Georgiev, L.; González, J.; Román-Zúñiga, C. G.; Kutyrev, A. S.; Troja, E.; Gehrels, N.; Moseley, H.; Klein, C. R.; Fox, O. D.; Bloom, J. S.; Prochaska, J. X.; Ramirez-Ruiz, E.

    2014-01-01

    We present a template-fitting algorithm for determining photometric redshifts, z phot , of candidate high-redshift gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). Using afterglow photometry, obtained by the Reionization and Transients InfraRed (RATIR) camera, this algorithm accounts for the intrinsic GRB afterglow spectral energy distribution, host dust extinction, and the effect of neutral hydrogen (local and cosmological) along the line of sight. We present the results obtained by this algorithm and the RATIR photometry of GRB 130606A, finding a range of best-fit solutions, 5.6 < z phot < 6.0, for models of several host dust extinction laws (none, the Milky Way, Large Magellanic Clouds, and Small Magellanic Clouds), consistent with spectroscopic measurements of the redshift of this GRB. Using simulated RATIR photometry, we find that our algorithm provides precise measures of z phot in the ranges of 4 < z phot ≲ 8 and 9 < z phot < 10 and can robustly determine when z phot > 4. Further testing highlights the required caution in cases of highly dust-extincted host galaxies. These tests also show that our algorithm does not erroneously find z phot < 4 when z sim > 4, thereby minimizing false negatives and allowing us to rapidly identify all potential high-redshift events.

  11. Dust in High-Redshift Galaxies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pettini, Max; King, David L.; Smith, Linda J.; Hunstead, Richard W.

    1997-03-01

    Measurements of Zn and Cr abundances in 18 damped Lyα systems (DLAs) at absorption redshifts zabs = 0.692-3.390 (but mostly between zabs ~= 2 and 3) show that metals and dust are much less abundant in high-redshift galaxies than in the Milky Way today. Typically, [Zn/H] ~= -1.2 as Zn tracks Fe closely in Galactic stars of all metallicities and is only lightly depleted onto interstellar grains, we conclude that the overall degree of metal enrichment of damped Lyα galaxies ~13.5 Gyr ago (H0 = 50 km s-1 Mpc-1, q0 = 0.05) was ~1/15 solar. Values of [Cr/Zn] span the range from ~=0 to account correctly, it is possible to misinterpret the clues to early nucleosynthesis provided by nonsolar element ratios.

  12. Observing Interstellar and Intergalactic Magnetic Fields

    Science.gov (United States)

    Han, J. L.

    2017-08-01

    Observational results of interstellar and intergalactic magnetic fields are reviewed, including the fields in supernova remnants and loops, interstellar filaments and clouds, Hii regions and bubbles, the Milky Way and nearby galaxies, galaxy clusters, and the cosmic web. A variety of approaches are used to investigate these fields. The orientations of magnetic fields in interstellar filaments and molecular clouds are traced by polarized thermal dust emission and starlight polarization. The field strengths and directions along the line of sight in dense clouds and cores are measured by Zeeman splitting of emission or absorption lines. The large-scale magnetic fields in the Milky Way have been best probed by Faraday rotation measures of a large number of pulsars and extragalactic radio sources. The coherent Galactic magnetic fields are found to follow the spiral arms and have their direction reversals in arms and interarm regions in the disk. The azimuthal fields in the halo reverse their directions below and above the Galactic plane. The orientations of organized magnetic fields in nearby galaxies have been observed through polarized synchrotron emission. Magnetic fields in the intracluster medium have been indicated by diffuse radio halos, polarized radio relics, and Faraday rotations of embedded radio galaxies and background sources. Sparse evidence for very weak magnetic fields in the cosmic web is the detection of the faint radio bridge between the Coma cluster and A1367. Future observations should aim at the 3D tomography of the large-scale coherent magnetic fields in our Galaxy and nearby galaxies, a better description of intracluster field properties, and firm detections of intergalactic magnetic fields in the cosmic web.

  13. GALAXY CLUSTERS AT HIGH REDSHIFT AND EVOLUTION OF BRIGHTEST CLUSTER GALAXIES

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wen, Z. L.; Han, J. L.

    2011-01-01

    Identification of high-redshift clusters is important for studies of cosmology and cluster evolution. Using photometric redshifts of galaxies, we identify 631 clusters from the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) wide field, 202 clusters from the CFHT deep field, 187 clusters from the Cosmic Evolution Survey (COSMOS) field, and 737 clusters from the Spitzer Wide-area InfraRed Extragalactic Survey (SWIRE) field. The redshifts of these clusters are in the range 0.1 ∼ + - m 3.6 μ m colors of the BCGs are consistent with a stellar population synthesis model in which the BCGs are formed at redshift z f ≥ 2 and evolved passively. The g' - z' and B - m 3.6μm colors of the BCGs at redshifts z > 0.8 are systematically bluer than the passive evolution model for galaxies formed at z f ∼ 2, indicating star formation in high-redshift BCGs.

  14. Close companions to two high-redshift quasars

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    McGreer, Ian D.; Fan, Xiaohui; Bian, Fuyan [Steward Observatory, The University of Arizona, 933 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721-0065 (United States); Strauss, Michael A. [Princeton University Observatory, Peyton Hall, Princeton, NJ 08544 (United States); Haiman, Zoltàn [Department of Astronomy, Columbia University, 550 West 120th Street, New York, NY 10027 (United States); Richards, Gordon T. [Department of Physics, Drexel University, 3141 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104 (United States); Jiang, Linhua [School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287 (United States); Schneider, Donald P., E-mail: imcgreer@as.arizona.edu [Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics and the Institute for Gravitation and the Cosmos, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802 (United States)

    2014-10-01

    We report the serendipitous discoveries of companion galaxies to two high-redshift quasars. SDSS J025617.7+001904 is a z = 4.79 quasar included in our recent survey of faint quasars in the SDSS Stripe 82 region. The initial MMT slit spectroscopy shows excess Lyα emission extending well beyond the quasar's light profile. Further imaging and spectroscopy with LBT/MODS1 confirms the presence of a bright galaxy (i {sub AB} = 23.6) located 2'' (12 kpc projected) from the quasar with strong Lyα emission (EW{sub 0} ≈ 100 Å) at the redshift of the quasar, as well as faint continuum. The second quasar, CFHQS J005006.6+344522 (z = 6.25), is included in our recent HST SNAP survey of z ∼ 6 quasars searching for evidence of gravitational lensing. Deep imaging with ACS and WFC3 confirms an optical dropout ∼4.5 mag fainter than the quasar (Y {sub AB} = 25) at a separation of 0.''9. The red i {sub 775} – Y {sub 105} color of the galaxy and its proximity to the quasar (5 kpc projected if at the quasar redshift) strongly favor an association with the quasar. Although it is much fainter than the quasar, it is remarkably bright when compared to field galaxies at this redshift, while showing no evidence for lensing. Both systems may represent late-stage mergers of two massive galaxies, with the observed light for one dominated by powerful ongoing star formation and for the other by rapid black hole growth. Observations of close companions are rare; if major mergers are primarily responsible for high-redshift quasar fueling then the phase when progenitor galaxies can be observed as bright companions is relatively short.

  15. Infrared-faint radio sources are at high redshifts. Spectroscopic redshift determination of infrared-faint radio sources using the Very Large Telescope

    Science.gov (United States)

    Herzog, A.; Middelberg, E.; Norris, R. P.; Sharp, R.; Spitler, L. R.; Parker, Q. A.

    2014-07-01

    Context. Infrared-faint radio sources (IFRS) are characterised by relatively high radio flux densities and associated faint or even absent infrared and optical counterparts. The resulting extremely high radio-to-infrared flux density ratios up to several thousands were previously known only for high-redshift radio galaxies (HzRGs), suggesting a link between the two classes of object. However, the optical and infrared faintness of IFRS makes their study difficult. Prior to this work, no redshift was known for any IFRS in the Australia Telescope Large Area Survey (ATLAS) fields which would help to put IFRS in the context of other classes of object, especially of HzRGs. Aims: This work aims at measuring the first redshifts of IFRS in the ATLAS fields. Furthermore, we test the hypothesis that IFRS are similar to HzRGs, that they are higher-redshift or dust-obscured versions of these massive galaxies. Methods: A sample of IFRS was spectroscopically observed using the Focal Reducer and Low Dispersion Spectrograph 2 (FORS2) at the Very Large Telescope (VLT). The data were calibrated based on the Image Reduction and Analysis Facility (IRAF) and redshifts extracted from the final spectra, where possible. This information was then used to calculate rest-frame luminosities, and to perform the first spectral energy distribution modelling of IFRS based on redshifts. Results: We found redshifts of 1.84, 2.13, and 2.76, for three IFRS, confirming the suggested high-redshift character of this class of object. These redshifts and the resulting luminosities show IFRS to be similar to HzRGs, supporting our hypothesis. We found further evidence that fainter IFRS are at even higher redshifts. Conclusions: Considering the similarities between IFRS and HzRGs substantiated in this work, the detection of IFRS, which have a significantly higher sky density than HzRGs, increases the number of active galactic nuclei in the early universe and adds to the problems of explaining the formation of

  16. FRB 121102 casts new light on the photon mass

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Luca Bonetti

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available The photon mass, mγ, can in principle be constrained using measurements of the dispersion measures (DMs of fast radio bursts (FRBs, once the FRB redshifts are known. The DM of the repeating FRB 121102 is known to <1%, a host galaxy has now been identified with high confidence, and its redshift, z, has now been determined with high accuracy: z=0.19273(8. Taking into account the plasma contributions to the DM from the Intergalactic medium (IGM and the Milky Way, we use the data on FRB 121102 to derive the constraint mγ≲2.2×10−14 eVc−2 (3.9×10−50 kg. Since the plasma and photon mass contributions to DMs have different redshift dependences, they could in principle be distinguished by measurements of more FRB redshifts, enabling the sensitivity to mγ to be improved.

  17. A high deuterium abundance at redshift z = 0.7.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Webb, J K; Carswell, R F; Lanzetta, K M; Ferlet, R; Lemoine, M; Vidal-Madjar, A; Bowen, D V

    1997-07-17

    Of the light elements, the primordial abundance of deuterium relative to hydrogen, (D/H)p, provides the most sensitive diagnostic for the cosmological mass density parameter, omegaB. Recent high-redshift D/H measurements are highly discrepant, although this may reflect observational uncertainties. The larger primordial D/H values imply a low omegaB (requiring the Universe to be dominated by non-baryonic matter), and cause problems for galactic chemical evolution models, which have difficulty in reproducing the steep decline in D/H to the present-day values. Conversely, the lower D/H values measured at high redshift imply an omegaB greater than that derived from 7Li and 4He abundance measurements, and may require a deuterium-abundance evolution that is too low to easily explain. Here we report the first measurement of D/H at intermediate redshift (z = 0.7010), in a gas cloud selected to minimize observational uncertainties. Our analysis yields a value of D/H ((2.0 +/- 0.5) x 10[-4]) which is at the upper end of the range of values measured at high redshifts. This finding, together with other independent observations, suggests that there may be inhomogeneity in (D/H)p of at least a factor of ten.

  18. An Empirical Determination of the Intergalactic Background Light Using Near-Infrared Deep Galaxy Survey Data Out to 5 Micrometers and the Gamma-Ray Opacity of the Universe

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scully, Sean T.; Malkan, Matthew A.; Stecker, Floyd W.

    2014-01-01

    We extend our previous model-independent determination of the intergalactic background light, based purely on galaxy survey data, out to a wavelength of 5 micrometers. Our approach enables us to constrain the range of photon densities, based on the uncertainties from observationally determined luminosity densities and colors. We further determine a 68% confidence upper and lower limit on the opacity of the universe to gamma-rays up to energies of 1.6/(1 + z) terraelectron volts. A comparison of our lower limit redshift-dependent opacity curves to the opacity limits derived from the results of both ground-based air Cerenkov telescope and Fermi-LAT observations of PKS 1424+240 allows us to place a new upper limit on the redshift of this source, independent of IBL modeling.

  19. Multifrequency survey of the intergalactic cloud in the M96 group

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Schneider, S.E.; Skrutskie, M.F.; Hacking, P.B.; Young, J.S.; Dickman, R.L.

    1989-01-01

    The intergalactic cloud of neutral hydrogen in the M96 group are examined for signs of emission over a wide range of frequencies, from radio waves to X rays. Past or present stellar activity in the gas might have been expected to produce detectable visual infrared, CO, OH, or radio recombination-line emission. None was detected. The limits are used to study physical conditions in the intergalactic gas. In particular, B and V band limits on starlight and IRAS limits on the presence of dust strongly constrain the presence of stars or stellar by-products. However, given the uncertainties about physical conditions in the intergalactic environment, it is difficult to rule out entirely the presence of stellar-processed materials. Results of neutral hydrogen mapping from a large-scale survey of the intergalactic cloud and surrounding region are also presented. These observations confirm that the gas is confined to a large ringlike structure. The simplest interpretation remains that the intergalactic gas in Leo is primordial. 36 references

  20. REDSHIFT EVOLUTION IN THE IRON ABUNDANCE OF THE INTRACLUSTER MEDIUM

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anderson, Michael E.; Bregman, Joel N.; Butler, Suzanne C.; Mullis, C. R.

    2009-01-01

    Clusters of galaxies provide a closed box within which one can determine the chemical evolution of the gaseous baryons with cosmic time. We studied this metallicity evolution in the hot X-ray emitting baryons through an analysis of XMM-Newton observations of 29 galaxy clusters in the redshift range, 0.3 sun = (0.46 ± 0.05) - (0.38 ± 0.03)z. The greatest uncertainty in the evolution comes from poorly constrained metallicities in the highest redshift bin.

  1. Radio polarization properties of quasars and active galaxies at high redshifts

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vernstrom, T.; Gaensler, B. M.; Vacca, V.; Farnes, J. S.; Haverkorn, M.; O'Sullivan, S. P.

    2018-04-01

    We present the largest ever sample of radio polarization properties for z > 4 sources, with 14 sources having significant polarization detections. Using wide-band data from the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array, we obtained the rest-frame total intensity and polarization properties of 37 radio sources, nine of which have spectroscopic redshifts in the range 1 ≤ z ≤ 1.4, with the other 28 having spectroscopic redshifts in the range 3.5 ≤ z ≤ 6.21. Fits are performed for the Stokes I and fractional polarization spectra, and Faraday rotation measures are derived using rotation measure synthesis and QU fitting. Using archival data of 476 polarized sources, we compare high-redshift (z > 3) source properties to a 15 GHz rest-frame luminosity matched sample of low-redshift (z 3 sources and 57 ± 4 rad m-2 for z < 3. Although there is some indication of lower intrinsic rotation measures at high-z possibly due to higher depolarization from the high-density environments, using several statistical tests we detect no significant difference between low- and high-redshift sources. Larger samples are necessary to determine any true physical difference.

  2. Dense magnetized plasma associated with a fast radio burst.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Masui, Kiyoshi; Lin, Hsiu-Hsien; Sievers, Jonathan; Anderson, Christopher J; Chang, Tzu-Ching; Chen, Xuelei; Ganguly, Apratim; Jarvis, Miranda; Kuo, Cheng-Yu; Li, Yi-Chao; Liao, Yu-Wei; McLaughlin, Maura; Pen, Ue-Li; Peterson, Jeffrey B; Roman, Alexander; Timbie, Peter T; Voytek, Tabitha; Yadav, Jaswant K

    2015-12-24

    Fast radio bursts are bright, unresolved, non-repeating, broadband, millisecond flashes, found primarily at high Galactic latitudes, with dispersion measures much larger than expected for a Galactic source. The inferred all-sky burst rate is comparable to the core-collapse supernova rate out to redshift 0.5. If the observed dispersion measures are assumed to be dominated by the intergalactic medium, the sources are at cosmological distances with redshifts of 0.2 to 1 (refs 10 and 11). These parameters are consistent with a wide range of source models. One fast burst revealed circular polarization of the radio emission, but no linear polarization was detected, and hence no Faraday rotation measure could be determined. Here we report the examination of archival data revealing Faraday rotation in the fast radio burst FRB 110523. Its radio flux and dispersion measure are consistent with values from previously reported bursts and, accounting for a Galactic contribution to the dispersion and using a model of intergalactic electron density, we place the source at a maximum redshift of 0.5. The burst has a much higher rotation measure than expected for this line of sight through the Milky Way and the intergalactic medium, indicating magnetization in the vicinity of the source itself or within a host galaxy. The pulse was scattered by two distinct plasma screens during propagation, which requires either a dense nebula associated with the source or a location within the central region of its host galaxy. The detection in this instance of magnetization and scattering that are both local to the source favours models involving young stellar populations such as magnetars over models involving the mergers of older neutron stars, which are more likely to be located in low-density regions of the host galaxy.

  3. HST/COS OBSERVATIONS OF THE QUASAR HE 2347-4342: PROBING THE EPOCH OF He II PATCHY REIONIZATION AT REDSHIFTS z = 2.4-2.9

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shull, J. Michael; France, Kevin; Danforth, Charles W.; Smith, Britton; Tumlinson, Jason

    2010-01-01

    We report ultraviolet spectra of the high-redshift (z em ∼ 2.9) quasar, HE 2347 - 4342, taken by the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS) on the Hubble Space Telescope. Spectra in the G130M (medium resolution, 1135-1440 A) and G140L (low resolution, 1030-2000 A) gratings exhibit patchy Gunn-Peterson absorption in the 303.78 A Lyα line of He II between z = 2.39-2.87 (G140L) and z = 2.74-2.90 (G130M). With COS, we obtain better spectral resolution, higher signal-to-noise ratio (S/N), and better determined backgrounds than previous studies, with sensitivity to abundance fractions x He I I ∼ 0.01 in filaments of the cosmic web. The He II optical depths from COS are higher than those with the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer and range from τ He I I ≤ 0.02 to τ He I I ≥ 5, with a slow recovery in mean optical depth to (τ He I I ) ≤ 2 at z abs ∼ z QSO and minimal 'proximity effect' of flux transmission at the He II edge. We propose a QSO systemic redshift z QSO = 2.904 ± 0.002, some Δz = 0.019 higher than that derived from O I λ1302 emission. Three long troughs (4-10 A or 25-60 Mpc comoving distance) of strong He II absorption between z = 2.75and2.90 are uncharacteristic of the intergalactic medium if He II reionized at z r ∼ 3. Contrary to recent indirect estimates (z r = 3.2 ± 0.2) from H I optical depths, the epoch of He II reionization may extend to z ∼< 2.7.

  4. ON THE REDSHIFT EVOLUTION OF THE Lyα ESCAPE FRACTION AND THE DUST CONTENT OF GALAXIES

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hayes, Matthew; Schaerer, Daniel; Oestlin, Goeran; Mas-Hesse, J. Miguel; Atek, Hakim; Kunth, Daniel

    2011-01-01

    The Lyα emission line has been proven to be a powerful tool for studying evolving galaxies at the highest redshift. However, in order to use Lyα as a physical probe of galaxies, it becomes vital to know the Lyα escape fraction (f Lyα esc ). Unfortunately, due to the resonant nature of Lyα, f Lyα esc may vary unpredictably and requires empirical measurement. Here, we compile Lyα luminosity functions (LFs) between redshifts z = 0 and 8 and, combined with Hα and ultraviolet data, assess how f Lyα esc evolves with redshift. We find a strong upward evolution in f Lyα esc over the range z = 0.3-6, which is well fit by the power law f Lyα esc ∝(1 + z) ξ with ξ = (2.57 +0.19 -0.12 ). This predicts that f Lyα esc should reach unity at z = 11.1. By comparing f Lyα esc and E B-V in individual galaxies we derive an empirical relationship between f Lyα esc and E B-V , which includes resonance scattering and can explain the redshift evolution of f Lyα esc between z = 0 and 6 purely as a function of the evolution in the dust content of galaxies. Beyond z ∼ 6.5, f Lyα esc drops more substantially, an effect attributed to either ionizing photon leakage, or an increase in the neutral gas fraction of the intergalactic medium. While distinguishing between these two scenarios may be extremely challenging, by framing the problem this way we remove the uncertainty of the halo mass from Lyα-based tests of reionization. We finally derive a new method by which to estimate the dust content of galaxies, based purely upon the observed Lyα and UV LFs. These data are characterized by an exponential with an e-folding scale of z EBV ∼ 3.4.

  5. Supergalactic studies. II. Supergalactic distribution of the nearest intergalactic gas clouds

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    de Vaucouleurs, G.; Corwin, H.G. Jr.

    1975-01-01

    The report by Mathewson, Cleary, and Murray that the nearby ''high velocity'' H i clouds, and in particular the Magellanic Stream, are strongly concentrated toward the supergalactic plane is confirmed. The observed concentration within +-30degree from the supergalactic equator of 21 out of 25 clouds in the north galactic hemisphere and 27 out of 31 clouds in the south galactic hemisphere could occur by chance in less than 7 and 3 percent of random samples from a population having a statistically isotropic Poisson distribution. Since the two galactic hemispheres are substantially independent samples, the combined probability of the chance hypothesis is P -3 . It is found that actually the high-velocity clouds are not so much concentrated toward the supergalactic equator (SGE) as toward the equator of the ''Local Cloud'' of galaxies inclined 14degree to the main supergalactic plane. Both galaxies and H i clouds define the same small circle of maximum concentration and exhibit the same standard deviation (15degree) from it, demonstrating closely related space distributions. It is concluded that, with the possible exception of a few of the largest and probably nearest cloud complexes (MS, AC, C), most of the high-velocity clouds are truly intergalactic and associated with the Local Group and nearer groups of galaxies. Half the population in a total sample of 115 nearby galaxies and intergalactic gas coulds is within 11degree from the Local equator, indicating a half-thickness of approx.0.75 Mpc for the Local Cloud. Intergalactic gas clouds have already been identified near 10 of the nearest galaxies (including our Galaxy and the Magellanic Clouds), most within approx.3 Mpc. The estimated space density of intergalactic gas clouds is Napprox. =20--25 Mpc -3 , in approximate agreement with the densities required by the collision theory of ring galaxies

  6. Close Companions to Two High-redshift Quasars

    Science.gov (United States)

    McGreer, Ian D.; Fan, Xiaohui; Strauss, Michael A.; Haiman, Zoltàn; Richards, Gordon T.; Jiang, Linhua; Bian, Fuyan; Schneider, Donald P.

    2014-10-01

    We report the serendipitous discoveries of companion galaxies to two high-redshift quasars. SDSS J025617.7+001904 is a z = 4.79 quasar included in our recent survey of faint quasars in the SDSS Stripe 82 region. The initial MMT slit spectroscopy shows excess Lyα emission extending well beyond the quasar's light profile. Further imaging and spectroscopy with LBT/MODS1 confirms the presence of a bright galaxy (i AB = 23.6) located 2'' (12 kpc projected) from the quasar with strong Lyα emission (EW0 ≈ 100 Å) at the redshift of the quasar, as well as faint continuum. The second quasar, CFHQS J005006.6+344522 (z = 6.25), is included in our recent HST SNAP survey of z ~ 6 quasars searching for evidence of gravitational lensing. Deep imaging with ACS and WFC3 confirms an optical dropout ~4.5 mag fainter than the quasar (Y AB = 25) at a separation of 0.''9. The red i 775 - Y 105 color of the galaxy and its proximity to the quasar (5 kpc projected if at the quasar redshift) strongly favor an association with the quasar. Although it is much fainter than the quasar, it is remarkably bright when compared to field galaxies at this redshift, while showing no evidence for lensing. Both systems may represent late-stage mergers of two massive galaxies, with the observed light for one dominated by powerful ongoing star formation and for the other by rapid black hole growth. Observations of close companions are rare; if major mergers are primarily responsible for high-redshift quasar fueling then the phase when progenitor galaxies can be observed as bright companions is relatively short. Based in part on observations made with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, obtained at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS 5-26555. These observations are associated with programs #12184 and #12493. Observations were also made with the LBT and MMT.

  7. Bimodal star formation - constraints from galaxy colors at high redshift

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wyse, R.F.G.; Silk, J.

    1987-01-01

    The possibility that at early epochs the light from elliptical galaxies is dominated by stars with an initial mass function (IMF) which is deficient in low-mass stars, relative to the solar neighborhood is investigated. V-R colors for the optical counterparts of 3CR radio sources offer the most severe constraints on the models. Reasonable fits are obtained to both the blue, high-redshift colors and the redder, low-redshift colors with a model galaxy which forms with initially equal star formation rates in each of two IMF modes: one lacking low-mass stars, and one with stars of all masses. The net effect is that the time-integrated IMF has twice as many high-mass stars as the solar neighborhood IMF, relative to low mass stars. A conventional solar neighborhood IMF does not simultaneously account for both the range in colors at high redshift and the redness of nearby ellipticals, with any single star formation epoch. Models with a standard IMF require half the stellar population to be formed in a burst at low redshift z of about 1. 38 references

  8. The coevolution of supermassive black holes and massive galaxies at high redshift

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lapi, A.; Raimundo, S.; Aversa, R.; Cai, Z.-Y.; Celotti, A.; De Zotti, G.; Danese, L. [SISSA, Via Bonomea 265, I-34136 Trieste (Italy); Negrello, M. [INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, Vicolo dell' Osservatorio 5, I-35122 Padova (Italy)

    2014-02-20

    We exploit the recent, wide samples of far-infrared (FIR) selected galaxies followed up in X-rays and of X-ray/optically selected active galactic nuclei (AGNs) followed up in the FIR band, along with the classic data on AGNs and stellar luminosity functions at high redshift z ≳ 1.5, to probe different stages in the coevolution of supermassive black holes (BHs) and host galaxies. The results of our analysis indicate the following scenario: (1) the star formation in the host galaxy proceeds within a heavily dust-enshrouded medium at an almost constant rate over a timescale ≲ 0.5-1 Gyr and then abruptly declines due to quasar feedback, over the same timescale; (2) part of the interstellar medium loses angular momentum, reaches the circum-nuclear regions at a rate proportional to the star formation, and is temporarily stored in a massive reservoir/proto-torus wherefrom it can be promptly accreted; (3) the BH grows by accretion in a self-regulated regime with radiative power that can slightly exceed the Eddington limit L/L {sub Edd} ≲ 4, particularly at the highest redshifts; (4) for massive BHs, the ensuing energy feedback at its maximum exceeds the stellar one and removes the interstellar gas, thus stopping the star formation and the fueling of the reservoir; (5) afterward, if the latter has retained enough gas, a phase of supply-limited accretion follows, exponentially declining with a timescale of about two e-folding times. We also discuss how the detailed properties and the specific evolution of the reservoir can be investigated via coordinated, high-resolution observations of star-forming, strongly lensed galaxies in the (sub-)mm band with ALMA and in the X-ray band with Chandra and the next-generation X-ray instruments.

  9. The matter power spectrum from the Ly alpha forest : an optical depth estimate

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Zaroubi, S; Nusser, A; Haehnelt, M; Kim, TS; Viel, M.

    2006-01-01

    We measure the matter power spectrum from 31 Ly alpha spectra spanning the redshift range of 1.6-3.6. The optical depth, tau, for Ly alpha absorption of the intergalactic medium is obtained from the flux using the inversion method of Nusser & Haehnelt. The optical depth is converted to density by

  10. High-Redshift Radio Galaxies from Deep Fields

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    2016-01-27

    Jan 27, 2016 ... High-Redshift Radio Galaxies from Deep Fields ... Here we present results from the deep 150 MHz observations of LBDS-Lynx field, which has been imaged at 327, ... Articles are also visible in Web of Science immediately.

  11. Bulge Growth Through Disc Instabilities in High-Redshift Galaxies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bournaud, Frédéric

    The role of disc instabilities, such as bars and spiral arms, and the associated resonances, in growing bulges in the inner regions of disc galaxies have long been studied in the low-redshift nearby Universe. There it has long been probed observationally, in particular through peanut-shaped bulges (Chap. 14 10.1007/978-3-319-19378-6_14"). This secular growth of bulges in modern disc galaxies is driven by weak, non-axisymmetric instabilities: it mostly produces pseudobulges at slow rates and with long star-formation timescales. Disc instabilities at high redshift (z > 1) in moderate-mass to massive galaxies (1010 to a few 1011 M⊙ of stars) are very different from those found in modern spiral galaxies. High-redshift discs are globally unstable and fragment into giant clumps containing 108-9 M⊙ of gas and stars each, which results in highly irregular galaxy morphologies. The clumps and other features associated to the violent instability drive disc evolution and bulge growth through various mechanisms on short timescales. The giant clumps can migrate inward and coalesce into the bulge in a few 108 years. The instability in the very turbulent media drives intense gas inflows toward the bulge and nuclear region. Thick discs and supermassive black holes can grow concurrently as a result of the violent instability. This chapter reviews the properties of high-redshift disc instabilities, the evolution of giant clumps and other features associated to the instability, and the resulting growth of bulges and associated sub-galactic components.

  12. Absorption by Spinning Dust: A Contaminant for High-redshift 21 cm Observations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Draine, B. T.; Miralda-Escudé, Jordi

    2018-05-01

    Spinning dust grains in front of the bright Galactic synchrotron background can produce a weak absorption signal that could affect measurements of high-redshift 21 cm absorption. At frequencies near 80 MHz where the Experiment to Detect the Global EoR Signature (EDGES) has reported 21 cm absorption at z≈ 17, absorption could be produced by interstellar nanoparticles with radii a≈ 50 \\mathringA in the cold interstellar medium (ISM), with rotational temperature T ≈ 50 K. Atmospheric aerosols could contribute additional absorption. The strength of the absorption depends on the abundance of such grains and on their dipole moments, which are uncertain. The breadth of the absorption spectrum of spinning dust limits its possible impact on measurement of a relatively narrow 21 cm absorption feature.

  13. A supernova origin for dust in a high-redshift quasar.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maiolino, R; Schneider, R; Oliva, E; Bianchi, S; Ferrara, A; Mannucci, F; Pedani, M; Sogorb, M Roca

    2004-09-30

    Interstellar dust plays a crucial role in the evolution of the Universe by assisting the formation of molecules, by triggering the formation of the first low-mass stars, and by absorbing stellar ultraviolet-optical light and subsequently re-emitting it at infrared/millimetre wavelengths. Dust is thought to be produced predominantly in the envelopes of evolved (age >1 Gyr), low-mass stars. This picture has, however, recently been brought into question by the discovery of large masses of dust in the host galaxies of quasars at redshift z > 6, when the age of the Universe was less than 1 Gyr. Theoretical studies, corroborated by observations of nearby supernova remnants, have suggested that supernovae provide a fast and efficient dust formation environment in the early Universe. Here we report infrared observations of a quasar at redshift 6.2, which are used to obtain directly its dust extinction curve. We then show that such a curve is in excellent agreement with supernova dust models. This result demonstrates a supernova origin for dust in this high-redshift quasar, from which we infer that most of the dust at high redshifts probably has the same origin.

  14. The fate of high redshift massive compact galaxies in dense environments

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kaufmann, Tobias; /Zurich, ETH; Mayer, Lucio; /Zurich U.; Carollo, Marcella; /Zurich, ETH; Feldmann, Robert; /Fermilab /Chicago U., KICP

    2012-01-01

    Massive compact galaxies seem to be more common at high redshift than in the local universe, especially in denser environments. To investigate the fate of such massive galaxies identified at z {approx} 2 we analyse the evolution of their properties in three cosmological hydrodynamical simulations that form virialized galaxy groups of mass {approx} 10{sup 13} M{sub {circle_dot}} hosting a central massive elliptical/S0 galaxy by redshift zero. We find that at redshift {approx} 2 the population of galaxies with M{sub *} > 2 x 10{sup 10} M{sub {circle_dot}} is diverse in terms of mass, velocity dispersion, star formation and effective radius, containing both very compact and relatively extended objects. In each simulation all the compact satellite galaxies have merged into the central galaxy by redshift 0 (with the exception of one simulation where one of such satellite galaxy survives). Satellites of similar mass at z = 0 are all less compact than their high redshift counterparts. They form later than the galaxies in the z = 2 sample and enter the group potential at z < 1, when dynamical friction times are longer than the Hubble time. Also, by z = 0 the central galaxies have increased substantially their characteristic radius via a combination of in situ star formation and mergers. Hence in a group environment descendants of compact galaxies either evolve towards larger sizes or they disappear before the present time as a result of the environment in which they evolve. Since the group-sized halos that we consider are representative of dense environments in the {Lambda}CDM cosmology, we conclude that the majority of high redshift compact massive galaxies do not survive until today as a result of the environment.

  15. On the Number of Galaxies at High Redshift

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lorenzo Zaninetti

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available The number of galaxies at a given flux as a function of the redshift, z, is derived when the z-distance relation is non-standard. In order to compare different models, the same formalism is also applied to the standard cosmology. The observed luminosity function for galaxies of the zCOSMOS catalog at different redshifts is modeled by a new luminosity function for galaxies, which is derived by the truncated beta probability density function. Three astronomical tests, which are the photometric maximum as a function of the redshift for a fixed flux, the mean value of the redshift for a fixed flux, and the luminosity function for galaxies as a function of the redshift, compare the theoretical values of the standard and non-standard model with the observed value. The tests are performed on the FORS Deep Field (FDF catalog up to redshift z = 1.5 and on the zCOSMOS catalog extending beyond z = 4. These three tests show minimal differences between the standard and the non-standard models.

  16. BINARY QUASARS AT HIGH REDSHIFT. I. 24 NEW QUASAR PAIRS AT z ∼ 3-4

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hennawi, Joseph F.; Myers, Adam D.; Shen, Yue; Strauss, Michael A.; Djorgovski, S. G.; Glikman, Eilat; Mahabal, Ashish; Fan Xiaohui; Martin, Crystal L.; Richards, Gordon T.; Schneider, Donald P.; Shankar, Francesco

    2010-01-01

    The clustering of quasars on small scales yields fundamental constraints on models of quasar evolution and the buildup of supermassive black holes. This paper describes the first systematic survey to discover high-redshift binary quasars. Using color-selection and photometric redshift techniques, we searched 8142 deg 2 of Sloan Digital Sky Survey imaging data for binary quasar candidates, and confirmed them with follow-up spectroscopy. Our sample of 27 high-redshift binaries (24 of them new discoveries) at redshifts 2.9 perpendicular perpendicular 3.5. The completeness and efficiency of our well-defined selection algorithm are quantified using simulated photometry and we find that our sample is ∼50% complete. Our companion paper uses this knowledge to make the first measurement of the small-scale clustering (R -1 Mpc comoving) of high-redshift quasars. High-redshift binaries constitute exponentially rare coincidences of two extreme (M ∼> 10 9 M sun ) supermassive black holes. At z ∼ 4, there is about one close binary per 10 Gpc 3 , thus these could be the highest sigma peaks, the analogs of superclusters, in the early universe.

  17. Discovery of a z = 7.452 High Equivalent Width Lyα Emitter from the Hubble Space Telescope  Faint Infrared Grism Survey

    Science.gov (United States)

    Larson, Rebecca L.; Finkelstein, Steven L.; Pirzkal, Norbert; Ryan, Russell; Tilvi, Vithal; Malhotra, Sangeeta; Rhoads, James; Finkelstein, Keely; Jung, Intae; Christensen, Lise; Cimatti, Andrea; Ferreras, Ignacio; Grogin, Norman; Koekemoer, Anton M.; Hathi, Nimish; O’Connell, Robert; Östlin, Göran; Pasquali, Anna; Pharo, John; Rothberg, Barry; Windhorst, Rogier A.; The FIGS Team

    2018-05-01

    We present the results of an unbiased search for Lyα emission from continuum-selected 5.6 data set consists of 160 orbits of G102 slitless grism spectroscopy obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope(HST)/WFC3 as part of the Faint Infrared Grism Survey (FIGS; PI: Malhotra), which obtains deep slitless spectra of all sources in four fields, and was designed to minimize contamination in observations of previously identified high-redshift galaxy candidates. The FIGS data can potentially spectroscopically confirm the redshifts of galaxies, and as Lyα emission is resonantly scattered by neutral gas, FIGS can also constrain the ionization state of the intergalactic medium during the epoch of reionization. These data have sufficient depth to detect Lyα emission in this epoch, as Tilvi et al. have published the FIGS detection of previously known Lyα emission at z = 7.51. The FIGS data use five separate roll angles of HST to mitigate the contamination by nearby galaxies. We created a method that accounts for and removes the contamination from surrounding galaxies and also removes any dispersed continuum light from each individual spectrum. We searched for significant (>4σ) emission lines using two different automated detection methods, free of any visual inspection biases. Applying these methods on photometrically selected high-redshift candidates between 5.6 7 (140.3 ± 19.0 Å).

  18. A SEARCH FOR DUST EMISSION IN THE LEO INTERGALACTIC CLOUD

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bot, Caroline; Helou, George; Puget, Jeremie; Latter, William B.; Schneider, Stephen; Terzian, Yervant

    2009-01-01

    We present a search for infrared dust emission associated with the Leo cloud, a large intergalactic cloud in the M96 group. Mid-infrared and far-infrared images were obtained with the InfraRed Array Camera and the Multiband Imaging Photometer for Spitzer on the Spitzer Space Telescope. Our analysis of these maps is done at each wavelength relative to the H I spatial distribution. We observe a probable detection at 8 μm and a marginal detection at 24 μm associated with the highest H I column densities in the cloud. At 70 and 160 μm, upper limits on the dust emission are deduced. The level of the detection is low so that the possibility of a fortuitous cirrus clump or of an overdensity of extragalactic sources along the line of sight cannot be excluded. If this detection is confirmed, the quantities of dust inferred imply a dust-to-gas ratio in the intergalactic cloud up to a few times solar but no less than 1/20 solar. A confirmed detection would therefore exclude the possibility that the intergalactic cloud has a primordial origin. Instead, this large intergalactic cloud could therefore have been formed through interactions between galaxies in the group.

  19. PROPERTIES OF QSO METAL-LINE ABSORPTION SYSTEMS AT HIGH REDSHIFTS: NATURE AND EVOLUTION OF THE ABSORBERS AND NEW EVIDENCE ON ESCAPE OF IONIZING RADIATION FROM GALAXIES

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Boksenberg, Alec [Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 0HA (United Kingdom); Sargent, Wallace L. W., E-mail: boksy@ast.cam.ac.uk [Division of Physics, Mathematics, and Astronomy, California Institute of Technology, 1200 East California Boulevard, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States)

    2015-05-15

    Using Voigt-profile-fitting procedures on Keck High Resolution Spectrograph spectra of nine QSOs, we identify 1099 C IV absorber components clumped in 201 systems outside the Lyman forest over 1.6 ≲ z ≲ 4.4. With associated Si IV, C II, Si II  and N V where available, we investigate the bulk statistical and ionization properties of the components and systems and find no significant change in redshift for C IV and Si IV while C II, Si II  and N V change substantially. The C IV components exhibit strong clustering, but no clustering is detected for systems on scales from 150 km s{sup –1} out to 50,000 km s{sup –1}. We conclude that the clustering is due entirely to the peculiar velocities of gas present in the circumgalactic media of galaxies. Using specific combinations of ionic ratios, we compare our observations with model ionization predictions for absorbers exposed to the metagalactic ionizing radiation background augmented by proximity radiation from their associated galaxies and find that the generally accepted means of radiative escape by transparent channels from the internal star-forming sites is spectrally not viable for our stronger absorbers. We develop an active scenario based on runaway stars with resulting changes in the efflux of radiation that naturally enable the needed spectral convergence, and in turn provide empirical indicators of morphological evolution in the associated galaxies. Together with a coexisting population of relatively compact galaxies indicated by the weaker absorbers in our sample, the collective escape of radiation is sufficient to maintain the intergalactic medium ionized over the full range 1.9 < z ≲ 4.4.

  20. Bounds on Dark Matter annihilations from 21 cm data arXiv

    CERN Document Server

    D'Amico, Guido; Strumia, Alessandro

    The observation of an absorption feature in the 21 cm spectrum at redshift $z\\approx 17$ implies bounds on Dark Matter annihilations for a broad range of masses, given that significant heating of the intergalactic medium would have erased such feature. The resulting bounds on the DM annihilation cross sections are comparable to the strongest ones from all other observables.

  1. COS-burst: Observations of the Impact of Starburst-driven Winds on the Properties of the Circum-galactic Medium

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Heckman, Timothy; Borthakur, Sanchayeeta [Center for Astrophysical Sciences, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218 (United States); Wild, Vivienne [School of Physics and Astronomy, University of St Andrews, St Andrews KY16 9AJ (United Kingdom); Schiminovich, David [Department of Astronomy, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027 (United States); Bordoloi, Rongmon, E-mail: theckma1@jhu.edu [MIT-Kavli Center for Astrophysics and Space Research, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139 (United States)

    2017-09-10

    We report on observations made with the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS) on the Hubble Space Telescope ( HST ) using background quasi-stellar objects to probe the circum-galactic medium (CGM) around 17 low-redshift galaxies that are undergoing or have recently undergone a strong starburst (the COS-Burst program). The sightlines extend out to roughly the virial radius of the galaxy halo. We construct control samples of normal star-forming low-redshift galaxies from the COS/ HST archive that match the starbursts in terms of galaxy stellar mass and impact parameter. We find clear evidence that the CGM around the starbursts differs systematically compared to the control galaxies. The Ly α , Si iii, C iv, and possibly O vi absorption lines are stronger as a function of impact parameter, and the ratios of the equivalent widths of C iv/Ly α and Si iii/Ly α are both higher than in normal star-forming galaxies. We also find that the widths and the velocity offsets (relative to v {sub sys}) of the Ly α absorption lines are significantly larger in the CGM of the starbursts, implying velocities of the absorbing material that are roughly twice the halo virial velocity. We show that these properties can be understood as a consequence of the interaction between a starburst-driven wind and the preexisting CGM. These results underscore the importance of winds driven from intensely star-forming galaxies in helping drive the evolution of galaxies and the intergalactic medium. They also offer a new probe of the properties of starburst-driven winds and of the CGM itself.

  2. Neutral hydrogen in the post-reionization universe

    Science.gov (United States)

    Padmanabhan, Hamsa

    2018-05-01

    The evolution of neutral hydrogen (HI) across redshifts is a powerful probe of cosmology, large scale structure in the universe and the intergalactic medium. Using a data-driven halo model to describe the distribution of HI in the post-reionization universe (z ~ 5 to 0), we obtain the best-fitting parameters from a rich sample of observational data: low redshift 21-cm emission line studies, intermediate redshift intensity mapping experiments, and higher redshift Damped Lyman Alpha (DLA) observations. Our model describes the abundance and clustering of neutral hydrogen across redshifts 0 - 5, and is useful for investigating different aspects of galaxy evolution and for comparison with hydrodynamical simulations. The framework can be applied for forecasting future observations with neutral hydrogen, and extended to the case of intensity mapping with molecular and other line transitions at intermediate redshifts.

  3. Intergalactic Travel Bureau

    Science.gov (United States)

    Koski, Olivia; Rosin, Mark; Guerilla Science Team

    2014-03-01

    The Intergalactic Travel Bureau is an interactive theater outreach experience that engages the public in the incredible possibilities of space tourism. The Bureau is staffed by professional actors, who play the role of space travel agents, and professional astrophysicists, who play the role of resident scientists. Members of the public of all ages were invited to visit with bureau staff to plan the vacation of their dreams-to space. We describe the project's successful nine day run in New York in August 2013. Funded by the American Physical Society Public Outreach and Informing the Public Grants.

  4. ON THE EFFECT OF THE COSMIC MICROWAVE BACKGROUND IN HIGH-REDSHIFT (SUB-)MILLIMETER OBSERVATIONS

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Da Cunha, Elisabete; Groves, Brent; Walter, Fabian; Decarli, Roberto; Rix, Hans-Walter [Max-Planck-Institut fuer Astronomie, Koenigstuhl 17, D-69117 Heidelberg (Germany); Weiss, Axel [Max-Planck-Institut fuer Radioastronomie, Auf dem Huegel 69, D-53121 Bonn (Germany); Bertoldi, Frank [Argelander Institute for Astronomy, University of Bonn, Auf dem Huegel 71, D-53121 Bonn (Germany); Carilli, Chris [National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Pete V. Domenici Array Science Center, P.O. Box O, Socorro, NM 87801 (United States); Daddi, Emanuele; Sargent, Mark [Laboratoire AIM, CEA/DSM-CNRS-Universite Paris Diderot, Irfu/Service d' Astrophysique, CEA Saclay, Orme des Merisiers, F-91191 Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex (France); Elbaz, David; Ivison, Rob [UK Astronomy Technology Centre, Royal Observatory, Blackford Hill, Edinburgh EH9 3HJ (United Kingdom); Maiolino, Roberto [Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, 19 J. J. Thomson Avenue, Cambridge, CB3 0HE (United Kingdom); Riechers, Dominik [Department of Astronomy, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853 (United States); Smail, Ian, E-mail: cunha@mpia.de [Institute for Computational Cosmology, Durham University, South Road, Durham DH1 3LE (United Kingdom)

    2013-03-20

    Modern (sub-)millimeter interferometers enable the measurement of the cool gas and dust emission of high-redshift galaxies (z > 5). However, at these redshifts the cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature is higher, approaching, and even exceeding, the temperature of cold dust and molecular gas observed in the local universe. In this paper, we discuss the impact of the warmer CMB on (sub-)millimeter observations of high-redshift galaxies. The CMB affects the observed (sub-)millimeter dust continuum and the line emission (e.g., carbon monoxide, CO) in two ways: (1) it provides an additional source of (both dust and gas) heating and (2) it is a non-negligible background against which the line and continuum emission are measured. We show that these two competing processes affect the way we interpret the dust and gas properties of high-redshift galaxies using spectral energy distribution models. We quantify these effects and provide correction factors to compute what fraction of the intrinsic dust (and line) emission can be detected against the CMB as a function of frequency, redshift, and temperature. We discuss implications on the derived properties of high-redshift galaxies from (sub-)millimeter data. Specifically, the inferred dust and molecular gas masses can be severely underestimated for cold systems if the impact of the CMB is not properly taken into account.

  5. The Temperature-Density Relation in the Intergalactic Medium at Redshift langzrang = 2.4

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rudie, Gwen C.; Steidel, Charles C.; Pettini, Max

    2012-10-01

    We present new measurements of the temperature-density (T-ρ) relation for neutral hydrogen in the 2.0 law index of (Γ - 1) = 0.15 ± 0.02. Using analytic arguments, these measurements imply an "equation of state" for the IGM at langzrang = 2.4 of the form T=T_0 \\left(\\rho /\\bar{\\rho }\\right)^{\\gamma -1} with a temperature at mean density of T 0 = [1.94 ± 0.05] × 104 K and a power-law index (γ - 1) = 0.46 ± 0.05. Based on data obtained at the W. M. Keck Observatory, which is operated as a scientific partnership among the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and was made possible by the generous financial support of the W. M. Keck Foundation.

  6. DETECTING THE RISE AND FALL OF THE FIRST STARS BY THEIR IMPACT ON COSMIC REIONIZATION

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ahn, Kyungjin [Department of Earth Sciences, Chosun University, Gwangju 501-759 (Korea, Republic of); Iliev, Ilian T. [Astronomy Centre, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Pevensey II Building, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton BN1 9QH (United Kingdom); Shapiro, Paul R.; Mao, Yi [Department of Astronomy and Texas Cosmology Center, University of Texas, Austin, TX 78712-1083 (United States); Mellema, Garrelt [Department of Astronomy and Oskar Klein Centre, Stockholm University, Albanova, SE-10691 Stockholm (Sweden); Koda, Jun, E-mail: kjahn@chosun.ac.kr [Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, Victoria 3122 (Australia)

    2012-09-01

    The intergalactic medium was reionized before redshift z {approx} 6, most likely by starlight which escaped from early galaxies. The very first stars formed when hydrogen molecules (H{sub 2}) cooled gas inside the smallest galaxies, minihalos (MHs) of mass between 10{sup 5} and 10{sup 8} M{sub Sun }. Although the very first stars began forming inside these MHs before redshift z {approx} 40, their contribution has, to date, been ignored in large-scale simulations of this cosmic reionization. Here we report results from the first reionization simulations to include these first stars and the radiative feedback that limited their formation, in a volume large enough to follow the crucial spatial variations that influenced the process and its observability. We show that, while MH stars stopped far short of fully ionizing the universe, reionization began much earlier with MH sources than without, and was greatly extended, which boosts the intergalactic electron-scattering optical depth and the large-angle polarization fluctuations of the cosmic microwave background significantly. This boost should be readily detectable by Planck, although within current Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe uncertainties. If reionization ended as late as z{sub ov} {approx}< 7, as suggested by other observations, Planck will thereby see the signature of the first stars at high redshift, currently undetectable by other probes.

  7. High-Redshift galaxies light from the early universe

    CERN Document Server

    Appenzeller, Immo

    2008-01-01

    This book provides a comprehensive account of the scientific results on high-redshift galaxies accumulated during the past ten years. Apart from summarizing and critically discussing the wealth of observational data, the observational methods which made it possible to study these very distant and extremely faint objects are described in detail. Moreover, the technical feasibilities and physical limitations for existing and for future ground-based and space-based telescopes are discussed. Thus, apart from summarizing the knowledge accumulated so far, the book is designed as a tool for planning future observational and instrumental programs and projects. In view of the potential importance of the observational results of the high-redshift universe for basic physics the book is written for astronomers as well as for physicists without prior astronomical knowledge. For this purpose it contains introductory chapters describing the basic concepts and notations used in modern astronomy and a brief overview of the pr...

  8. THE FIRST HIGH-REDSHIFT QUASAR FROM Pan-STARRS

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Morganson, Eric; De Rosa, Gisella; Decarli, Roberto; Walter, Fabian; Rix, Hans-Walter [Max-Planck-Institut fuer Astronomie, Koenigstuhl 17, 69117 Heidelberg (Germany); Chambers, Ken; Burgett, William; Flewelling, Heather; Hodapp, Klaus; Kaiser, Nick; Magnier, Eugene; Sweeney, Bill; Waters, Christopher [Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI 96822 (United States); McGreer, Ian; Fan, Xiaohui [Steward Observatory, University of Arizona, 933 N Cherry Ave., Tucson, AZ 85721 (United States); Greiner, Jochen [Max-Planck-Institut fuer extraterrestrische Physik, Giessenbachstrasse 1, 85748 Garching (Germany); Price, Paul, E-mail: morganson@mpia.de [Princeton University Observatory, 4 Ivy Lane, Peyton Hall, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544 (United States)

    2012-06-15

    We present the discovery of the first high-redshift (z > 5.7) quasar from the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System 1 (Pan-STARRS1 or PS1). This quasar was initially detected as an i{sub P1} dropout in PS1, confirmed photometrically with the SAO Wide-field InfraRed Camera at Arizona's Multiple Mirror Telescope (MMT) and the Gamma-Ray Burst Optical/Near-Infrared Detector at the MPG 2.2 m telescope in La Silla. The quasar was verified spectroscopically with the MMT Spectrograph, Red Channel and the Cassegrain Twin Spectrograph at the Calar Alto 3.5 m telescope. Its near-infrared spectrum was taken at the Large Binocular Telescope Observatory (LBT) with the LBT Near-Infrared Spectroscopic Utility with Camera and Integral Field Unit for Extragalactic Research. It has a redshift of 5.73, an AB z{sub P1} magnitude of 19.4, a luminosity of 3.8 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup 47} erg s{sup -1}, and a black hole mass of 6.9 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup 9} M{sub Sun }. It is a broad absorption line quasar with a prominent Ly{beta} peak and a very blue continuum spectrum. This quasar is the first result from the PS1 high-redshift quasar search that is projected to discover more than 100 i{sub P1} dropout quasars and could potentially find more than 10 z{sub P1} dropout (z > 6.8) quasars.

  9. THE FIRST HIGH-REDSHIFT QUASAR FROM Pan-STARRS

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Morganson, Eric; De Rosa, Gisella; Decarli, Roberto; Walter, Fabian; Rix, Hans-Walter; Chambers, Ken; Burgett, William; Flewelling, Heather; Hodapp, Klaus; Kaiser, Nick; Magnier, Eugene; Sweeney, Bill; Waters, Christopher; McGreer, Ian; Fan, Xiaohui; Greiner, Jochen; Price, Paul

    2012-01-01

    We present the discovery of the first high-redshift (z > 5.7) quasar from the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System 1 (Pan-STARRS1 or PS1). This quasar was initially detected as an i P1 dropout in PS1, confirmed photometrically with the SAO Wide-field InfraRed Camera at Arizona's Multiple Mirror Telescope (MMT) and the Gamma-Ray Burst Optical/Near-Infrared Detector at the MPG 2.2 m telescope in La Silla. The quasar was verified spectroscopically with the MMT Spectrograph, Red Channel and the Cassegrain Twin Spectrograph at the Calar Alto 3.5 m telescope. Its near-infrared spectrum was taken at the Large Binocular Telescope Observatory (LBT) with the LBT Near-Infrared Spectroscopic Utility with Camera and Integral Field Unit for Extragalactic Research. It has a redshift of 5.73, an AB z P1 magnitude of 19.4, a luminosity of 3.8 × 10 47 erg s –1 , and a black hole mass of 6.9 × 10 9 M ☉ . It is a broad absorption line quasar with a prominent Lyβ peak and a very blue continuum spectrum. This quasar is the first result from the PS1 high-redshift quasar search that is projected to discover more than 100 i P1 dropout quasars and could potentially find more than 10 z P1 dropout (z > 6.8) quasars.

  10. Spectroscopy of 10 γ -Ray BL Lac Objects at High Redshift

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Paiano, Simona; Falomo, Renato [INAF, Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, Vicolo dell’Osservatorio 5, I-35122 Padova (Italy); Landoni, Marco [INAF, Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera, Via E. Bianchi 46, I-23807 Merate (Italy); Treves, Aldo [Università degli Studi dell’Insubria, Via Valleggio 11, I-22100 Como (Italy); Scarpa, Riccardo [Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias, C/O Via Lactea, s/n E-38205 La Laguna, Tenerife (Spain)

    2017-08-01

    We present optical spectra with high signal-to-noise ratio of 10 BL Lac objects detected at GeV energies by the Fermi satellite (3FGL catalog), which previous observations suggested are at relatively high redshift. The new observations, obtained at the 10 m Gran Telescopio Canarias, allowed us to find the redshift for J0814.5+2943 ( z = 0.703), and we can set a spectroscopic lower limit for J0008.0+4713 ( z > 1.659) and J1107.7+0222 ( z > 1.0735) on the basis of Mg ii intervening absorption features. In addition we confirm the redshifts for J0505.5+0416 ( z = 0.423) and J1450+5200 ( z > 2.470). Finally we contradict the previous z estimates for five objects (J0049.7+0237, J0243.5+7119, J0802.0+1005, J1109.4+2411, and J2116.1+3339).

  11. Observations of High-Redshift X-Ray Selected Clusters with the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Array

    Science.gov (United States)

    Muchovej, Stephen; Carlstrom, John E.; Cartwright, John; Greer, Christopher; Hawkins, David; Hennessey, Ryan; Joy, Marshall; Lamb, James; Leitch, Erik M.; Loh, Michael; hide

    2006-01-01

    We report measurements of the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) effect in three high redshift (0.89 less than or equal to z less than or equal to 1.03), X-ray selected galaxy clusters. The observations were obtained at 30 GHz during the commissioning period of a new, eight-element interferometer - the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Array (SZA) - built for dedicated SZ effect observations. The SZA observations are sensitive to angular scales larger than those subtended by the virial radii of the clusters. Assuming isothermality and hydrostatic equilibrium for the intracluster medium, and gas-mass fractions consistent with those for clusters at moderate redshift, we calculate electron temperatures, gas masses, and total cluster masses from the SZ data. The SZ-derived masses, integrated approximately to the virial radii, are 1.9 (sup +0.5)(sub -0.4) x 10(exp 14) solar mass for Cl J1415.1+3612, 3.4 (sup +0.6)(sub -0.5) x 10(exp 14) solar mass for Cl J1429.0+4241 and 7.2 (sup +1.3)(sub -0.9) x 10(exp 14) solar mass for Cl J1226.9+3332. The SZ-derived quantities are in good agreement with the cluster properties derived from X-ray measurements.

  12. Millimeter Astronomy at High Redshift

    Science.gov (United States)

    Decarli, Roberto

    2017-11-01

    Our understanding of galaxy formation and evolution critically depends on our ability of exposing the properties of the gaseous content of galaxies throughout cosmic history: how much gas is there, in which phase (ionized, atomic, molecular?), in which physical conditions (temperature, density), how efficiently does it turn into stars? We are now entering an exciting era where these questions can be addressed via observations of various gas tracers, especially at mm and sub-mm wavelengths. I will review how to observe various gas phases at high redshift, and discuss lessons we have learned so far from campaigns aimed at characterizing the gas content in galaxies in various cosmic epochs.

  13. High-redshift SDSS Quasars with Weak Emission Lines

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Diamond-Stanic, Aleksandar M.; Fan, Xiaohui; Brandt, W. N.

    2009-01-01

    We identify a sample of 74 high-redshift quasars (z > 3) with weak emission lines from the Fifth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and present infrared, optical, and radio observations of a subsample of four objects at z > 4. These weak emission-line quasars (WLQs) constitute a promine...

  14. Leveraging 3D-HST Grism Redshifts to Quantify Photometric Redshift Performance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bezanson, Rachel; Wake, David A.; Brammer, Gabriel B.; van Dokkum, Pieter G.; Franx, Marijn; Labbé, Ivo; Leja, Joel; Momcheva, Ivelina G.; Nelson, Erica J.; Quadri, Ryan F.; Skelton, Rosalind E.; Weiner, Benjamin J.; Whitaker, Katherine E.

    2016-05-01

    We present a study of photometric redshift accuracy in the 3D-HST photometric catalogs, using 3D-HST grism redshifts to quantify and dissect trends in redshift accuracy for galaxies brighter than JH IR > 24 with an unprecedented and representative high-redshift galaxy sample. We find an average scatter of 0.0197 ± 0.0003(1 + z) in the Skelton et al. photometric redshifts. Photometric redshift accuracy decreases with magnitude and redshift, but does not vary monotonically with color or stellar mass. The 1σ scatter lies between 0.01 and 0.03 (1 + z) for galaxies of all masses and colors below z 2), dusty star-forming galaxies for which the scatter increases to ˜0.1 (1 + z). We find that photometric redshifts depend significantly on galaxy size; the largest galaxies at fixed magnitude have photo-zs with up to ˜30% more scatter and ˜5 times the outlier rate. Although the overall photometric redshift accuracy for quiescent galaxies is better than that for star-forming galaxies, scatter depends more strongly on magnitude and redshift than on galaxy type. We verify these trends using the redshift distributions of close pairs and extend the analysis to fainter objects, where photometric redshift errors further increase to ˜0.046 (1 + z) at {H}F160W=26. We demonstrate that photometric redshift accuracy is strongly filter dependent and quantify the contribution of multiple filter combinations. We evaluate the widths of redshift probability distribution functions and find that error estimates are underestimated by a factor of ˜1.1-1.6, but that uniformly broadening the distribution does not adequately account for fitting outliers. Finally, we suggest possible applications of these data in planning for current and future surveys and simulate photometric redshift performance in the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, Dark Energy Survey (DES), and combined DES and Vista Hemisphere surveys.

  15. Population III Stars and Remnants in High-redshift Galaxies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Hao; Wise, John H.; Norman, Michael L.

    2013-08-01

    Recent simulations of Population III star formation have suggested that some fraction form in binary systems, in addition to having a characteristic mass of tens of solar masses. The deaths of metal-free stars result in the initial chemical enrichment of the universe and the production of the first stellar-mass black holes. Here we present a cosmological adaptive mesh refinement simulation of an overdense region that forms a few 109 M ⊙ dark matter halos and over 13,000 Population III stars by redshift 15. We find that most halos do not form Population III stars until they reach M vir ~ 107 M ⊙ because this biased region is quickly enriched from both Population III and galaxies, which also produce high levels of ultraviolet radiation that suppress H2 formation. Nevertheless, Population III stars continue to form, albeit in more massive halos, at a rate of ~10-4 M ⊙ yr-1 Mpc-3 at redshift 15. The most massive starless halo has a mass of 7 × 107 M ⊙, which could host massive black hole formation through the direct gaseous collapse scenario. We show that the multiplicity of the Population III remnants grows with halo mass above 108 M ⊙, culminating in 50 remnants located in 109 M ⊙ halos on average. This has implications that high-mass X-ray binaries and intermediate-mass black holes that originate from metal-free stars may be abundant in high-redshift galaxies.

  16. Probing the very-high-energy gamma-ray spectral curvature in the blazar PG 1553+113 with the MAGIC telescopes

    CERN Document Server

    Aleksić, J.; Antonelli, L A; Antoranz, P; Babic, A; Bangale, P; Barrio, J A; González, J Becerra; Bednarek, W; Bernardini, E; Biasuzzi, B; Biland, A; Blanch, O; Bonnefoy, S; Bonnoli, G; Borracci, F; Bretz, T; Carmona, E; Carosi, A; Colin, P; Colombo, E; Contreras, J.L; Cortina, J; Covino, S; Da Vela, P; Dazzi, F; De Angelis, A; De Caneva, G; De Lotto, B; Wilhelmi, E de Oña; Mendez, C Delgado; Prester, D Dominis; Dorner, D; Doro, M; Einecke, S; Eisenacher, D; Elsaesser, D; Fidalgo, D; Fonseca, M.V; Font, L; Frantzen, K; Fruck, C; Galindo, D; López, R J García; Garczarczyk, M; Terrats, D Garrido; Gaug, M; Godinović, N; Muñoz, A González; Gozzini, S R; Hadasch, D; Hanabata, Y; Hayashida, M; Herrera, J; Hose, J; Hrupec, D; Idec, W; Kadenius, V; Kellermann, H; Knoetig, M L; Kodani, K; Konno, Y; Krause, J; Kubo, H; Kushida, J; La Barbera, A; Lelas, D; Lewandowska, N; Lindfors, E; Lombardi, S; Longo, F; López, M; López-Coto, R; López-Oramas, A; Lorenz, E; Lozano, I; Makariev, M; Mallot, K; Maneva, G; Mannheim, K; Maraschi, L; Marcote, B; Mariotti, M; Martínez, M; Mazin, D; Menzel, U; Miranda, J M; Mirzoyan, R; Moralejo, A; Munar-Adrover, P; Nakajima, D; Neustroev, V; Niedzwiecki, A; Nilsson, K; Nishijima, K; Noda, K; Orito, R; Overkemping, A; Paiano, S; Palatiello, M; Paneque, D; Paoletti, R; Paredes, J M; Paredes-Fortuny, X; Persic, M; Poutanen, J; Moroni, P G Prada; Prandini, E; Puljak, I; Reinthal, R; Rhode, W; Ribó, M; Rico, J; Garcia, J Rodriguez; Rügamer, S; Saito, T; Saito, K; Satalecka, K; Scalzotto, V; Scapin, V; Schultz, C; Schweizer, T; Sillanpää, A; Sitarek, J; Snidaric, I; Sobczynska, D; Spanier, F; Stamerra, A; Steinbring, T; Storz, J; Strzys, M; Takalo, L; Takami, H; Tavecchio, F; Temnikov, P; Terzić, T; Tescaro, D; Teshima, M; Thaele, J; Tibolla, O; Torres, D F; Toyama, T; Treves, A; Vogler, P; Will, M; Zanin, R; D'Ammando, F; Lähteenmäki, A; Tornikoski, M; Hovatta, T; Readhead, A C S; Max-Moerbeck, W; Richards, J.L

    2015-01-01

    PG 1553+113 is a very-high-energy (VHE, E>100 GeV) gamma-ray emitter classified as a BL Lac object. Its redshift is constrained by intergalactic absorption lines in the range 0.40.2). The observed curvature is compatible with the extragalactic background light (EBL) imprint predicted by the current generation of EBL models assuming a redshift z~0.4. New constraints on the redshift were derived from the VHE spectrum. These constraints are compatible with previous limits and suggest that the source is most likely located around the optical lower limit, z=0.4. Finally, we find that the synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) model gives a satisfactory description of the observed multi-wavelength spectral energy distribution during the flare.

  17. New limits on 21 cm epoch of reionization from paper-32 consistent with an x-ray heated intergalactic medium at z = 7.7

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Parsons, Aaron R.; Liu, Adrian; Ali, Zaki S.; Pober, Jonathan C. [Astronomy Department, University of California, Berkeley, CA (United States); Aguirre, James E.; Moore, David F. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA (United States); Bradley, Richard F. [Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA (United States); Carilli, Chris L. [National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Socorro, NM (United States); DeBoer, David R.; Dexter, Matthew R.; MacMahon, David H. E. [Radio Astronomy Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, CA (United States); Gugliucci, Nicole E. [Department of Astronomy, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA (United States); Jacobs, Daniel C. [School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ (United States); Klima, Pat [National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Charlottesville, VA (United States); Manley, Jason R.; Walbrugh, William P. [Square Kilometer Array, South Africa Project, Cape Town (South Africa); Stefan, Irina I. [Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge (United Kingdom)

    2014-06-20

    We present new constraints on the 21 cm Epoch of Reionization (EoR) power spectrum derived from three months of observing with a 32 antenna, dual-polarization deployment of the Donald C. Backer Precision Array for Probing the Epoch of Reionization in South Africa. In this paper, we demonstrate the efficacy of the delay-spectrum approach to avoiding foregrounds, achieving over eight orders of magnitude of foreground suppression (in mK{sup 2}). Combining this approach with a procedure for removing off-diagonal covariances arising from instrumental systematics, we achieve a best 2σ upper limit of (41 mK){sup 2} for k = 0.27 h Mpc{sup –1} at z = 7.7. This limit falls within an order of magnitude of the brighter predictions of the expected 21 cm EoR signal level. Using the upper limits set by these measurements, we generate new constraints on the brightness temperature of 21 cm emission in neutral regions for various reionization models. We show that for several ionization scenarios, our measurements are inconsistent with cold reionization. That is, heating of the neutral intergalactic medium (IGM) is necessary to remain consistent with the constraints we report. Hence, we have suggestive evidence that by z = 7.7, the H I has been warmed from its cold primordial state, probably by X-rays from high-mass X-ray binaries or miniquasars. The strength of this evidence depends on the ionization state of the IGM, which we are not yet able to constrain. This result is consistent with standard predictions for how reionization might have proceeded.

  18. New limits on 21 cm epoch of reionization from paper-32 consistent with an x-ray heated intergalactic medium at z = 7.7

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Parsons, Aaron R.; Liu, Adrian; Ali, Zaki S.; Pober, Jonathan C.; Aguirre, James E.; Moore, David F.; Bradley, Richard F.; Carilli, Chris L.; DeBoer, David R.; Dexter, Matthew R.; MacMahon, David H. E.; Gugliucci, Nicole E.; Jacobs, Daniel C.; Klima, Pat; Manley, Jason R.; Walbrugh, William P.; Stefan, Irina I.

    2014-01-01

    We present new constraints on the 21 cm Epoch of Reionization (EoR) power spectrum derived from three months of observing with a 32 antenna, dual-polarization deployment of the Donald C. Backer Precision Array for Probing the Epoch of Reionization in South Africa. In this paper, we demonstrate the efficacy of the delay-spectrum approach to avoiding foregrounds, achieving over eight orders of magnitude of foreground suppression (in mK 2 ). Combining this approach with a procedure for removing off-diagonal covariances arising from instrumental systematics, we achieve a best 2σ upper limit of (41 mK) 2 for k = 0.27 h Mpc –1 at z = 7.7. This limit falls within an order of magnitude of the brighter predictions of the expected 21 cm EoR signal level. Using the upper limits set by these measurements, we generate new constraints on the brightness temperature of 21 cm emission in neutral regions for various reionization models. We show that for several ionization scenarios, our measurements are inconsistent with cold reionization. That is, heating of the neutral intergalactic medium (IGM) is necessary to remain consistent with the constraints we report. Hence, we have suggestive evidence that by z = 7.7, the H I has been warmed from its cold primordial state, probably by X-rays from high-mass X-ray binaries or miniquasars. The strength of this evidence depends on the ionization state of the IGM, which we are not yet able to constrain. This result is consistent with standard predictions for how reionization might have proceeded.

  19. THE FOURSTAR GALAXY EVOLUTION SURVEY (ZFOURGE): ULTRAVIOLET TO FAR-INFRARED CATALOGS, MEDIUM-BANDWIDTH PHOTOMETRIC REDSHIFTS WITH IMPROVED ACCURACY, STELLAR MASSES, AND CONFIRMATION OF QUIESCENT GALAXIES TO z ∼ 3.5

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Straatman, Caroline M. S.; Labbé, Ivo; Van Houdt, Josha; Spitler, Lee R.; Cowley, Michael; Quadri, Ryan F.; Papovich, Casey; Tran, Kim-Vy H.; Tomczak, Adam; Alcorn, Leo; Broussard, Adam; Forrest, Ben; Kawinwanichakij, Lalitwadee; Glazebrook, Karl; Nanayakkara, Themiya; Allen, Rebecca; Kacprzak, Glenn G.; Persson, S. Eric; Brammer, Gabriel B.; Van Dokkum, Pieter

    2016-01-01

    The FourStar galaxy evolution survey (ZFOURGE) is a 45 night legacy program with the FourStar near-infrared camera on Magellan and one of the most sensitive surveys to date. ZFOURGE covers a total of 400 arcmin 2 in cosmic fields CDFS, COSMOS and UDS, overlapping CANDELS. We present photometric catalogs comprising >70,000 galaxies, selected from ultradeep K s -band detection images (25.5–26.5 AB mag, 5 σ , total), and >80% complete to K s < 25.3–25.9 AB. We use 5 near-IR medium-bandwidth filters ( J 1 , J 2 , J 3 , H s , H l ) as well as broad-band K s at 1.05–2.16 μ m to 25–26 AB at a seeing of ∼0.″5. Each field has ancillary imaging in 26–40 filters at 0.3–8 μ m. We derive photometric redshifts and stellar population properties. Comparing with spectroscopic redshifts indicates a photometric redshift uncertainty σ z = 0.010, 0.009, and 0.011 in CDFS, COSMOS, and UDS. As spectroscopic samples are often biased toward bright and blue sources, we also inspect the photometric redshift differences between close pairs of galaxies, finding σ z ,pairs = 0.01–0.02 at 1 < z < 2.5. We quantify how σ z ,pairs depends on redshift, magnitude, spectral energy distribution type, and the inclusion of FourStar medium bands. σ z ,pairs is smallest for bright, blue star-forming samples, while red star-forming galaxies have the worst σ z ,pairs . Including FourStar medium bands reduces σ z ,pairs by 50% at 1.5 < z < 2.5. We calculate star formation rates (SFRs) based on ultraviolet and ultradeep far-IR Spitzer /MIPS and Herschel /PACS data. We derive rest-frame U − V and V − J colors, and illustrate how these correlate with specific SFR and dust emission to z = 3.5. We confirm the existence of quiescent galaxies at z ∼ 3, demonstrating their SFRs are suppressed by > ×15.

  20. Science from the Avo 1ST Light: the High Redshift Universe

    Science.gov (United States)

    Walton, Nicholas A.

    The Astrophysical Virtual Observatory science working group defined a number of key science drivers for which the AVO should develop capabilities. At the AVO's Jan 2003 'First Light' event the AVO prototype data access and manipulation tool was demonstrated. In particular its use in enabling discovery in deep multi wavelength data sets was highlighted. In this presentation I will describe how the AVO demonstrator has enabled investigation into the high redshift universe and in particular its use in discovering rare populations of high redshift galaxies from deep Hubble and ground based imaging data obtained through the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey (GOODS) programme.

  1. An 800-million-solar-mass black hole in a significantly neutral Universe at a redshift of 7.5.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bañados, Eduardo; Venemans, Bram P; Mazzucchelli, Chiara; Farina, Emanuele P; Walter, Fabian; Wang, Feige; Decarli, Roberto; Stern, Daniel; Fan, Xiaohui; Davies, Frederick B; Hennawi, Joseph F; Simcoe, Robert A; Turner, Monica L; Rix, Hans-Walter; Yang, Jinyi; Kelson, Daniel D; Rudie, Gwen C; Winters, Jan Martin

    2018-01-25

    Quasars are the most luminous non-transient objects known and as a result they enable studies of the Universe at the earliest cosmic epochs. Despite extensive efforts, however, the quasar ULAS J1120 + 0641 at redshift z = 7.09 has remained the only one known at z > 7 for more than half a decade. Here we report observations of the quasar ULAS J134208.10 + 092838.61 (hereafter J1342 + 0928) at redshift z = 7.54. This quasar has a bolometric luminosity of 4 × 10 13 times the luminosity of the Sun and a black-hole mass of 8 × 10 8 solar masses. The existence of this supermassive black hole when the Universe was only 690 million years old-just five per cent of its current age-reinforces models of early black-hole growth that allow black holes with initial masses of more than about 10 4 solar masses or episodic hyper-Eddington accretion. We see strong evidence of absorption of the spectrum of the quasar redwards of the Lyman α emission line (the Gunn-Peterson damping wing), as would be expected if a significant amount (more than 10 per cent) of the hydrogen in the intergalactic medium surrounding J1342 + 0928 is neutral. We derive such a significant fraction of neutral hydrogen, although the exact fraction depends on the modelling. However, even in our most conservative analysis we find a fraction of more than 0.33 (0.11) at 68 per cent (95 per cent) probability, indicating that we are probing well within the reionization epoch of the Universe.

  2. High-Redshift Quasars Found in Sloan Digital Sky Survey Commissioning Data. II. The Spring Equatorial Stripe

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fan, Xiaohui; Strauss, Michael A.; Schneider, Donald P.; Gunn, James E.; Lupton, Robert H.; Anderson, Scott F.; Voges, Wolfgang; Margon, Bruce; Annis, James; Bahcall, Neta A.

    2000-01-01

    This is the second paper in a series aimed at finding high-redshift quasars from five-color (u ' g ' r ' i ' z ' ) imaging data taken along the Celestial Equator by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) during its commissioning phase. In this paper, we present 22 high-redshift quasars (z>3.6) discovered from ∼250 deg2 of data in the spring Equatorial Stripe, plus photometry for two previously known high-redshift quasars in the same region of the sky. Our success rate in identifying high-redshift quasars is 68%. Five of the newly discovered quasars have redshifts higher than 4.6 (z=4.62, 4.69, 4.70, 4.92, and 5.03). All the quasars have i * B 0 =0.5). Several of the quasars show unusual emission and absorption features in their spectra, including an object at z=4.62 without detectable emission lines, and a broad absorption line (BAL) quasar at z=4.92. (c) (c) 2000. The American Astronomical Society

  3. Constraining omega from X-ray properties of clusters of galaxies at high redshifts

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sadat, R.; Blanchard, A.; Oukbir, J.

    1997-01-01

    Properties of high redshift clusters are a fundamental source of information for cosmology. It has been shown by Oukbir and Blanchard (1997) that the combined knowledge of the redshift distribution of X-ray clusters of galaxies and the luminosity-temperature correlation, L-X - T-X, provides a pow...

  4. THE DEEP2 GALAXY REDSHIFT SURVEY: DESIGN, OBSERVATIONS, DATA REDUCTION, AND REDSHIFTS

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Newman, Jeffrey A.; Cooper, Michael C.; Davis, Marc; Faber, S. M.; Guhathakurta, Puragra; Koo, David C.; Phillips, Andrew C.; Conroy, Charlie; Harker, Justin J.; Lai, Kamson; Coil, Alison L.; Dutton, Aaron A.; Finkbeiner, Douglas P.; Gerke, Brian F.; Rosario, David J.; Weiner, Benjamin J.; Willmer, C. N. A.; Yan Renbin; Kassin, Susan A.; Konidaris, N. P.

    2013-01-01

    We describe the design and data analysis of the DEEP2 Galaxy Redshift Survey, the densest and largest high-precision redshift survey of galaxies at z ∼ 1 completed to date. The survey was designed to conduct a comprehensive census of massive galaxies, their properties, environments, and large-scale structure down to absolute magnitude M B = –20 at z ∼ 1 via ∼90 nights of observation on the Keck telescope. The survey covers an area of 2.8 deg 2 divided into four separate fields observed to a limiting apparent magnitude of R AB = 24.1. Objects with z ∼ 0.7 to be targeted ∼2.5 times more efficiently than in a purely magnitude-limited sample. Approximately 60% of eligible targets are chosen for spectroscopy, yielding nearly 53,000 spectra and more than 38,000 reliable redshift measurements. Most of the targets that fail to yield secure redshifts are blue objects that lie beyond z ∼ 1.45, where the [O II] 3727 Å doublet lies in the infrared. The DEIMOS 1200 line mm –1 grating used for the survey delivers high spectral resolution (R ∼ 6000), accurate and secure redshifts, and unique internal kinematic information. Extensive ancillary data are available in the DEEP2 fields, particularly in the Extended Groth Strip, which has evolved into one of the richest multiwavelength regions on the sky. This paper is intended as a handbook for users of the DEEP2 Data Release 4, which includes all DEEP2 spectra and redshifts, as well as for the DEEP2 DEIMOS data reduction pipelines. Extensive details are provided on object selection, mask design, biases in target selection and redshift measurements, the spec2d two-dimensional data-reduction pipeline, the spec1d automated redshift pipeline, and the zspec visual redshift verification process, along with examples of instrumental signatures or other artifacts that in some cases remain after data reduction. Redshift errors and catastrophic failure rates are assessed through more than 2000 objects with duplicate

  5. Probing the bias of radio sources at high redshift

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Passmoor, S

    2012-11-01

    Full Text Available The relationship between the clustering of dark matter and that of luminous matter is often described using the bias parameter. Here, we provide a new method to probe the bias of intermediate-to-high-redshift radio continuum sources for which...

  6. Probing black hole accretion in quasar pairs at high redshift

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vignali, C.; Piconcelli, E.; Perna, M.; Hennawi, J.; Gilli, R.; Comastri, A.; Zamorani, G.; Dotti, M.; Mathur, S.

    2018-06-01

    Models and observations suggest that luminous quasar activity is triggered by mergers, so it should preferentially occur in the most massive primordial dark matter haloes, where the frequency of mergers is expected to be the highest. Since the importance of galaxy mergers increases with redshift, we identify the high-redshift Universe as the ideal laboratory for studying dual AGN. Here, we present the X-ray properties of two systems of dual quasars at z = 3.0-3.3 selected from the SDSS DR6 at separations of 6-8 arcsec (43-65 kpc) and observed by Chandra for ≈65 ks each. Both members of each pair are detected with good photon statistics to allow us to constrain the column density, spectral slope and intrinsic X-ray luminosity. We also include a recently discovered dual quasar at z = 5 (separation of 21 arcsec, 136 kpc) for which XMM-Newton archival data allow us to detect the two components separately. Using optical spectra we derived bolometric luminosities, BH masses and Eddington ratios that were compared to those of luminous SDSS quasars in the same redshift ranges. We find that the brighter component of both quasar pairs at z ≈ 3.0-3.3 has high luminosities compared to the distribution of SDSS quasars at similar redshift, with J1622A having an order magnitude higher luminosity than the median. This source lies at the luminous end of the z ≈ 3.3 quasar luminosity function. While we cannot conclusively state that the unusually high luminosities of our sources are related to their having a close companion, for J1622A there is only a 3 per cent probability that it is by chance.

  7. Probing black hole accretion in quasar pairs at high redshift

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vignali, C.; Piconcelli, E.; Perna, M.; Hennawi, J.; Gilli, R.; Comastri, A.; Zamorani, G.; Dotti, M.; Mathur, S.

    2018-03-01

    Models and observations suggest that luminous quasar activity is triggered by mergers, so it should preferentially occur in the most massive primordial dark matter haloes, where the frequency of mergers is expected to be the highest. Since the importance of galaxy mergers increases with redshift, we identify the high-redshift Universe as the ideal laboratory for studying dual AGN. Here we present the X-ray properties of two systems of dual quasars at z=3.0-3.3 selected from the SDSS DR6 at separations of 6-8 arcsec (43-65 kpc) and observed by Chandra for ≈65 ks each. Both members of each pair are detected with good photon statistics to allow us to constrain the column density, spectral slope and intrinsic X-ray luminosity. We also include a recently discovered dual quasar at z=5 (separation of 21″, 136 kpc) for which XMM-Newton archival data allow us to detect the two components separately. Using optical spectra we derived bolometric luminosities, BH masses and Eddington ratios that were compared to those of luminous SDSS quasars in the same redshift ranges. We find that the brighter component of both quasar pairs at z ≈ 3.0-3.3 has high luminosities compared to the distribution of SDSS quasars at similar redshift, with J1622A having an order magnitude higher luminosity than the median. This source lies at the luminous end of the z ≈ 3.3 quasar luminosity function. While we cannot conclusively state that the unusually high luminosities of our sources are related to their having a close companion, for J1622A there is only a 3% probability that it is by chance.

  8. Photometry of High-Redshift Gravitationally Lensed Type Ia Supernovae

    Science.gov (United States)

    Haynie, Annastasia

    2018-01-01

    Out of more than 1100 well-identified Type Ia Supernovae, only roughly 10 of them are at z> 1.5. High redshift supernovae are hard to detect but this is made easier by taking advantage of the effects of gravitational lensing, which magnifies objects in the background field of massive galaxy clusters. Supernova Nebra (z= ~1.8), among others, was discovered during observations taken as part of the RELICS survey, which focused on fields of view that experience strong gravitational lensing effects. SN Nebra, which sits behind galaxy cluster Abell 1763, is magnified and therefore appears closer and easier to see than with HST alone. Studying high-redshift supernovae like SN Nebra is an important step towards creating cosmological models that accurately describe the behavior of dark energy in the early Universe. Recent efforts have been focused on improving photometry and the building and fitting of preliminary light curves.

  9. POPULATION III STARS AND REMNANTS IN HIGH-REDSHIFT GALAXIES

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Xu Hao; Norman, Michael L.; Wise, John H.

    2013-01-01

    Recent simulations of Population III star formation have suggested that some fraction form in binary systems, in addition to having a characteristic mass of tens of solar masses. The deaths of metal-free stars result in the initial chemical enrichment of the universe and the production of the first stellar-mass black holes. Here we present a cosmological adaptive mesh refinement simulation of an overdense region that forms a few 10 9 M ☉ dark matter halos and over 13,000 Population III stars by redshift 15. We find that most halos do not form Population III stars until they reach M vir ∼ 10 7 M ☉ because this biased region is quickly enriched from both Population III and galaxies, which also produce high levels of ultraviolet radiation that suppress H 2 formation. Nevertheless, Population III stars continue to form, albeit in more massive halos, at a rate of ∼10 –4 M ☉ yr –1 Mpc –3 at redshift 15. The most massive starless halo has a mass of 7 × 10 7 M ☉ , which could host massive black hole formation through the direct gaseous collapse scenario. We show that the multiplicity of the Population III remnants grows with halo mass above 10 8 M ☉ , culminating in 50 remnants located in 10 9 M ☉ halos on average. This has implications that high-mass X-ray binaries and intermediate-mass black holes that originate from metal-free stars may be abundant in high-redshift galaxies

  10. The visibility of high-redshift galaxies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Phillipps, S.; Davies, J.I.; Disney, M.J.

    1990-01-01

    The most visible galaxies - that is, those which have the largest apparent sizes and isophotal luminosities when seen at a given distance - are those with a particular observed surface brightness. Extending this argument to high-redshift galaxies, it is clear that this optimum surface brightness moves progressively to brighter intrinsic surface brightnesses, so as to counteract the effect of K-corrections and cosmological dimming. Thus the galaxies appearing in faint surveys will be from a population distinctly different from those 'normal' galaxies observed nearby. Galaxies in deep surveys are more likely to be spirals and to be of high surface brightness. This has very important implications for observational studies of galaxy evolution. (author)

  11. Predicting the High Redshift Galaxy Population for JWST

    Science.gov (United States)

    Flynn, Zoey; Benson, Andrew

    2017-01-01

    The James Webb Space Telescope will be launched in Oct 2018 with the goal of observing galaxies in the redshift range of z = 10 - 15. As redshift increases, the age of the Universe decreases, allowing us to study objects formed only a few hundred million years after the Big Bang. This will provide a valuable opportunity to test and improve current galaxy formation theory by comparing predictions for mass, luminosity, and number density to the observed data. We have made testable predictions with the semi-analytical galaxy formation model Galacticus. The code uses Markov Chain Monte Carlo methods to determine viable sets of model parameters that match current astronomical data. The resulting constrained model was then set to match the specifications of the JWST Ultra Deep Field Imaging Survey. Predictions utilizing up to 100 viable parameter sets were calculated, allowing us to assess the uncertainty in current theoretical expectations. We predict that the planned UDF will be able to observe a significant number of objects past redshift z > 9 but nothing at redshift z > 11. In order to detect these faint objects at redshifts z = 11-15 we need to increase exposure time by at least a factor of 1.66.

  12. Lyman Break Analogs: Constraints on the Formation of Extreme Starbursts at Low and High Redshift

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goncalves, Thiago S.; Overzier, Roderik; Basu-Zych, Antara; Martin, D. Christopher

    2011-01-01

    Lyman Break Analogs (LBAs), characterized by high far-UV luminosities and surface brightnesses as detected by GALEX, are intensely star-forming galaxies in the low-redshift universe (z approximately equal to 0.2), with star formation rates reaching up to 50 times that of the Milky Way. These objects present metallicities, morphologies and other physical properties similar to higher redshift Lyman Break Galaxies (LBGs), motivating the detailed study of LBAs as local laboratories of this high-redshift galaxy population. We present results from our recent integral-field spectroscopy survey of LBAs with Keck/OSIRIS, which shows that these galaxies have the same nebular gas kinematic properties as high-redshift LBGs. We argue that such kinematic studies alone are not an appropriate diagnostic to rule out merger events as the trigger for the observed starburst. Comparison between the kinematic analysis and morphological indices from HST imaging illustrates the difficulties of properly identifying (minor or major) merger events, with no clear correlation between the results using either of the two methods. Artificial redshifting of our data indicates that this problem becomes even worse at high redshift due to surface brightness dimming and resolution loss. Whether mergers could generate the observed kinematic properties is strongly dependent on gas fractions in these galaxies. We present preliminary results of a CARMA survey for LBAs and discuss the implications of the inferred molecular gas masses for formation models.

  13. Dark-Energy Equation-of-State parameter for high redshifts

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Montiel, Ariadna; Breton, Nora

    2011-01-01

    Since the elucidation of the nature of dark energy depends strongly on redshift observations, it is desirable to measure them over a wider range, but supernovae cannot be detected out past redshift 1.7. Gamma-ray-bursts (GRBs) offer means to extend the analysis to at least redshifts of > 6. The reason is that GRBs are visible across much larger distances than supernovae. GRBs are now known to have several light-curve and spectral properties from which the luminosity of the burst can be calculated, and it might GRBs become into standard candles. We have used data of 69 GRB to study the behavior of the parameter of the dark energy equation of state as a function of redshift.

  14. RAPID, MACHINE-LEARNED RESOURCE ALLOCATION: APPLICATION TO HIGH-REDSHIFT GAMMA-RAY BURST FOLLOW-UP

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Morgan, A N; Richards, Joseph W; Butler, Nathaniel R; Bloom, Joshua S [Department of Astronomy, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-3411 (United States); Long, James; Broderick, Tamara [Department of Statistics, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-3860 (United States)

    2012-02-20

    As the number of observed gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) continues to grow, follow-up resources need to be used more efficiently in order to maximize science output from limited telescope time. As such, it is becoming increasingly important to rapidly identify bursts of interest as soon as possible after the event, before the afterglows fade beyond detectability. Studying the most distant (highest redshift) events, for instance, remains a primary goal for many in the field. Here, we present our Random Forest Automated Triage Estimator for GRB redshifts (RATE GRB-z ) for rapid identification of high-redshift candidates using early-time metrics from the three telescopes onboard Swift. While the basic RATE methodology is generalizable to a number of resource allocation problems, here we demonstrate its utility for telescope-constrained follow-up efforts with the primary goal to identify and study high-z GRBs. For each new GRB, RATE GRB-z provides a recommendation-based on the available telescope time-of whether the event warrants additional follow-up resources. We train RATE GRB-z using a set consisting of 135 Swift bursts with known redshifts, only 18 of which are z > 4. Cross-validated performance metrics on these training data suggest that {approx}56% of high-z bursts can be captured from following up the top 20% of the ranked candidates, and {approx}84% of high-z bursts are identified after following up the top {approx}40% of candidates. We further use the method to rank 200 + Swift bursts with unknown redshifts according to their likelihood of being high-z.

  15. BROADBAND OBSERVATIONS OF HIGH REDSHIFT BLAZARS

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Paliya, Vaidehi S. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Clemson University, Kinard Lab of Physics, Clemson, SC 29634-0978 (United States); Parker, M. L.; Fabian, A. C. [Institute of Astronomy, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0HA (United Kingdom); Stalin, C. S., E-mail: vpaliya@g.clemson.edu [Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Block II, Koramangala, Bangalore-560034 (India)

    2016-07-01

    We present a multi-wavelength study of four high redshift blazars, S5 0014+81 ( z = 3.37), CGRaBS J0225+1846 ( z = 2.69), BZQ J1430+4205 ( z = 4.72), and 3FGL J1656.2−3303 ( z = 2.40) using quasi-simultaneous data from the Swift , Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array ( NuSTAR ) and the Fermi -Large Area Telescope (LAT) and also archival XMM-Newton observations. Other than 3FGL J1656.2−3303, none of the sources were known as γ -ray emitters, and our analysis of ∼7.5 yr of LAT data reveals the first time detection of statistically significant γ -ray emission from CGRaBS J0225+1846. We generate the broadband spectral energy distributions (SED) of all the objects, centering at the epoch of NuSTAR observations and reproduce them using a one-zone leptonic emission model. The optical−UV emission in all the objects can be explained by radiation from the accretion disk, whereas the X-ray to γ -ray windows of the SEDs are found to be dominated by inverse Compton scattering off the broad line region photons. All of them host black holes that are billions of solar masses. Comparing the accretion disk luminosity and the jet power of these sources with a large sample of blazars, we find them to occupy a high disk luminosity–jet power regime. We also investigate the X-ray spectral properties of the sources in detail with a major focus on studying the causes of soft X-ray deficit, a feature generally seen in high redshift radio-loud quasars. We summarize that this feature could be explained based on the intrinsic curvature in the jet emission rather than being due to the external effects predicted in earlier studies, such as host galaxy and/or warm absorption.

  16. Herschel-ATLAS: The Angular Correlation Function of Submillimetre Galaxies at High and Low Redshift

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maddox, S. J.; Dunne, L.; Rigby, E.; Eales, S.; Cooray, A.; Scott, D.; Peacock, J. A.; Negrello, M.; Smith, D. J. B.; Benford, D.; hide

    2010-01-01

    We present measurements of the angular correlation function of galaxies selected from the first field of the H-ATLAS survey. Careful removal of the background from galactic cirrus is essential, and currently dominates the uncertainty in our measurements. For our 250 micrometer-selected sample we detect no significant clustering, consistent with the expectation that the 250 pm-selected sources are mostly normal galaxies at z high redshift galaxies at z approx. 2-3 we detect significant strong clustering, leading to an estimate of r(0) approx. 7-11/h Mpc. The slope of our clustering measurements is very steep. delta approx. 2. The measurements are consistent with the idea that sub-mm sources consist of a low redshift population of normal galaxies and a high redshift population of highly clustered star-bursting galaxies.

  17. A Luminous Lyα-emitting Galaxy at Redshift z = 6.535: Discovery and Spectroscopic Confirmation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rhoads, James E.; Xu, Chun; Dawson, Steve; Dey, Arjun; Malhotra, Sangeeta; Wang, JunXian; Jannuzi, Buell T.; Spinrad, Hyron; Stern, Daniel

    2004-08-01

    We present a redshift z=6.535 galaxy discovered by its Lyα emission in a 9180 Å narrowband image from the Large Area Lyman Alpha survey. The Lyα line luminosity (1.1×1043 ergs s-1) is among the largest known for star-forming galaxies at z~6.5. The line shows the distinct asymmetry that is characteristic of high-redshift Lyα. The 2 σ lower bound on the observer-frame equivalent width is greater than 530 Å. This is hard to reconcile with a neutral intergalactic medium (IGM) unless the Lyα line is intrinsically strong and is emitted from its host galaxy with an intrinsic Doppler shift of several hundred km s-1. If the IGM is ionized, it corresponds to a rest-frame equivalent width greater than 40 Å after correcting for Lyα forest absorption. We also present a complete spectroscopic follow-up of the remaining candidates with line flux greater than 2×10-17 ergs cm-2 s-1 in our 1200 arcmin2 narrowband image. These include another galaxy with a strong emission line at 9136 Å and no detected continuum flux, which, however, is most likely an [O III] λ5007 source at z=0.824, on the basis of a weak detection of the [O III] λ4959 line. The data presented in this paper were obtained at the Kitt Peak National Observatory, the Gemini Observatory, and the W. M. Keck Observatory. Kitt Peak National Observatory, National Optical Astronomy Observatory, is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc. (AURA), under cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation (NSF). The Gemini Observatory is operated by AURA under a cooperative agreement with the NSF on behalf of the Gemini partnership: the NSF (United States), the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council (United Kingdom), the National Research Council (Canada), CONICYT (Chile), the Australian Research Council, CNPq (Brazil), and CONICET (Argentina). The W. M. Keck Observatory is operated as a scientific partnership among the California Institute of Technology, the

  18. THE FOURSTAR GALAXY EVOLUTION SURVEY (ZFOURGE): ULTRAVIOLET TO FAR-INFRARED CATALOGS, MEDIUM-BANDWIDTH PHOTOMETRIC REDSHIFTS WITH IMPROVED ACCURACY, STELLAR MASSES, AND CONFIRMATION OF QUIESCENT GALAXIES TO z ∼ 3.5

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Straatman, Caroline M. S.; Labbé, Ivo; Van Houdt, Josha [Leiden Observatory, Leiden University, P.O. Box 9513, 2300 RA Leiden (Netherlands); Spitler, Lee R.; Cowley, Michael [Australian Astronomical Observatory, P.O. Box 915, North Ryde, NSW 1670 (Australia); Quadri, Ryan F.; Papovich, Casey; Tran, Kim-Vy H.; Tomczak, Adam; Alcorn, Leo; Broussard, Adam; Forrest, Ben; Kawinwanichakij, Lalitwadee [George P. and Cynthia W. Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and Astronomy, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Texas A and M University, College Station, TX 77843 (United States); Glazebrook, Karl; Nanayakkara, Themiya; Allen, Rebecca; Kacprzak, Glenn G. [Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing, Swinburne University, Hawthorn, VIC 3122 (Australia); Persson, S. Eric [Carnegie Observatories, Pasadena, CA 91101 (United States); Brammer, Gabriel B. [Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218 (United States); Van Dokkum, Pieter, E-mail: straatman@mpia.de [Department of Astronomy, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520 (United States); and others

    2016-10-10

    The FourStar galaxy evolution survey (ZFOURGE) is a 45 night legacy program with the FourStar near-infrared camera on Magellan and one of the most sensitive surveys to date. ZFOURGE covers a total of 400 arcmin{sup 2} in cosmic fields CDFS, COSMOS and UDS, overlapping CANDELS. We present photometric catalogs comprising >70,000 galaxies, selected from ultradeep K {sub s} -band detection images (25.5–26.5 AB mag, 5 σ , total), and >80% complete to K {sub s} < 25.3–25.9 AB. We use 5 near-IR medium-bandwidth filters ( J {sub 1}, J {sub 2}, J {sub 3}, H {sub s} , H {sub l} ) as well as broad-band K {sub s} at 1.05–2.16 μ m to 25–26 AB at a seeing of ∼0.″5. Each field has ancillary imaging in 26–40 filters at 0.3–8 μ m. We derive photometric redshifts and stellar population properties. Comparing with spectroscopic redshifts indicates a photometric redshift uncertainty σ {sub z} = 0.010, 0.009, and 0.011 in CDFS, COSMOS, and UDS. As spectroscopic samples are often biased toward bright and blue sources, we also inspect the photometric redshift differences between close pairs of galaxies, finding σ {sub z} {sub ,pairs} = 0.01–0.02 at 1 < z < 2.5. We quantify how σ {sub z} {sub ,pairs} depends on redshift, magnitude, spectral energy distribution type, and the inclusion of FourStar medium bands. σ {sub z} {sub ,pairs} is smallest for bright, blue star-forming samples, while red star-forming galaxies have the worst σ {sub z} {sub ,pairs}. Including FourStar medium bands reduces σ {sub z} {sub ,pairs} by 50% at 1.5 < z < 2.5. We calculate star formation rates (SFRs) based on ultraviolet and ultradeep far-IR Spitzer /MIPS and Herschel /PACS data. We derive rest-frame U − V and V − J colors, and illustrate how these correlate with specific SFR and dust emission to z = 3.5. We confirm the existence of quiescent galaxies at z ∼ 3, demonstrating their SFRs are suppressed by > ×15.

  19. High Redshift Radio Galaxies at Low Redshift, and Some Other Issues

    Science.gov (United States)

    Antonucci, Robert

    Cygnus A is the only high redshift radio galaxy at low redshift, that is it's the only nearby object with radio power in the range of the high redshift 3C objects. It is clear now that this is somewhat misleading in that Cyg A is an overachiever in the radio, and that its actual bolometric luminosity is much more modest than this would indicate. (This point has been explored and generalized in Barthel and Arnaud 1996; also see Carilli and Barthel 1996 for a detailed review of Cyg A). But the energy content of the lobes is famously large. There is a whole history of attempts to show that Cygnus A fits the Unified Model, and our particular contribution was detecting an apparent broad MgII line with the HST (Antonucci, Kinney and Hurt 1994, which includes references to previous work). The spectral signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) was less than amazing; furthermore an unflagged dead diode took out ~12 Å from the line profile; and there was an uncertain ``noise" contribution from confusing narrow lines (gory details in Antonucci 1994). One of the referees of our paper - the favorable one - stated that ``only a mother could love that line." Thus we reobserved it with somewhat better SNR and with the bad diode flagged, and the old and new data are presented to the same scale in Figure 1. Most of the bins are within the combined 1 σ statistical errors, and the many statistically significant wiggles are almost all present in NGC1068 as well (Antonucci, Hurt and Miller 1994). The point is that the errors are believable, and that the continuum should be set low. I believe the MgII line is there and is broader than we thought originally. (A detailed discussion of the spectrum is in prep.) In the 1994 paper we also stated that the polarization in the UV (F320W FOC filter) is ~6 %, and perpendicular to the radio axis, indicating that there is a fairly large contribution from scattered light from a quasar in this region. This is consistent with the scenario of Jackson and Tadhunter

  20. Current problems in astrophysics needing space-based radio astronomy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Norman, C.A.

    1987-01-01

    The potential value of space-based radio observatories and VLBI networks for studies of cosmology, AGN and starburst galaxies, the ISM and the intergalactic medium, and molecular clouds and star formation is discussed. Topics examined include distance estimates for masers in external galaxies, high-resolution 21-cm observations of distant-galaxy kinematics and morphology, searches for LF emission from the neutral ISM at redshifts higher than the QSO turnon, detection of changes in the distribution of dark matter surrounding galaxies at redshifts near 1, and observations of Galactic SNRs and filamentary structures near the Galactic center. Consideration is given to comparative studies of the ISM in the Galaxy, the Magellanic Clouds, and M 31; estimates of the molecular content of external galaxies; emssion-line studies of H 2 O masers; and kinematic investigations of bipolar flows and molecular disks. 19 references

  1. Constraining Lyman continuum escape using Machine Learning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Giri, Sambit K.; Zackrisson, Erik; Binggeli, Christian; Pelckmans, Kristiaan; Cubo, Rubén; Mellema, Garrelt

    2018-05-01

    The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) will observe the rest-frame ultraviolet/optical spectra of galaxies from the epoch of reionization (EoR) in unprecedented detail. While escaping into the intergalactic medium, hydrogen-ionizing (Lyman continuum; LyC) photons from the galaxies will contribute to the bluer end of the UV slope and make nebular emission lines less prominent. We present a method to constrain leakage of the LyC photons using the spectra of high redshift (z >~ 6) galaxies. We simulate JWST/NIRSpec observations of galaxies at z =6-9 by matching the fluxes of galaxies observed in the Frontier Fields observations of galaxy cluster MACS-J0416. Our method predicts the escape fraction fesc with a mean absolute error Δfesc ~ 0.14. The method also predicts the redshifts of the galaxies with an error .

  2. Tunable filter imaging of high-redshift quasar fields

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Swinbank, J.; Baker, J.; Barr, J.; Hook, I.; Bland-Hawthorn, J.

    2012-01-01

    We have used the Taurus Tunable Filter to search for Lyα emitters in the fields of three high-redshift quasars: two at z∼ 2.2 (MRC B1256−243 and MRC B2158−206) and one at z∼ 4.5 (BR B0019−1522). Our observations had a field of view of around 35 arcmin2, and reached AB magnitudes of ∼21 (MRC

  3. Early Growth and Efficient Accretion of Massive Black Holes at High Redshift

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Vestergaard, Marianne

    2003-01-01

    Black-hole masses of the highest redshift quasars (4 ~ 4 quasars are very massive (>~ 10^9 solar masses). It is argued that the mass estimates of the high-z quasars are not subject to larger uncertainties than those for nearby quasars. Specifically, the large masses are not overestimates and the ......Black-hole masses of the highest redshift quasars (4 ~ 4 quasars are very massive (>~ 10^9 solar masses). It is argued that the mass estimates of the high-z quasars are not subject to larger uncertainties than those for nearby quasars. Specifically, the large masses are not overestimates...... and the lack of similarly large black-hole masses in the nearby Universe does not rule out their existence at high-z. However, AGN host galaxies do not typically appear fully formed or evolved at these early epochs. This supports scenarios in which black holes build up mass very fast in a radiatively...... inefficient (or obscured) phase relative to the stars in their galaxies. Additionally, upper envelopes of black-hole mass of approximately 10^{10} solar masses and bolometric luminosity of ~ 10^{48} erg/s are observed at all redshifts....

  4. Constraints on cold dark matter theories from observations of massive x-ray-luminous clusters of galaxies at high redshift

    Science.gov (United States)

    Luppino, G. A.; Gioia, I. M.

    1995-01-01

    During the course of a gravitational lensing survey of distant, X-ray selected Einstein Observatory Extended Medium Sensitivity Survey (EMSS) clusters of galaxies, we have studied six X-ray-luminous (L(sub x) greater than 5 x 10(exp 44)(h(sub 50)(exp -2))ergs/sec) clusters at redshifts exceeding z = 0.5. All of these clusters are apparently massive. In addition to their high X-ray luminosity, two of the clusters at z approximately 0.6 exhibit gravitationally lensed arcs. Furthermore, the highest redshift cluster in our sample, MS 1054-0321 at z = 0.826, is both extremely X-ray luminous (L(sub 0.3-3.5keV)=9.3 x 10(exp 44)(h(sub 50)(exp -2))ergs/sec) and exceedingly rich with an optical richness comparable to an Abell Richness Class 4 cluster. In this Letter, we discuss the cosmological implications of the very existence of these clusters for hierarchical structure formation theories such as standard Omega = 1 CDM (cold dark matter), hybrid Omega = 1 C + HDM (hot dark matter), and flat, low-density Lambda + CDM models.

  5. Formation of globular cluster candidates in merging proto-galaxies at high redshift: a view from the FIRE cosmological simulations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Ji-hoon; Ma, Xiangcheng; Grudić, Michael Y.; Hopkins, Philip F.; Hayward, Christopher C.; Wetzel, Andrew; Faucher-Giguère, Claude-André; Kereš, Dušan; Garrison-Kimmel, Shea; Murray, Norman

    2018-03-01

    Using a state-of-the-art cosmological simulation of merging proto-galaxies at high redshift from the FIRE project, with explicit treatments of star formation and stellar feedback in the interstellar medium, we investigate the formation of star clusters and examine one of the formation hypotheses of present-day metal-poor globular clusters. We find that frequent mergers in high-redshift proto-galaxies could provide a fertile environment to produce long-lasting bound star clusters. The violent merger event disturbs the gravitational potential and pushes a large gas mass of ≳ 105-6 M⊙ collectively to high density, at which point it rapidly turns into stars before stellar feedback can stop star formation. The high dynamic range of the reported simulation is critical in realizing such dense star-forming clouds with a small dynamical time-scale, tff ≲ 3 Myr, shorter than most stellar feedback time-scales. Our simulation then allows us to trace how clusters could become virialized and tightly bound to survive for up to ˜420 Myr till the end of the simulation. Because the cluster's tightly bound core was formed in one short burst, and the nearby older stars originally grouped with the cluster tend to be preferentially removed, at the end of the simulation the cluster has a small age spread.

  6. A high-redshift IRAS galaxy with huge luminosity - hidden quasar or protogalaxy

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Rowan-Robinson, M; Broadhurst, T [Queen Mary Coll., London (UK). School of Mathematical Sciences; Lawrence, A [Queen Mary Coll., London (UK). Dept. of Physics; McMahon, R G [Cambridge Univ. (UK). Inst. of Astronomy; Lonsdale, C J [California Inst. of Tech., Pasadena, CA (USA). Infrared Processing and Analysis Center; Oliver, S J; Taylor, A N [Queen Mary Coll., London (UK). School of Mathematical Sciences; Hacking, P B; Conrow, T [California Inst. of Tech., Pasadena, CA (USA). Infrared Processing and Analysis Center; Saunders, W [Oxford Univ. (UK). Dept. of Astrophysics; Ellis, R S [Durham Univ. (UK). Dept. of Physics; Efstathiou, G P [Oxford Univ. (UK). Dept. of Astrophysics; Condon, J J [National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Charlottesville, VA (USA)

    1991-06-27

    During a survey intended to measure redshifts for 1,400 galaxies identified with faint sources detected by the Infrared Astronomy Satellite, we found an emission-line galaxy at a redshift of 2.286, and with the enormous far-infrared luminosity of 3 x 10{sup 14} times that of the sun (L{sub sun}) The spectrum is very unusual, showing lines of high excitation but with very weak Lyman-{alpha} emission. A self-absorbed synchrotron model for the infrared energy distribution cannot be ruled out, but a thermal origin seems more plausible. A radio-quiet quasar embedded in a very dusty galaxy could account for the infrared emission, as might a starburst embedded in 1-10 x 10{sup 9} M{sub sun} of dust. The latter case demands so much dust that the object would probably be a massive galaxy in the process of formation. In either case, this is a remarkable object, and the presence of a large amount of dust in an object of such high redshift implies the generation of heavy elements at an early cosmological epoch. (author).

  7. Evolution of the baryon fraction in the Local Group: accretion versus feedback at low and high z

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peirani, Sébastien; Jung, Intae; Silk, Joseph; Pichon, Christophe

    2012-12-01

    Using hydrodynamical zoom simulations in the standard Λ cold dark matter cosmology, we investigate the evolution of the distribution of baryons (gas and stars) in a Local Group-type universe. First, with standard star formation and supernova feedback prescriptions, we find that the mean baryonic fraction value estimated at the virial radius of the two main central objects (i.e. the Milky Way and Andromeda) is decreasing over time and is 10-15 per cent lower than the universal value 0.166, at z = 0. This decrease is mainly due to the fact that the amount of accretion of dissipative gas on to the halo, especially at low redshift, is in general much lower than that of the dissipationless dark matter. Indeed, a significant part of the baryons does not collapse on to the haloes and remains in their outskirts, mainly in the form of warm hot intergalactic medium (WHIM). Moreover, during the formation of each object, some dark matter and baryons are also expelled through merger events via tidal disruption. In contrast to baryons, expelled dark matter can be more efficiently re-accreted on to the halo, enhancing both the reduction of fb inside Rv and the increase of the mass of WHIM outside Rv. Varying the efficiency of supernova feedback at low redshift does not seem to significantly affect these trends. Alternatively, when a significant fraction of the initial gas in the main objects is released at high redshifts by more powerful sources of feedback, such as active galactic nuclei from intermediate-mass black holes in lower mass galaxies, the baryonic fraction at the virial radius can have a lower value (fb˜0.12) at low redshift. Hence, physical mechanisms able to drive the gas out of the virial radius at high redshifts will have a stronger impact on the deficit of baryons in the mass budget of Milky Way-type galaxies at present times than those that expel the gas in the longer, late phases of galaxy formation.

  8. Clustering of High Redshift (z>2.9) Quasars from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Shen, Yue; Strauss, Michael A.; Oguri, Masamune; Hennawi, Joseph F.; Fan, Xiaohui; Richards, Gordon T.; Hall, Patrick B.; Schneider, Donald P.; Szalay, Alexander S.; Thakar, Anirudda R.; Berk, Daniel E.Vanden; Anderson, Scott F.; Bahcall, Neta A.; /KIPAC, Menlo Park

    2006-11-30

    We study the two-point correlation function of a uniformly selected sample of 4,428 optically selected luminous quasars with redshift 2.9 {le} z {le} 5.4 selected over 4041 deg{sup 2} from the Fifth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. We fit a power-law to the projected correlation function w{sub p}(r{sub p}) to marginalize over redshift space distortions and redshift errors. For a real-space correlation function of the form {zeta}(r) = (r/r{sub 0}){sup -{gamma}}, the fitted parameters in comoving coordinates are r{sub 0} = 15.2 {+-} 2.7 h{sup -1} Mpc and {gamma} = 2.0 {+-} 0.3, over a scale range 4 {le} r{sub p} {le} 150 h{sup -1} Mpc. Thus high-redshift quasars are appreciably more strongly clustered than their z {approx} 1.5 counterparts, which have a comoving clustering length r{sub 0} {approx} 6.5 h{sup -1} Mpc. Dividing our sample into two redshift bins: 2.9 {le} z {le} 3.5 and z {ge} 3.5, and assuming a power-law index {gamma} = 2.0, we find a correlation length of r{sub 0} = 16.9 {+-} 1.7 h{sup -1} Mpc for the former, and r{sub 0} = 24.3 {+-} 2.4 h{sup -1} Mpc for the latter. Strong clustering at high redshift indicates that quasars are found in very massive, and therefore highly biased, halos. Following Martini & Weinberg, we relate the clustering strength and quasar number density to the quasar lifetimes and duty cycle. Using the Sheth & Tormen halo mass function, the quasar lifetime is estimated to lie in the range 4 {approx} 50 Myr for quasars with 2.9 {le} z {le} 3.5; and 30 {approx} 600 Myr for quasars with z {ge} 3.5. The corresponding duty cycles are 0.004 {approx} 0.05 for the lower redshift bin and 0.03 {approx} 0.6 for the higher redshift bin. The minimum mass of halos in which these quasars reside is 2-3 x 10{sup 12} h{sup -1} M{sub {circle_dot}} for quasars with 2.9 {le} z {le} 3.5 and 4-6 x 10{sup 12} h{sup -1} M{sub {circle_dot}} for quasars with z {ge} 3.5; the effective bias factor b{sub eff} increases with redshift, e.g., b

  9. Quasar Winds as Dust Factories at High Redshift

    OpenAIRE

    Elvis, Martin; Marengo, Massimo; Karovska, Margarita

    2003-01-01

    Winds from AGN and quasars will form large amounts of dust, as the cool gas in these winds passes through the (pressure, temperature) region where dust is formed in AGB stars. Conditions in the gas are benign to dust at these radii. As a result quasar winds may be a major source of dust at high redshifts, obviating a difficulty with current observations, and requiring far less dust to exist at early epochs.

  10. HIGH-REDSHIFT SDSS QUASARS WITH WEAK EMISSION LINES

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Diamond-Stanic, Aleksandar M.; Fan Xiaohui; Jiang Linhua; Kim, J. Serena; Schmidt, Gary D.; Smith, Paul S.; Vestergaard, Marianne; Young, Jason E.; Brandt, W. N.; Shemmer, Ohad; Gibson, Robert R.; Schneider, Donald P.; Strauss, Michael A.; Shen Yue; Anderson, Scott F.; Carilli, Christopher L.; Richards, Gordon T.

    2009-01-01

    We identify a sample of 74 high-redshift quasars (z > 3) with weak emission lines from the Fifth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and present infrared, optical, and radio observations of a subsample of four objects at z > 4. These weak emission-line quasars (WLQs) constitute a prominent tail of the Lyα + N v equivalent width distribution, and we compare them to quasars with more typical emission-line properties and to low-redshift active galactic nuclei with weak/absent emission lines, namely BL Lac objects. We find that WLQs exhibit hot (T ∼ 1000 K) thermal dust emission and have rest-frame 0.1-5 μm spectral energy distributions that are quite similar to those of normal quasars. The variability, polarization, and radio properties of WLQs are also different from those of BL Lacs, making continuum boosting by a relativistic jet an unlikely physical interpretation. The most probable scenario for WLQs involves broad-line region properties that are physically distinct from those of normal quasars.

  11. Detecting Massive, High-Redshift Galaxy Clusters Using the Thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Effect

    Science.gov (United States)

    Adams, Carson; Steinhardt, Charles L.; Loeb, Abraham; Karim, Alexander; Staguhn, Johannes; Erler, Jens; Capak, Peter L.

    2017-01-01

    We develop the thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) effect as a direct astrophysical measure of the mass distribution of dark matter halos. The SZ effect increases with cosmological distance, a unique astronomical property, and is highly sensitive to halo mass. We find that this presents a powerful methodology for distinguishing between competing models of the halo mass function distribution, particularly in the high-redshift domain just a few hundred million years after the Big Bang. Recent surveys designed to probe this epoch of initial galaxy formation such as CANDELS and SPLASH report an over-abundance of highly massive halos as inferred from stellar ultraviolet (UV) luminosities and the stellar mass to halo mass ratio estimated from nearby galaxies. If these UV luminosity to halo mass relations hold to high-redshift, observations estimate several orders of magnitude more highly massive halos than predicted by hierarchical merging and the standard cosmological paradigm. Strong constraints on the masses of these galaxy clusters are essential to resolving the current tension between observation and theory. We conclude that detections of thermal SZ sources are plausible at high-redshift only for the halo masses inferred from observation. Therefore, future SZ surveys will provide a robust determination between theoretical and observational predictions.

  12. A Foreground Masking Strategy for [C II] Intensity Mapping Experiments Using Galaxies Selected by Stellar Mass and Redshift

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sun, G.; Moncelsi, L.; Viero, M. P.; Silva, M. B.; Bock, J.; Bradford, C. M.; Chang, T.-C.; Cheng, Y.-T.; Cooray, A. R.; Crites, A.; Hailey-Dunsheath, S.; Uzgil, B.; Hunacek, J. R.; Zemcov, M.

    2018-04-01

    Intensity mapping provides a unique means to probe the epoch of reionization (EoR), when the neutral intergalactic medium was ionized by energetic photons emitted from the first galaxies. The [C II] 158 μm fine-structure line is typically one of the brightest emission lines of star-forming galaxies and thus a promising tracer of the global EoR star formation activity. However, [C II] intensity maps at 6 ≲ z ≲ 8 are contaminated by interloping CO rotational line emission (3 ≤ J upp ≤ 6) from lower-redshift galaxies. Here we present a strategy to remove the foreground contamination in upcoming [C II] intensity mapping experiments, guided by a model of CO emission from foreground galaxies. The model is based on empirical measurements of the mean and scatter of the total infrared luminosities of galaxies at z {10}8 {M}ȯ selected in the K-band from the COSMOS/UltraVISTA survey, which can be converted to CO line strengths. For a mock field of the Tomographic Ionized-carbon Mapping Experiment, we find that masking out the “voxels” (spectral–spatial elements) containing foreground galaxies identified using an optimized CO flux threshold results in a z-dependent criterion {m}{{K}}AB}≲ 22 (or {M}* ≳ {10}9 {M}ȯ ) at z cost of a moderate ≲8% loss of total survey volume.

  13. A PARAMETRIC STUDY OF POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS TO THE HIGH-REDSHIFT OVERPRODUCTION OF STARS IN MODELED DWARF GALAXIES

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    White, Catherine E. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University, 3400 North Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218 (United States); Somerville, Rachel S. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rutgers University, 136 Frelinghuysen Road, Piscataway, NJ 08854 (United States); Ferguson, Henry C. [Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218 (United States)

    2015-02-01

    Both numerical hydrodynamic and semi-analytic cosmological models of galaxy formation struggle to match observed star formation histories of galaxies in low-mass halos (M {sub H} ≲ 10{sup 11} M {sub ☉}), predicting more star formation at high redshift and less star formation at low redshift than observed. The fundamental problem is that galaxies' gas accretion and star formation rates are too closely coupled in the models: the accretion rate largely drives the star formation rate. Observations point to gas accretion rates that outpace star formation at high redshift, resulting in a buildup of gas and a delay in star formation until lower redshifts. We present three empirical adjustments of standard recipes in a semi-analytic model motivated by three physical scenarios that could cause this decoupling: (1) the mass-loading factors of outflows driven by stellar feedback may have a steeper dependence on halo mass at earlier times, (2) the efficiency of star formation may be lower in low-mass halos at high redshift, and (3) gas may not be able to accrete efficiently onto the disk in low-mass halos at high redshift. These new recipes, once tuned, better reproduce the evolution of f {sub *}≡ M {sub *}/M {sub H} as a function of halo mass as derived from abundance matching over redshifts z = 0 to 3, though they have different effects on cold gas fractions, star formation rates, and metallicities. Changes to gas accretion and stellar-driven winds are promising, while direct modification of the star formation timescale requires drastic measures that are not physically well motivated.

  14. Universe opacity and CMB

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vavryčuk, Václav

    2018-04-01

    A cosmological model, in which the cosmic microwave background (CMB) is a thermal radiation of intergalactic dust instead of a relic radiation of the Big Bang, is revived and revisited. The model suggests that a virtually transparent local Universe becomes considerably opaque at redshifts z > 2 - 3. Such opacity is hardly to be detected in the Type Ia supernova data, but confirmed using quasar data. The opacity steeply increases with redshift because of a high proper density of intergalactic dust in the previous epochs. The temperature of intergalactic dust increases as (1 + z) and exactly compensates the change of wavelengths due to redshift, so that the dust radiation looks apparently like the radiation of the blackbody with a single temperature. The predicted dust temperature is TD = 2.776 K, which differs from the CMB temperature by 1.9% only, and the predicted ratio between the total CMB and EBL intensities is 13.4 which is close to 12.5 obtained from observations. The CMB temperature fluctuations are caused by EBL fluctuations produced by galaxy clusters and voids in the Universe. The polarization anomalies of the CMB correlated with temperature anisotropies are caused by the polarized thermal emission of needle-shaped conducting dust grains aligned by large-scale magnetic fields around clusters and voids. A strong decline of the luminosity density for z > 4 is interpreted as the result of high opacity of the Universe rather than of a decline of the global stellar mass density at high redshifts.

  15. Star formation and mass assembly in high redshift galaxies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Santini, P.; Fontana, A.; Grazian, A.; Salimbeni, S.; Fiore, F.; Fontanot, F.; Boutsia, K.; Castellano, M.; Cristiani, S.; de Santis, C.; Gallozzi, S.; Giallongo, E.; Menci, N.; Nonino, M.; Paris, D.; Pentericci, L.; Vanzella, E.

    2009-09-01

    Aims: The goal of this work is to infer the star formation properties and the mass assembly process of high redshift (0.3 ≤ z MUSIC catalog, which has multiwavelength coverage from 0.3 to 24 μm and either spectroscopic or accurate photometric redshifts. We describe how the catalog has been extended by the addition of mid-IR fluxes derived from the MIPS 24 μm image. We compared two different estimators of the star formation rate (SFR hereafter). One is the total infrared emission derived from 24 μm, estimated using both synthetic and empirical IR templates. The other one is a multiwavelength fit to the full galaxy SED, which automatically accounts for dust reddening and age-star formation activity degeneracies. For both estimates, we computed the SFR density and the specific SFR. Results: We show that the two SFR indicators are roughly consistent, once the uncertainties involved are taken into account. However, they show a systematic trend, IR-based estimates exceeding the fit-based ones as the star formation rate increases. With this new catalog, we show that: a) at z>0.3, the star formation rate is correlated well with stellar mass, and this relationship seems to steepen with redshift if one relies on IR-based estimates of the SFR; b) the contribution to the global SFRD by massive galaxies increases with redshift up to ≃ 2.5, more rapidly than for galaxies of lower mass, but appears to flatten at higher z; c) despite this increase, the most important contributors to the SFRD at any z are galaxies of about, or immediately lower than, the characteristic stellar mass; d) at z≃ 2, massive galaxies are actively star-forming, with a median {SFR} ≃ 300 M_⊙ yr-1. During this epoch, our targeted galaxies assemble a substantial part of their final stellar mass; e) the specific SFR (SSFR) shows a clear bimodal distribution. Conclusions: The analysis of the SFR density and the SSFR seems to support the downsizing scenario, according to which high mass galaxies

  16. THE MULTIWAVELENGTH SURVEY BY YALE-CHILE (MUSYC): DEEP MEDIUM-BAND OPTICAL IMAGING AND HIGH-QUALITY 32-BAND PHOTOMETRIC REDSHIFTS IN THE ECDF-S

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cardamone, Carolin N.; Van Dokkum, Pieter G.; Urry, C. Megan; Brammer, Gabriel; Taniguchi, Yoshi; Gawiser, Eric; Bond, Nicholas; Taylor, Edward; Damen, Maaike; Treister, Ezequiel; Cobb, Bethany E.; Schawinski, Kevin; Lira, Paulina; Murayama, Takashi; Saito, Tomoki; Sumikawa, Kentaro

    2010-01-01

    We present deep optical 18-medium-band photometry from the Subaru telescope over the ∼30' x 30' Extended Chandra Deep Field-South, as part of the Multiwavelength Survey by Yale-Chile (MUSYC). This field has a wealth of ground- and space-based ancillary data, and contains the GOODS-South field and the Hubble Ultra Deep Field. We combine the Subaru imaging with existing UBVRIzJHK and Spitzer IRAC images to create a uniform catalog. Detecting sources in the MUSYC 'BVR' image we find ∼40,000 galaxies with R AB 3.5. For 0.1 < z < 1.2, we find a 1σ scatter in Δz/(1 + z) of 0.007, similar to results obtained with a similar filter set in the COSMOS field. As a demonstration of the data quality, we show that the red sequence and blue cloud can be cleanly identified in rest-frame color-magnitude diagrams at 0.1 < z < 1.2. We find that ∼20% of the red sequence galaxies show evidence of dust emission at longer rest-frame wavelengths. The reduced images, photometric catalog, and photometric redshifts are provided through the public MUSYC Web site.

  17. Redshift

    CERN Document Server

    Clark, Stuart

    1997-01-01

    The light emitted by celestial objects can have its wavelength "stretched" in different ways before it is observed by astronomers. These stretching phenomena are collectively called "redshift". They influence virtually all aspects of astronomy and even underpin the "Big Bang" theory of the creation of the universe. This book details the types of redshift and explains their myriad of uses. It begins by introducing the nature of light and the problems involved in measuring its properties. After explaining the redshift phenomena and their uses, the book touches on the age and size of the universe; two subjects embroiled in controversy because of our current interpretation of the redshift. Less conventional theories are then expressed. As a by-product of the explanation of redshift, the book offers the reader a basic understanding of Einstein's theory of relativity. Mathematical treatments of the concepts introduced in the text are boxed off and should not detract from the book's readibility, but allow it to be u...

  18. Eight per cent leakage of Lyman continuum photons from a compact, star-forming dwarf galaxy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Izotov, Y I; Orlitová, I; Schaerer, D; Thuan, T X; Verhamme, A; Guseva, N G; Worseck, G

    2016-01-14

    One of the key questions in observational cosmology is the identification of the sources responsible for ionization of the Universe after the cosmic 'Dark Ages', when the baryonic matter was neutral. The currently identified distant galaxies are insufficient to fully reionize the Universe by redshift z ≈ 6 (refs 1-3), but low-mass, star-forming galaxies are thought to be responsible for the bulk of the ionizing radiation. As direct observations at high redshift are difficult for a variety of reasons, one solution is to identify local proxies of this galaxy population. Starburst galaxies at low redshifts, however, generally are opaque to Lyman continuum photons. Small escape fractions of about 1 to 3 per cent, insufficient to ionize much surrounding gas, have been detected only in three low-redshift galaxies. Here we report far-ultraviolet observations of the nearby low-mass star-forming galaxy J0925+1403. The galaxy is leaking ionizing radiation with an escape fraction of about 8 per cent. The total number of photons emitted during the starburst phase is sufficient to ionize intergalactic medium material that is about 40 times as massive as the stellar mass of the galaxy.

  19. A dust-obscured massive maximum-starburst galaxy at a redshift of 6.34.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Riechers, Dominik A; Bradford, C M; Clements, D L; Dowell, C D; Pérez-Fournon, I; Ivison, R J; Bridge, C; Conley, A; Fu, Hai; Vieira, J D; Wardlow, J; Calanog, J; Cooray, A; Hurley, P; Neri, R; Kamenetzky, J; Aguirre, J E; Altieri, B; Arumugam, V; Benford, D J; Béthermin, M; Bock, J; Burgarella, D; Cabrera-Lavers, A; Chapman, S C; Cox, P; Dunlop, J S; Earle, L; Farrah, D; Ferrero, P; Franceschini, A; Gavazzi, R; Glenn, J; Solares, E A Gonzalez; Gurwell, M A; Halpern, M; Hatziminaoglou, E; Hyde, A; Ibar, E; Kovács, A; Krips, M; Lupu, R E; Maloney, P R; Martinez-Navajas, P; Matsuhara, H; Murphy, E J; Naylor, B J; Nguyen, H T; Oliver, S J; Omont, A; Page, M J; Petitpas, G; Rangwala, N; Roseboom, I G; Scott, D; Smith, A J; Staguhn, J G; Streblyanska, A; Thomson, A P; Valtchanov, I; Viero, M; Wang, L; Zemcov, M; Zmuidzinas, J

    2013-04-18

    Massive present-day early-type (elliptical and lenticular) galaxies probably gained the bulk of their stellar mass and heavy elements through intense, dust-enshrouded starbursts--that is, increased rates of star formation--in the most massive dark-matter haloes at early epochs. However, it remains unknown how soon after the Big Bang massive starburst progenitors exist. The measured redshift (z) distribution of dusty, massive starbursts has long been suspected to be biased low in z owing to selection effects, as confirmed by recent findings of systems with redshifts as high as ~5 (refs 2-4). Here we report the identification of a massive starburst galaxy at z = 6.34 through a submillimetre colour-selection technique. We unambiguously determined the redshift from a suite of molecular and atomic fine-structure cooling lines. These measurements reveal a hundred billion solar masses of highly excited, chemically evolved interstellar medium in this galaxy, which constitutes at least 40 per cent of the baryonic mass. A 'maximum starburst' converts the gas into stars at a rate more than 2,000 times that of the Milky Way, a rate among the highest observed at any epoch. Despite the overall downturn in cosmic star formation towards the highest redshifts, it seems that environments mature enough to form the most massive, intense starbursts existed at least as early as 880 million years after the Big Bang.

  20. EVIDENCE FOR MORPHOLOGY AND LUMINOSITY TRANSFORMATION OF GALAXIES AT HIGH REDSHIFTS

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hwang, Ho Seong; Park, Changbom

    2009-01-01

    We study the galaxy morphology-luminosity-environmental relation and its redshift evolution using a spectroscopic sample of galaxies in the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey. In the redshift range of 0.4 ≤ z ≤ 1.0, we detect conformity in morphology between neighboring galaxies. The realm of conformity is confined within the virialized region associated with each galaxy plus dark matter halo system. When a galaxy is located within the virial radius of its nearest neighbor galaxy, its morphology strongly depends on the neighbor's distance and morphology: the probability for a galaxy to be an early type (f E ) increases as it approaches an early-type neighbor, but decreases as it approaches a late-type neighbor. We find that f E evolves much faster in high-density regions than in low-density regions, and that the morphology-density relation becomes significantly weaker at z ∼ 1. This may be because the rate of galaxy-galaxy interactions is higher in high-density regions, and a series of interactions and mergers over the course of galaxy life eventually transform late types into early types. We find more isolated galaxies are more luminous, which supports luminosity transformation through mergers at these redshifts. Our results are consistent with those from nearby galaxies, and demonstrate that galaxy-galaxy interactions have been strongly affecting the galaxy evolution over a long period of time.

  1. The role of AGN feedback in galaxy evolution at high-redshift

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Collet, Cedric

    2014-01-01

    There is growing evidence that supermassive black holes may play a crucial role for galaxy evolution, in particular during the formation of massive galaxies at high redshift (z ≅ 2 - 3). Our work focuses on quantifying the effects of jets of radiogalaxies and of large bolometric luminosities of quasars on the interstellar gas in their host galaxies. To this end, we studied the kinematics of the ionized gas in 12 moderately powerful radio galaxies and 11 quasars (6 radio-loud and 5 radio-quiet) at high redshifts with rest-frame optical imaging spectroscopy obtained at the VLT with SINFONI. We searched for outflows and other signatures of feedback from the supermassive black holes in the centers of these galaxies to evaluate if the AGN may plausibly quench star formation. In our sample of moderately powerful radiogalaxies, we observe velocity dispersions nearly as large as those observed in the most powerful ones (with FWHM ≅ 1000 km/s), but the quantity of ionized gas is decreased by one order of magnitude (M-ion gas ≅ 10"8 - 10"9 M-sun) and velocity gradients tend to be less dramatic (Δv ≤ 400 km/s), when they are observed. In our sample of quasars, we had to carefully subtract the broad spectral component of emission lines to have access to its narrow, and spatially extended, component. We detect truly extended emission line regions in 4/6 sources of our radio-loud sub-sample and in 1/5 source of our radio-quiet sub-sample. We estimate that masses of ionized gas in these sources are smaller than in our sample of high-redshift radiogalaxies (with Mion gas ≅ 10"7 - 10"8 Msun) and kinematics tend to be more quiescent, akin to what is observed in local quasars. Finally, detailed observations of two outliers among our sample of high-redshift radiogalaxies revealed that one of them is closely surrounded by 14 companions galaxies, hence lying in an over density. We therefore interpret the presence and morphology of ionized gas around these galaxies as evidence

  2. Technologies for Low Frequency Radio Observations of the Cosmic Dawn

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jones, Dayton L.

    2014-01-01

    The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is developing concepts and technologies for low frequency radio astronomy space missions aimed at observing highly redshifted neutral Hydrogen from the Dark Ages. This is the period of cosmic history between the recombination epoch when the microwave background radiation was produced and the re-ionization of the intergalactic medium by the first generation of stars (Cosmic Dawn). This period, at redshifts greater than about 20, is a critical epoch for the formation and evolution of large-scale structure in the universe. The 21-cm spectral line of Hydrogen provides the most promising method for directly studying the Dark Ages, but the corresponding frequencies at such large redshifts are only tens of MHz and thus require space-based observations to avoid terrestrial RFI and ionospheric absorption and refraction. This paper reports on the status of several low frequency technology development activities at JPL, including deployable bi-conical dipoles for a planned lunar-orbiting mission, and both rover-deployed and inflation-deployed long dipole antennas for use on the lunar surface.

  3. DISSECTING THE HIGH- z INTERSTELLAR MEDIUM THROUGH INTENSITY MAPPING CROSS-CORRELATIONS

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Serra, Paolo; Doré, Olivier [Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109 (United States); Lagache, Guilaine, E-mail: Paolo.Serra@jpl.nasa.gov [Aix Marseille Université, CNRS, LAM (Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de Marseille) UMR 7326, F-13388, Marseille (France)

    2016-12-20

    We explore the detection, with upcoming spectroscopic surveys, of three-dimensional power spectra of emission line fluctuations produced in different phases of the interstellar medium (ISM) by forbidden transitions of ionized carbon [C ii] (157.7 μ m), ionized nitrogen [N ii] (121.9 and 205.2 μ m), and neutral oxygen [O i] (145.5 μ m) at redshift z  > 4. These lines are important coolants of both the neutral and the ionized medium, and probe multiple phases of the ISM. In the framework of the halo model, we compute predictions of the three-dimensional power spectra for two different surveys, showing that they have the required sensitivity to detect cross-power spectra between the [C ii] line and both the [O i] line and the [N ii] lines with sufficient signal-to-noise ratio. The importance of cross-correlating multiple lines with the intensity mapping technique is twofold. On the one hand, we will have multiple probes of the different phases of the ISM, which is key to understanding the interplay between energetic sources, and the gas and dust at high redshift. This kind of study will be useful for a next-generation space observatory such as the NASA Far-IR Surveyor, which will probe the global star formation and the ISM of galaxies from the peak of star formation to the epoch of reionization. On the other hand, emission lines from external galaxies are an important foreground when measuring spectral distortions of the cosmic microwave background spectrum with future space-based experiments like PIXIE; measuring fluctuations in the intensity mapping regime will help constrain the mean amplitude of these lines, and will allow us to better handle this important foreground.

  4. Measurements of Ω and Λ from 42 High-Redshift Supernovae

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Perlmutter, S.; Aldering, G.; Goldhaber, G.; Knop, R.A.; Nugent, P.; Castro, P.G.; Deustua, S.; Fabbro, S.; Goobar, A.; Groom, D.E.; Hook, I.M.; Kim, A.G.; Kim, M.Y.; Lee, J.C.; Nunes, N.J.; Pain, R.; Pennypacker, C.R.; Quimby, R.; Lidman, C.; Ellis, R.S.; Irwin, M.; McMahon, R.G.; Ruiz-Lapuente, P.; Walton, N.; Schaefer, B.; Boyle, B.J.; Filippenko, A.V.; Matheson, T.; Fruchter, A.S.; Panagia, N.; Newberg, H.J.; Couch, W.J.

    1999-01-01

    We report measurements of the mass density, Ω M , and cosmological-constant energy density, Ω Λ , of the universe based on the analysis of 42 type Ia supernovae discovered by the Supernova Cosmology Project. The magnitude-redshift data for these supernovae, at redshifts between 0.18 and 0.83, are fitted jointly with a set of supernovae from the Calacute an/Tololo Supernova Survey, at redshifts below 0.1, to yield values for the cosmological parameters. All supernova peak magnitudes are standardized using a SN Ia light-curve width-luminosity relation. The measurement yields a joint probability distribution of the cosmological parameters that is approximated by the relation 0.8Ω M -0.6Ω Λ ∼-0.2±0.1 in the region of interest (Ω M approx-lt 1.5). For a flat (Ω M +Ω Λ =1) cosmology we find Ω flat M =0.28 +0.09 -0.08 (1 σ statistical) +0.05 -0.04 (identified systematics). The data are strongly inconsistent with a Λ=0 flat cosmology, the simplest inflationary universe model. An open, Λ=0 cosmology also does not fit the data well: the data indicate that the cosmological constant is nonzero and positive, with a confidence of P(Λ>0)=99%, including the identified systematic uncertainties. The best-fit age of the universe relative to the Hubble time is t flat 0 =14.9 +1.4 -1.1 (0.63/h) Gyr for a flat cosmology. The size of our sample allows us to perform a variety of statistical tests to check for possible systematic errors and biases. We find no significant differences in either the host reddening distribution or Malmquist bias between the low-redshift Calacute an/Tololo sample and our high-redshift sample. Excluding those few supernovae that are outliers in color excess or fit residual does not significantly change the results. The conclusions are also robust whether or not a width-luminosity relation is used to standardize the supernova peak magnitudes. We discuss and constrain, where possible, hypothetical alternatives to a cosmological constant

  5. Mean Occupation Function of High-redshift Quasars from the Planck Cluster Catalog

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chakraborty, Priyanka; Chatterjee, Suchetana; Dutta, Alankar; Myers, Adam D.

    2018-06-01

    We characterize the distribution of quasars within dark matter halos using a direct measurement technique for the first time at redshifts as high as z ∼ 1. Using the Planck Sunyaev-Zeldovich (SZ) catalog for galaxy groups and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) DR12 quasar data set, we assign host clusters/groups to the quasars and make a measurement of the mean number of quasars within dark matter halos as a function of halo mass. We find that a simple power-law fit of {log} =(2.11+/- 0.01) {log}(M)-(32.77+/- 0.11) can be used to model the quasar fraction in dark matter halos. This suggests that the quasar fraction increases monotonically as a function of halo mass even to redshifts as high as z ∼ 1.

  6. Gravitational-wave detection using redshifted 21-cm observations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bharadwaj, Somnath; Guha Sarkar, Tapomoy

    2009-01-01

    A gravitational-wave traversing the line of sight to a distant source produces a frequency shift which contributes to redshift space distortion. As a consequence, gravitational waves are imprinted as density fluctuations in redshift space. The gravitational-wave contribution to the redshift space power spectrum has a different μ dependence as compared to the dominant contribution from peculiar velocities. This, in principle, allows the two signals to be separated. The prospect of a detection is most favorable at the highest observable redshift z. Observations of redshifted 21-cm radiation from neutral hydrogen hold the possibility of probing very high redshifts. We consider the possibility of detecting primordial gravitational waves using the redshift space neutral hydrogen power spectrum. However, we find that the gravitational-wave signal, though present, will not be detectable on superhorizon scales because of cosmic variance and on subhorizon scales where the signal is highly suppressed.

  7. Measurement of the Multi-TeV Gamma-Ray Flare Spectra of Markarian 421 and Markarian 501

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Krennrich, F.; Biller, S.D.; Bond, I.H.; Boyle, P.J.; Bradbury, S.M.; Breslin, A.C.; Buckley, J.H.; Burdett, A.M.; Gordo, J.B.; Carter-Lewis, D.A.; Catanese, M.; Cawley, M.F.; Fegan, D.J.; Finley, J.P.; Gaidos, J.A.; Hall, T.; Hillas, A.M.; Lamb, R.C.; Lessard, R.W.; Masterson, C.; McEnery, J.E.; Mohanty, G.; Moriarty, P.

    1999-01-01

    The energy spectrum of Markarian 421 in flaring states has been measured from 0.3 to 10 TeV using both small and large zenith angle observations with the Whipple Observatory 10 m imaging telescope. The large zenith angle technique is useful for extending spectra to high energies, and the extraction of spectra with this technique is discussed. The resulting spectrum of Markarian 421 is fitted reasonably well by a simple power law: J(E)=E -2.54±0.03±0.10 photons m -1 s -1 TeV -1 , where the first set of errors is statistical and the second set is systematic. This is in contrast to our recently reported spectrum of Markarian 501, which over a similar energy range has substantial curvature. The differences in TeV energy spectra of gamma-ray blazars reflect both the physics of the gamma-ray production mechanism and possibly differential absorption effects at the source or in the intergalactic medium. Since Markarian 421 and Markarian 501 have almost the same redshift (0.031 and 0.033, respectively), the difference in their energy spectra must be intrinsic to the sources and not due to intergalactic absorption, assuming the intergalactic infrared background is uniform. copyright copyright 1999. The American Astronomical Society

  8. The cluster environments of powerful, high-redshift radio galaxies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yates, M.G.

    1989-01-01

    We present deep imaging of a sample of 25 powerful radio galaxies in the redshift range 0.15 gr ) about each source, a measure of the richness of environment. The powerful radio galaxies in this sample at z>0.3 occupy environments nearly as rich on average as Abell class 0 clusters of galaxies, about three times richer than the environments of the z<0.3 radio galaxies. This trend in cluster environment is consistent with that seen in radio-loud quasars over the same redshift range. Our previous work on the 3CR sample suggested that the fundamental parameter which correlates with the richness of environment might be the radio luminosity of the galaxy, rather than its redshift. Our direct imaging confirms that the most powerful radio galaxies do inhabit rich environments. (author)

  9. Atomic Data Revisions for Transitions Relevant to Observations of Interstellar, Circumgalactic, and Intergalactic Matter

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cashman, Frances H.; Kulkarni, Varsha P. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208 (United States); Kisielius, Romas; Bogdanovich, Pavel [Institute of Theoretical Physics and Astronomy, Vilnius University, Saulėtekio al. 3, LT-10222 Vilnius (Lithuania); Ferland, Gary J. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506 (United States)

    2017-05-01

    Measurements of element abundances in galaxies from astrophysical spectroscopy depend sensitively on the atomic data used. With the goal of making the latest atomic data accessible to the community, we present a compilation of selected atomic data for resonant absorption lines at wavelengths longward of 911.753 Å (the H i Lyman limit), for key heavy elements (heavier than atomic number 5) of astrophysical interest. In particular, we focus on the transitions of those ions that have been observed in the Milky Way interstellar medium (ISM), the circumgalactic medium (CGM) of the Milky Way and/or other galaxies, and the intergalactic medium (IGM). We provide wavelengths, oscillator strengths, associated accuracy grades, and references to the oscillator strength determinations. We also attempt to compare and assess the recent oscillator strength determinations. For about 22% of the lines that have updated oscillator strength values, the differences between the former values and the updated ones are ≳0.1 dex. Our compilation will be a useful resource for absorption line studies of the ISM, as well as studies of the CGM and IGM traced by sight lines to quasars and gamma-ray bursts. Studies (including those enabled by future generations of extremely large telescopes) of absorption by galaxies against the light of background galaxies will also benefit from our compilation.

  10. A NEW METHOD TO DIRECTLY MEASURE THE JEANS SCALE OF THE INTERGALACTIC MEDIUM USING CLOSE QUASAR PAIRS

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rorai, Alberto; Hennawi, Joseph F.; White, Martin

    2013-01-01

    Although the baryons in the intergalactic medium (IGM) trace dark matter fluctuations on megaparsec scales, on smaller scales ∼100 kpc, fluctuations are suppressed because the finite temperature gas is pressure supported against gravity, analogous to the classical Jeans argument. This Jeans filtering scale, which quantifies the small-scale structure of the IGM, has fundamental cosmological implications. First, it provides a thermal record of heat injected by ultraviolet photons during cosmic reionization events, and thus constrains the thermal and reionization history of the universe. Second, the Jeans scale determines the clumpiness of the IGM, a critical ingredient in models of cosmic reionization. Third, it sets the minimum mass scale for gravitational collapse from the IGM, and hence plays a pivotal role in galaxy formation. Unfortunately, it is extremely challenging to measure the Jeans scale via the standard technique of analyzing purely longitudinal Lyα forest spectra, because the thermal Doppler broadening of absorption lines along the line-of-sight, is highly degenerate with Jeans smoothing. In this work, we show that the Jeans filtering scale can be directly measured by characterizing the coherence of correlated Lyα forest absorption in close quasar pairs, with separations small enough ∼100 kpc to resolve it. We present a novel technique for this purpose, based on the probability density function (PDF) of phase angle differences of homologous longitudinal Fourier modes in close quasar pair spectra. A Bayesian formalism is introduced based on the phase angle PDF, and Markov Chain Monte Carlo techniques are used to characterize the precision of a hypothetical Jeans scale measurement, and explore degeneracies with other thermal parameters governing the IGM. A semi-analytical model of the Lyα forest is used to generate a large grid (500) of thermal models from a dark matter only simulation. Our full parameter study indicates that a realistic sample of

  11. A NEW METHOD TO DIRECTLY MEASURE THE JEANS SCALE OF THE INTERGALACTIC MEDIUM USING CLOSE QUASAR PAIRS

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Rorai, Alberto; Hennawi, Joseph F. [Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie, Königstuhl 17, D-69117 Heidelberg (Germany); White, Martin [Department of Astronomy, University of California at Berkeley, 601 Campbell Hall, Berkeley, CA 94720-3411 (United States)

    2013-10-01

    Although the baryons in the intergalactic medium (IGM) trace dark matter fluctuations on megaparsec scales, on smaller scales ∼100 kpc, fluctuations are suppressed because the finite temperature gas is pressure supported against gravity, analogous to the classical Jeans argument. This Jeans filtering scale, which quantifies the small-scale structure of the IGM, has fundamental cosmological implications. First, it provides a thermal record of heat injected by ultraviolet photons during cosmic reionization events, and thus constrains the thermal and reionization history of the universe. Second, the Jeans scale determines the clumpiness of the IGM, a critical ingredient in models of cosmic reionization. Third, it sets the minimum mass scale for gravitational collapse from the IGM, and hence plays a pivotal role in galaxy formation. Unfortunately, it is extremely challenging to measure the Jeans scale via the standard technique of analyzing purely longitudinal Lyα forest spectra, because the thermal Doppler broadening of absorption lines along the line-of-sight, is highly degenerate with Jeans smoothing. In this work, we show that the Jeans filtering scale can be directly measured by characterizing the coherence of correlated Lyα forest absorption in close quasar pairs, with separations small enough ∼100 kpc to resolve it. We present a novel technique for this purpose, based on the probability density function (PDF) of phase angle differences of homologous longitudinal Fourier modes in close quasar pair spectra. A Bayesian formalism is introduced based on the phase angle PDF, and Markov Chain Monte Carlo techniques are used to characterize the precision of a hypothetical Jeans scale measurement, and explore degeneracies with other thermal parameters governing the IGM. A semi-analytical model of the Lyα forest is used to generate a large grid (500) of thermal models from a dark matter only simulation. Our full parameter study indicates that a realistic sample of

  12. The Lyman continuum escape fraction of galaxies at z = 3.3 in the VUDS-LBC/COSMOS field

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grazian, A.; Giallongo, E.; Gerbasi, R.; Fiore, F.; Fontana, A.; Le Fèvre, O.; Pentericci, L.; Vanzella, E.; Zamorani, G.; Cassata, P.; Garilli, B.; Le Brun, V.; Maccagni, D.; Tasca, L. A. M.; Thomas, R.; Zucca, E.; Amorín, R.; Bardelli, S.; Cassarà, L. P.; Castellano, M.; Cimatti, A.; Cucciati, O.; Durkalec, A.; Giavalisco, M.; Hathi, N. P.; Ilbert, O.; Lemaux, B. C.; Paltani, S.; Ribeiro, B.; Schaerer, D.; Scodeggio, M.; Sommariva, V.; Talia, M.; Tresse, L.; Vergani, D.; Bonchi, A.; Boutsia, K.; Capak, P.; Charlot, S.; Contini, T.; de la Torre, S.; Dunlop, J.; Fotopoulou, S.; Guaita, L.; Koekemoer, A.; López-Sanjuan, C.; Mellier, Y.; Merlin, E.; Paris, D.; Pforr, J.; Pilo, S.; Santini, P.; Scoville, N.; Taniguchi, Y.; Wang, P. W.

    2016-01-01

    Context. The ionizing Lyman continuum flux escaping from high-redshift galaxies into the intergalactic medium is a fundamental quantity to understand the physical processes involved in the reionization epoch. However, from an observational point of view, direct detections of HI ionizing photons at high redshifts are feasible for galaxies mainly in the interval z ~ 3-4. Aims: We have investigated a sample of star-forming galaxies at z ~ 3.3 to search for possible detections of Lyman continuum ionizing photons escaping from galaxy halos. Methods: We used deep ultraviolet (UV) imaging in the COSMOS field, obtained with the prime focus camera LBC at the LBT telescope, along with a catalogue of spectroscopic redshifts obtained by the VIMOS Ultra Deep Survey (VUDS) to build a sample of 45 galaxies at z ~ 3.3 with L> 0.5 L∗. We obtained deep LBC images of galaxies with spectroscopic redshifts in the interval 3.27 28%, but a detailed analysis of their properties reveals that, with the exception of two marginal detections (S/N ~ 2) in the U-band, all the other eight galaxies are most likely contaminated by the UV flux of low-redshift interlopers located close (in angular position) to the high-z targets. The average escape fraction derived from the stacking of the cleaned sample was constrained to fescrel Chile, under Large Programme 185.A-0791 and on observations made at the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) at Mt. Graham (Arizona, USA).

  13. The Origin and Evolution of Interstellar Dust in the Local and High-redshift Universe

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dwek, Eliahu

    2012-01-01

    In this talk I will begin by reviewing our current state of knowledge regarding the origin and evolution of dust in the local solar neighborhood. using chemical evolution models, I will discuss their many different input parameters and their uncertainties. An important consequence of these models is the delayed injection of dust from AGB stars, compared to supernova-condensed dust, into the interstellar medium. I will show that these stellar evolutionary effects on dust composition are manifested in the infrared spectra of local galaxies. The delayed production of dust in AGB stars has also important consequences for the origin of the large amount of dust detected in high-redshift galaxies, when the universe was less that approx. 1 Gyr old. Supernovae may have been the only viable dust sources in those galaxies. Recent observations of sN1987a show a significant mass of dust in the ejecta of this SN. Is that production rate high enough to account for the observed dust mass in these galaxies? If not, what are the alternative viable sources of dust, and how do they depend on the nature of the galaxy (starburst or AGN) and its star formation history .

  14. CLASH: EXTREME EMISSION-LINE GALAXIES AND THEIR IMPLICATION ON SELECTION OF HIGH-REDSHIFT GALAXIES

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Huang, Xingxing; Wang, Junxian; Shu, Xinwen; Zheng, Wei; Ford, Holland; Lemze, Doron; Moustakas, John; Van der Wel, Arjen; Zitrin, Adi; Frye, Brenda L.; Postman, Marc; Bradley, Larry; Coe, Dan; Bartelmann, Matthias; Benítez, Narciso; Broadhurst, Tom; Donahue, Megan; Infante, Leopoldo

    2015-01-01

    We utilize the Cluster Lensing And Supernova survey with Hubble observations of 25 clusters to search for extreme emission-line galaxies (EELGs). The selections are carried out in two central bands: F105W (Y 105 ) and F125W (J 125 ), as the flux of the central bands could be enhanced by the presence of [O III] λλ4959, 5007 at redshifts of ∼0.93-1.14 and 1.57-1.79, respectively. The multiband observations help to constrain the equivalent widths (EWs) of emission lines. Thanks to cluster lensing, we are able to identify 52 candidates down to an intrinsic limiting magnitude of 28.5 and to a rest-frame [O III] λλ4959, 5007 EW of ≅ 3700 Å. Our samples include a number of EELGs at lower luminosities that are missed in other surveys, and the extremely high EW can only be found in such faint galaxies. These EELGs can mimic a dropout feature similar to that of high-redshift galaxies and contaminate the color-color selection of high-redshift galaxies when the signal-to-noise ratio is limited or the band coverage is incomplete

  15. CLASH: EXTREME EMISSION-LINE GALAXIES AND THEIR IMPLICATION ON SELECTION OF HIGH-REDSHIFT GALAXIES

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Huang, Xingxing; Wang, Junxian; Shu, Xinwen [CAS Key Laboratory for Research in Galaxies and Cosmology, Department of Astronomy, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026 (China); Zheng, Wei; Ford, Holland; Lemze, Doron [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University, 3400 North Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218 (United States); Moustakas, John [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Siena College, 515 Loudon Road, Loudonville, NY 12211 (United States); Van der Wel, Arjen [Max-Planck Institute for Astronomy, Königstuhl 17, D-69117, Heidelberg (Germany); Zitrin, Adi [Cahill Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics, California Institute of Technology, MS 249-17, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States); Frye, Brenda L. [Steward Observatory/Department of Astronomy, University of Arizona, 933 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721-0065 (United States); Postman, Marc; Bradley, Larry; Coe, Dan [Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21208 (United States); Bartelmann, Matthias [Leiden Observatory, Leiden University, P. O. Box 9513, 2300 RA Leiden (Netherlands); Benítez, Narciso [Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (CSIC), C/Camino Bajo de Huétor 24, Granada E-18008 (Spain); Broadhurst, Tom [Department of Theoretical Physics, University of Basque Country UPV/EHU E-Bilbao (Spain); Donahue, Megan [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824 (United States); Infante, Leopoldo, E-mail: hxx@mail.ustc.edu.cn [Departamento de Astronoía y Astrofísica, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, V. Mackenna 4860 Santiago 22 (Chile); and others

    2015-03-01

    We utilize the Cluster Lensing And Supernova survey with Hubble observations of 25 clusters to search for extreme emission-line galaxies (EELGs). The selections are carried out in two central bands: F105W (Y {sub 105}) and F125W (J {sub 125}), as the flux of the central bands could be enhanced by the presence of [O III] λλ4959, 5007 at redshifts of ∼0.93-1.14 and 1.57-1.79, respectively. The multiband observations help to constrain the equivalent widths (EWs) of emission lines. Thanks to cluster lensing, we are able to identify 52 candidates down to an intrinsic limiting magnitude of 28.5 and to a rest-frame [O III] λλ4959, 5007 EW of ≅ 3700 Å. Our samples include a number of EELGs at lower luminosities that are missed in other surveys, and the extremely high EW can only be found in such faint galaxies. These EELGs can mimic a dropout feature similar to that of high-redshift galaxies and contaminate the color-color selection of high-redshift galaxies when the signal-to-noise ratio is limited or the band coverage is incomplete.

  16. ACCOUNTING FOR COSMIC VARIANCE IN STUDIES OF GRAVITATIONALLY LENSED HIGH-REDSHIFT GALAXIES IN THE HUBBLE FRONTIER FIELD CLUSTERS

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Robertson, Brant E.; Stark, Dan P. [Steward Observatory, University of Arizona, 933 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721 (United States); Ellis, Richard S. [Department of Astronomy, California Institute of Technology, MS 249-17, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States); Dunlop, James S.; McLure, Ross J.; McLeod, Derek, E-mail: brant@email.arizona.edu [Institute for Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, Royal Observatory, Edinburgh EH9 3HJ (United Kingdom)

    2014-12-01

    Strong gravitational lensing provides a powerful means for studying faint galaxies in the distant universe. By magnifying the apparent brightness of background sources, massive clusters enable the detection of galaxies fainter than the usual sensitivity limit for blank fields. However, this gain in effective sensitivity comes at the cost of a reduced survey volume and, in this Letter, we demonstrate that there is an associated increase in the cosmic variance uncertainty. As an example, we show that the cosmic variance uncertainty of the high-redshift population viewed through the Hubble Space Telescope Frontier Field cluster Abell 2744 increases from ∼35% at redshift z ∼ 7 to ≳ 65% at z ∼ 10. Previous studies of high-redshift galaxies identified in the Frontier Fields have underestimated the cosmic variance uncertainty that will affect the ultimate constraints on both the faint-end slope of the high-redshift luminosity function and the cosmic star formation rate density, key goals of the Frontier Field program.

  17. ACCOUNTING FOR COSMIC VARIANCE IN STUDIES OF GRAVITATIONALLY LENSED HIGH-REDSHIFT GALAXIES IN THE HUBBLE FRONTIER FIELD CLUSTERS

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Robertson, Brant E.; Stark, Dan P.; Ellis, Richard S.; Dunlop, James S.; McLure, Ross J.; McLeod, Derek

    2014-01-01

    Strong gravitational lensing provides a powerful means for studying faint galaxies in the distant universe. By magnifying the apparent brightness of background sources, massive clusters enable the detection of galaxies fainter than the usual sensitivity limit for blank fields. However, this gain in effective sensitivity comes at the cost of a reduced survey volume and, in this Letter, we demonstrate that there is an associated increase in the cosmic variance uncertainty. As an example, we show that the cosmic variance uncertainty of the high-redshift population viewed through the Hubble Space Telescope Frontier Field cluster Abell 2744 increases from ∼35% at redshift z ∼ 7 to ≳ 65% at z ∼ 10. Previous studies of high-redshift galaxies identified in the Frontier Fields have underestimated the cosmic variance uncertainty that will affect the ultimate constraints on both the faint-end slope of the high-redshift luminosity function and the cosmic star formation rate density, key goals of the Frontier Field program

  18. Accounting for Cosmic Variance in Studies of Gravitationally Lensed High-redshift Galaxies in the Hubble Frontier Field Clusters

    Science.gov (United States)

    Robertson, Brant E.; Ellis, Richard S.; Dunlop, James S.; McLure, Ross J.; Stark, Dan P.; McLeod, Derek

    2014-12-01

    Strong gravitational lensing provides a powerful means for studying faint galaxies in the distant universe. By magnifying the apparent brightness of background sources, massive clusters enable the detection of galaxies fainter than the usual sensitivity limit for blank fields. However, this gain in effective sensitivity comes at the cost of a reduced survey volume and, in this Letter, we demonstrate that there is an associated increase in the cosmic variance uncertainty. As an example, we show that the cosmic variance uncertainty of the high-redshift population viewed through the Hubble Space Telescope Frontier Field cluster Abell 2744 increases from ~35% at redshift z ~ 7 to >~ 65% at z ~ 10. Previous studies of high-redshift galaxies identified in the Frontier Fields have underestimated the cosmic variance uncertainty that will affect the ultimate constraints on both the faint-end slope of the high-redshift luminosity function and the cosmic star formation rate density, key goals of the Frontier Field program.

  19. Are High-redshift Galaxies Hot? Temperature of z > 5 Galaxies and Implications for Their Dust Properties

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Faisst, Andreas L.; Capak, Peter L.; Masters, Daniel C.; Yan, Lin; Pavesi, Riccardo; Riechers, Dominik A.; Barišić, Ivana; Cooke, Kevin C.; Kartaltepe, Jeyhan S.

    2017-01-01

    Recent studies have found a significant evolution and scatter in the relationship between the UV spectral slope ( β UV ) and the infrared excess (IRX; L IR / L UV ) at z > 4, suggesting different dust properties of these galaxies. The total far-infrared (FIR) luminosity is key for this analysis, but it is poorly constrained in normal (main-sequence) star-forming z > 5 galaxies, where often only one single FIR point is available. To better inform estimates of the FIR luminosity, we construct a sample of local galaxies and three low-redshift analogues of z > 5 systems. The trends in this sample suggest that normal high-redshift galaxies have a warmer infrared (IR) spectral energy distribution (SED) compared to average z < 4 galaxies that are used as priors in these studies. The blueshifted peak and mid-IR excess emission could be explained by a combination of a larger fraction of metal-poor interstellar medium being optically thin to ultraviolet (UV) light and a stronger UV radiation field due to high star formation densities. Assuming a maximally warm IR SED suggests a 0.6 dex increase in total FIR luminosities, which removes some tension between the dust attenuation models and observations of the IRX− β relation at z > 5. Despite this, some galaxies still fall below the minimum IRX− β relation derived with standard dust cloud models. We propose that radiation pressure in these highly star-forming galaxies causes a spatial offset between dust clouds and young star-forming regions within the lifetime of O/B stars. These offsets change the radiation balance and create viewing-angle effects that can change UV colors at fixed IRX. We provide a modified model that can explain the location of these galaxies on the IRX− β diagram.

  20. Are High-redshift Galaxies Hot? Temperature of z > 5 Galaxies and Implications for Their Dust Properties

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Faisst, Andreas L.; Capak, Peter L.; Masters, Daniel C. [Infrared Processing and Analysis Center, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States); Yan, Lin [Cahill Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States); Pavesi, Riccardo; Riechers, Dominik A. [Department of Astronomy, Cornell University, Space Sciences Building, Ithaca, NY 14853 (United States); Barišić, Ivana [Max-Planck Institut für Astronomie, Königstuhl 17, D-69117, Heidelberg (Germany); Cooke, Kevin C.; Kartaltepe, Jeyhan S., E-mail: afaisst@ipac.caltech.edu [School of Physics and Astronomy, Rochester Institute of Technology, 84 Lomb Memorial Drive, Rochester, NY 14623 (United States)

    2017-09-20

    Recent studies have found a significant evolution and scatter in the relationship between the UV spectral slope ( β {sub UV}) and the infrared excess (IRX; L {sub IR}/ L {sub UV}) at z > 4, suggesting different dust properties of these galaxies. The total far-infrared (FIR) luminosity is key for this analysis, but it is poorly constrained in normal (main-sequence) star-forming z > 5 galaxies, where often only one single FIR point is available. To better inform estimates of the FIR luminosity, we construct a sample of local galaxies and three low-redshift analogues of z > 5 systems. The trends in this sample suggest that normal high-redshift galaxies have a warmer infrared (IR) spectral energy distribution (SED) compared to average z < 4 galaxies that are used as priors in these studies. The blueshifted peak and mid-IR excess emission could be explained by a combination of a larger fraction of metal-poor interstellar medium being optically thin to ultraviolet (UV) light and a stronger UV radiation field due to high star formation densities. Assuming a maximally warm IR SED suggests a 0.6 dex increase in total FIR luminosities, which removes some tension between the dust attenuation models and observations of the IRX− β relation at z > 5. Despite this, some galaxies still fall below the minimum IRX− β relation derived with standard dust cloud models. We propose that radiation pressure in these highly star-forming galaxies causes a spatial offset between dust clouds and young star-forming regions within the lifetime of O/B stars. These offsets change the radiation balance and create viewing-angle effects that can change UV colors at fixed IRX. We provide a modified model that can explain the location of these galaxies on the IRX− β diagram.

  1. The Abundance of Low-Luminosity Lyα Emitters at High Redshift

    Science.gov (United States)

    Santos, Michael R.; Ellis, Richard S.; Kneib, Jean-Paul; Richard, Johan; Kuijken, Konrad

    2004-05-01

    We derive the luminosity function of high-redshift Lyα-emitting sources from a deep, blind, spectroscopic survey that utilized strong-lensing magnification by intermediate-redshift clusters of galaxies. We observed carefully selected regions near nine clusters, consistent with magnification factors generally greater than 10 for the redshift range 4.5account our varying intrinsic Lyα line sensitivity as a function of wavelength and sky position. By virtue of the strong magnification factor, we provide constraints on the Lyα luminosity function to unprecedented limits of 1040 ergs s -1, corresponding to a star formation rate of 0.01 Msolar yr-1. Our cumulative z~=5 Lyα luminosity function is consistent with a power-law form n(>L)~L-1 over 1041-1042.5 ergs s-1. When combined with the results of other surveys, limited at higher luminosities, our results suggest evidence for the suppression of star formation in low-mass halos, as predicted in popular models of galaxy formation. Data presented herein were obtained at the W. M. Keck Observatory, which is operated as a scientific partnership among the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The Observatory was made possible by the generous financial support of the W. M. Keck Foundation.

  2. BL Lacertae Objects Beyond Redshift 1.3 - UV-to-NIR Photometry and Photometric Redshift for Fermi/LAT Blazars

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rau, A.; Schady, P.; Greiner, J.; Salvato, M.; Ajello, M.; Bottacini, E.; Gehrels, N.; Afonso, P. M. J.; Elliott, J.; Filgas, R.; hide

    2011-01-01

    Context. Observations of the gamma-ray sky with Fermi led to significant advances towards understanding blazars, the most extreme class of Active Galactic Nuclei. A large fraction of the population detected by Fermi is formed by BL Lacertae (BL Lac) objects, whose sample has always suffered from a severe redshift incompleteness due to the quasi-featureless optical spectra. Aims. Our goal is to provide a significant increase of the number of confirmed high-redshift BL Lac objects contained in the 2 LAC Fermi/LAT catalog. Methods. For 103 Fermi/LAT blazars, photometric redshifts using spectral energy distribution fitting have been obtained. The photometry includes 13 broad-band filters from the far ultraviolet to the near-IR observed with Swift/UVOT and the multi-channel imager GROND at the MPG/ESO 2.2m telescope. Data have been taken quasi-simultaneously and the remaining source-intrinsic variability has been corrected for. Results. We release the UV-to-near-IR 13-band photometry for all 103 sources and provide redshift constraints for 75 sources without previously known redshift. Out of those, eight have reliable photometric redshifts at z > or approx. 1.3, while for the other 67 sources we provide upper limits. Six of the former eight are BL Lac objects, which quadruples the sample of confirmed high-redshift BL Lac. This includes three sources with redshifts higher than the previous record for BL Lac, including CRATES J0402-2615, with the best-fit solution at z approx. = 1.9.

  3. Superluminous supernovae as standardizable candles and high-redshift distance probes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Inserra, C.; Smartt, S. J., E-mail: c.inserra@qub.ac.uk [Astrophysics Research Centre, School of Mathematics and Physics, Queens University Belfast, Belfast BT7 1NN (United Kingdom)

    2014-12-01

    We investigate the use of type Ic superluminous supernovae (SLSN Ic) as standardizable candles and distance indicators. Their appeal as cosmological probes stems from their remarkable peak luminosities, hot blackbody temperatures, and bright rest-frame ultraviolet emission. We present a sample of 16 published SLSN, from redshifts 0.1 to 1.2, and calculate accurate K corrections to determine uniform magnitudes in 2 synthetic rest-frame filter bandpasses with central wavelengths at 400 nm and 520 nm. At 400 nm, we find an encouragingly low scatter in their uncorrected, raw mean magnitudes with M(400) = –21.86 ± 0.35 mag for the full sample of 16 objects. We investigate the correlation between their decline rates and peak magnitude and find that the brighter events appear to decline more slowly. In a manner similar to the Phillips relation for type Ia SNe (SNe Ia), we define a ΔM {sub 20} decline relation. This correlates peak magnitude and decline over 20 days and can reduce the scatter in standardized peak magnitudes to ±0.22 mag. We further show that M(400) appears to have a strong color dependence. Redder objects are fainter and also become redder faster. Using this peak magnitudecolor evolution relation, a surprisingly low scatter of between ±0.08 mag and ±0.13 mag can be found in peak magnitudes, depending on sample selection. However, we caution that only 8 to 10 objects currently have enough data to test this peak magnitudecolor evolution relation. We conclude that SLSN Ic are promising distance indicators in the high-redshift universe in regimes beyond those possible with SNe Ia. Although the empirical relationships are encouraging, the unknown progenitor systems, how they may evolve with redshift, and the uncertain explosion physics are of some concern. The two major measurement uncertainties are the limited numbers of low-redshift, well-studied objects available to test these relationships and internal dust extinction in the host galaxies.

  4. MAGNIFICATION AS A PROBE OF DARK MATTER HALOS AT HIGH REDSHIFTS

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Van Waerbeke, L.; Ford, J.; Milkeraitis, M.; Hildebrandt, H.

    2010-01-01

    We propose a new approach for measuring the mass profile of dark matter halos by stacking the lensing magnification of distant background galaxies behind groups and clusters of galaxies. The main advantage of lensing magnification is that, unlike lensing shear, it relies on accurate photometric redshifts only and not on galaxy shapes, thus enabling the study of the dark matter distribution with unresolved source galaxies. We present a feasibility study, using a real population of z ≥ 2.5 Lyman break galaxies as source galaxies, and where, similar to galaxy-galaxy lensing, foreground lenses are stacked in order to increase the signal-to-noise ratio. We find that there is an interesting new observational window for gravitational lensing as a probe of dark matter halos at high redshift, which does not require a measurement of galaxy shapes.

  5. Diffuse material, background radiation and the early universe

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rees, M.J.

    1980-01-01

    Observations that relate to a qualitative picture of how galaxies formed, and what the Universe was really like at still earlier times, are presented. Some lines of evidence on the universe at redshifts out to z approximately equal to 5 are discussed, concentrating on the evidence which suggests that intergalactic medium has evolved in a 'multi phase' fashion. Some aspects of the less recent history of the Universe (i.e z approximately greater than 100) are considered, particularly the microwave background and the spectrum of inhomogeneities. (Auth.)

  6. A far-infrared spectroscopic survey of intermediate redshift (ultra) luminous infrared galaxies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Magdis, Georgios E.; Rigopoulou, D.; Hopwood, R.; Clements, D.; Huang, J.-S.; Farrah, D.; Pearson, C.; Alonso-Herrero, Almudena; Bock, J. J.; Cooray, A.; Griffin, M. J.; Oliver, S.; Perez Fournon, I.; Riechers, D.; Swinyard, B. M.; Thatte, N.; Scott, D.; Valtchanov, I.; Vaccari, M.

    2014-01-01

    We present Herschel far-IR photometry and spectroscopy as well as ground-based CO observations of an intermediate redshift (0.21 ≤ z ≤ 0.88) sample of Herschel-selected (ultra)-luminous infrared galaxies (L IR > 10 11.5 L ☉ ). With these measurements, we trace the dust continuum, far-IR atomic line emission, in particular [C II] 157.7 μm, as well as the molecular gas of z ∼ 0.3 luminous and ultraluminous infrared galaxies (LIRGs and ULIRGs) and perform a detailed investigation of the interstellar medium of the population. We find that the majority of Herschel-selected intermediate redshift (U)LIRGs have L C II /L FIR ratios that are a factor of about 10 higher than that of local ULIRGs and comparable to that of local normal and high-z star-forming galaxies. Using our sample to bridge local and high-z [C II] observations, we find that the majority of galaxies at all redshifts and all luminosities follow an L C II –L FIR relation with a slope of unity, from which local ULIRGs and high- z active-galactic-nucleus-dominated sources are clear outliers. We also confirm that the strong anti-correlation between the L C II /L FIR ratio and the far-IR color L 60 /L 100 observed in the local universe holds over a broad range of redshifts and luminosities, in the sense that warmer sources exhibit lower L C II /L FIR at any epoch. Intermediate redshift ULIRGs are also characterized by large molecular gas reservoirs and by lower star formation efficiencies compared to that of local ULIRGs. The high L C II /L FIR ratios, the moderate star formation efficiencies (L IR /L CO ′ or L IR /M H 2 ), and the relatively low dust temperatures of our sample (which are also common characteristics of high-z star-forming galaxies with ULIRG-like luminosities) indicate that the evolution of the physical properties of (U)LIRGs between the present day and z > 1 is already significant by z ∼ 0.3.

  7. A NEWLY FORMING COLD FLOW PROTOGALACTIC DISK, A SIGNATURE OF COLD ACCRETION FROM THE COSMIC WEB

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Martin, D. Christopher; Matuszewski, Mateusz; Morrissey, Patrick; Neill, James D.; Moore, Anna; Steidel, Charles C.; Trainor, Ryan

    2016-01-01

    How galaxies form from, and are fueled by, gas from the intergalactic medium (IGM) remains one of the major unsolved problems in galaxy formation. While the classical Cold Dark Matter paradigm posits galaxies forming from cooling virialized gas, recent theory and numerical simulations have highlighted the importance of cold accretion flows—relatively cool ( T ∼ few × 104 K) unshocked gas streaming along filaments into dark matter halos, including hot, massive, high-redshift halos. These flows are thought to deposit gas and angular momentum into the circumgalactic medium resulting in disk- or ring-like structures, eventually coalescing into galaxies forming at filamentary intersections. We earlier reported a bright, Ly α emitting filament near the QSO HS1549+19 at redshift z = 2.843 discovered with the Palomar Cosmic Web Imager. We now report that the bright part of this filament is an enormous ( R > 100 kpc) rotating structure of hydrogen gas with a disk-like velocity profile consistent with a 4 × 10"1"2 M _⊙ halo. The orbital time of the outer part of the what we term a “protodisk” is comparable to the virialization time and the age of the universe at this redshift. We propose that this protodisk can only have recently formed from cold gas flowing directly from the cosmic web.

  8. A NEWLY FORMING COLD FLOW PROTOGALACTIC DISK, A SIGNATURE OF COLD ACCRETION FROM THE COSMIC WEB

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Martin, D. Christopher; Matuszewski, Mateusz; Morrissey, Patrick; Neill, James D. [Cahill Center for Astrophysics, California Institute of Technology, 1216 East California Boulevard, Mail Code 278-17, Pasadena, California 91125 (United States); Moore, Anna [Caltech Optical Observatories, Cahill Center for Astrophysics, California Institute of Technology, 1216 East California Boulevard, Mail Code 11-17, Pasadena, California 91125 (United States); Steidel, Charles C. [Cahill Center for Astrophysics, California Institute of Technology, 1216 East California Boulevard, Mail Code 249-17, Pasadena, California 91125 (United States); Trainor, Ryan, E-mail: cmartin@srl.caltech.edu [Department of Astronomy, University of California, Berkeley, 501 15 Campbell Hall, Berkeley, CA 94720 (United States)

    2016-06-10

    How galaxies form from, and are fueled by, gas from the intergalactic medium (IGM) remains one of the major unsolved problems in galaxy formation. While the classical Cold Dark Matter paradigm posits galaxies forming from cooling virialized gas, recent theory and numerical simulations have highlighted the importance of cold accretion flows—relatively cool ( T ∼ few × 104 K) unshocked gas streaming along filaments into dark matter halos, including hot, massive, high-redshift halos. These flows are thought to deposit gas and angular momentum into the circumgalactic medium resulting in disk- or ring-like structures, eventually coalescing into galaxies forming at filamentary intersections. We earlier reported a bright, Ly α emitting filament near the QSO HS1549+19 at redshift z = 2.843 discovered with the Palomar Cosmic Web Imager. We now report that the bright part of this filament is an enormous ( R > 100 kpc) rotating structure of hydrogen gas with a disk-like velocity profile consistent with a 4 × 10{sup 12} M {sub ⊙} halo. The orbital time of the outer part of the what we term a “protodisk” is comparable to the virialization time and the age of the universe at this redshift. We propose that this protodisk can only have recently formed from cold gas flowing directly from the cosmic web.

  9. The Transient High Energy Sky and Early Universe Surveyor

    Science.gov (United States)

    O'Brien, P. T.

    2016-04-01

    The Transient High Energy Sky and Early Universe Surveyor is a mission which will be proposed for the ESA M5 call. THESEUS will address multiple components in the Early Universe ESA Cosmic Vision theme:4.1 Early Universe,4.2 The Universe taking shape, and4.3 The evolving violent Universe.THESEUS aims at vastly increasing the discovery space of the high energy transient phenomena over the entire cosmic history. This is achieved via a unique payload providing an unprecedented combination of: (i) wide and deep sky monitoring in a broad energy band(0.3 keV-20 MeV; (ii) focusing capabilities in the soft X-ray band granting large grasp and high angular resolution; and (iii) on board near-IR capabilities for immediate transient identification and first redshift estimate.The THESEUS payload consists of: (i) the Soft X--ray Imager (SXI), a set of Lobster Eye (0.3--6 keV) telescopes with CCD detectors covering a total FOV of 1 sr; (ii) the X--Gamma-rays spectrometer (XGS), a non-imaging spectrometer (XGS) based on SDD+CsI, covering the same FOV than the Lobster telescope extending the THESEUS energy band up to 20 MeV; and (iii) a 70cm class InfraRed Telescope (IRT) observing up to 2 microns with imaging and moderate spectral capabilities.The main scientific goals of THESEUS are to:(a) Explore the Early Universe (cosmic dawn and reionization era) by unveiling the Gamma--Ray Burst (GRBs) population in the first billion years}, determining when did the first stars form, and investigating the re-ionization epoch, the interstellar medium (ISM) and the intergalactic medium (IGM) at high redshifts.(b) Perform an unprecedented deep survey of the soft X-ray transient Universe in order to fill the present gap in the discovery space of new classes of transient; provide a fundamental step forward in the comprehension of the physics of various classes of Galactic and extra--Galactic transients, and provide real time trigger and accurate locations of transients for follow-up with next

  10. First observation of a quasar with a redshift of 4

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Warren, S.J.; Hewett, P.C.; Irwin, M.J.; McMahon, R.G.; Bridgeland, M.T.; Bunclark, P.S.; Kibblewhite, E.J.

    1987-01-01

    The authors report the discovery of a quasar (0046-293) with a redshift z = 4.01 and another (0044-276) with a redshift z 3.42. The redshift of the former quasar is the highest yet detected and compares with the z = 3.80 of the previous most distant known quasar. The new quasars lie in the same field as three other known high-redshift quasars and were identified in a preliminary analysis of new multi-colour data derived from measurements of direct photographic plates taken with the United Kingdom Schmidt Telescope. The two new quasars are significantly fainter (msub(R) > 19) than previously known high-redshift quasars discovered by optical techniques, and demonstrate that the luminosity function of optically selected high-redshift quasars extends over at least two magnitudes. (author)

  11. THE BARYON CYCLE AT HIGH REDSHIFTS: EFFECTS OF GALACTIC WINDS ON GALAXY EVOLUTION IN OVERDENSE AND AVERAGE REGIONS

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sadoun, Raphael [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112-0830 (United States); Shlosman, Isaac; Choi, Jun-Hwan; Romano-Díaz, Emilio, E-mail: raphael.sadoun@utah.edu [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506-0055 (United States)

    2016-10-01

    We employ high-resolution cosmological zoom-in simulations focusing on a high-sigma peak and an average cosmological field at z ∼ 6–12 in order to investigate the influence of environment and baryonic feedback on galaxy evolution in the reionization epoch. Strong feedback, e.g., galactic winds, caused by elevated star formation rates (SFRs) is expected to play an important role in this evolution. We compare different outflow prescriptions: (i) constant wind velocity (CW), (ii) variable wind scaling with galaxy properties (VW), and (iii) no outflows (NW). The overdensity leads to accelerated evolution of dark matter and baryonic structures, absent from the “normal” region, and to shallow galaxy stellar mass functions at the low-mass end. Although CW shows little dependence on the environment, the more physically motivated VW model does exhibit this effect. In addition, VW can reproduce the observed specific SFR (sSFR) and the sSFR–stellar mass relation, which CW and NW fail to satisfy simultaneously. Winds also differ substantially in affecting the state of the intergalactic medium (IGM). The difference lies in the volume-filling factor of hot, high-metallicity gas, which is near unity for CW, while such gas remains confined in massive filaments for VW, and locked up in galaxies for NW. Such gas is nearly absent from the normal region. Although all wind models suffer from deficiencies, the VW model seems to be promising in correlating the outflow properties with those of host galaxies. Further constraints on the state of the IGM at high z are needed to separate different wind models.

  12. Cosmic thermalization and the microwave background radiation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rana, N.C.

    1981-01-01

    A different origin of the microwave background radiation (MBR) is suggested in view of some of the difficulties associated with the standard interpretation. Extensive stellar-type nucleosynthesis could provide radiation with the requisite energy density of the MBR and its spectral features are guaranteed by adequate thermalization of the above radiation by an ambient intergalactic dust medium. This thermalization must have occurred in quite recent epochs, say around epochs of redshift z = 7. The model emerges with consistent limits on the cosmic abundance of helium, the general luminosity evolution of the extragalactic objects, the baryonic matter density in the Universe (or, equivalently the deceleration parameter) and the degree of isotropy of MBR. The model makes definite predictions on issues like the properties of the intergalactic thermalizers, the degree of isotropy of MBR at submillimetre wavelengths and cluster emission in the far infrared. (author)

  13. CONSTRAINTS ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN STELLAR MASS AND HALO MASS AT LOW AND HIGH REDSHIFT

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Moster, Benjamin P.; Somerville, Rachel S.; Maulbetsch, Christian; Van den Bosch, Frank C.; Maccio, Andrea V.; Naab, Thorsten; Oser, Ludwig

    2010-01-01

    We use a statistical approach to determine the relationship between the stellar masses of galaxies and the masses of the dark matter halos in which they reside. We obtain a parameterized stellar-to-halo mass (SHM) relation by populating halos and subhalos in an N-body simulation with galaxies and requiring that the observed stellar mass function be reproduced. We find good agreement with constraints from galaxy-galaxy lensing and predictions of semi-analytic models. Using this mapping, and the positions of the halos and subhalos obtained from the simulation, we find that our model predictions for the galaxy two-point correlation function (CF) as a function of stellar mass are in excellent agreement with the observed clustering properties in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey at z = 0. We show that the clustering data do not provide additional strong constraints on the SHM function and conclude that our model can therefore predict clustering as a function of stellar mass. We compute the conditional mass function, which yields the average number of galaxies with stellar masses in the range m ± dm/2 that reside in a halo of mass M. We study the redshift dependence of the SHM relation and show that, for low-mass halos, the SHM ratio is lower at higher redshift. The derived SHM relation is used to predict the stellar mass dependent galaxy CF and bias at high redshift. Our model predicts that not only are massive galaxies more biased than low-mass galaxies at all redshifts, but also the bias increases more rapidly with increasing redshift for massive galaxies than for low-mass ones. We present convenient fitting functions for the SHM relation as a function of redshift, the conditional mass function, and the bias as a function of stellar mass and redshift.

  14. WEAK LINE QUASARS AT HIGH REDSHIFT: EXTREMELY HIGH ACCRETION RATES OR ANEMIC BROAD-LINE REGIONS?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shemmer, Ohad; Trakhtenbrot, Benny; Netzer, Hagai; Anderson, Scott F.; Brandt, W. N.; Schneider, Donald P.; Diamond-Stanic, Aleksandar M.; Fan Xiaohui; Lira, Paulina; Plotkin, Richard M.; Richards, Gordon T.; Strauss, Michael A.

    2010-01-01

    We present Gemini-North K-band spectra of two representative members of the class of high-redshift quasars with exceptionally weak rest-frame ultraviolet emission lines (WLQs), SDSS J114153.34+021924.3 at z = 3.55 and SDSS J123743.08+630144.9 at z = 3.49. In both sources, we detect an unusually weak broad Hβ line and place tight upper limits on the strengths of their [O III] lines. Virial, Hβ-based black hole mass determinations indicate normalized accretion rates of L/L Edd =0.4 for these sources, which is well within the range observed for typical quasars with similar luminosities and redshifts. We also present high-quality XMM-Newton imaging spectroscopy of SDSS J114153.34+021924.3 and find a hard-X-ray photon index of Γ = 1.91 +0.24 -0.22 , which supports the virial L/L Edd determination in this source. Our results suggest that the weakness of the broad emission lines in WLQs is not a consequence of an extreme continuum-emission source but instead due to abnormal broad emission line region properties.

  15. THE OPTICALLY UNBIASED GRB HOST (TOUGH) SURVEY. III. REDSHIFT DISTRIBUTION

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Jakobsson, P.; Chapman, R.; Vreeswijk, P. M. [Centre for Astrophysics and Cosmology, Science Institute, University of Iceland, Dunhagi 5, 107 Reykjavik (Iceland); Hjorth, J.; Malesani, D.; Fynbo, J. P. U.; Milvang-Jensen, B. [Dark Cosmology Centre, Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Juliane Maries Vej 30, 2100 Copenhagen (Denmark); Tanvir, N. R.; Starling, R. L. C. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leicester, University Road, Leicester LE1 7RH (United Kingdom); Letawe, G. [Departement d' Astrophysique, Geophysique et Oceanographie, ULg, Allee du 6 aout, 17-Bat. B5c B-4000 Liege (Sart-Tilman) (Belgium)

    2012-06-10

    We present 10 new gamma-ray burst (GRB) redshifts and another five redshift limits based on host galaxy spectroscopy obtained as part of a large program conducted at the Very Large Telescope (VLT). The redshifts span the range 0.345 {<=} z {approx}< 2.54. Three of our measurements revise incorrect values from the literature. The homogeneous host sample researched here consists of 69 hosts that originally had a redshift completeness of 55% (with 38 out of 69 hosts having redshifts considered secure). Our project, including VLT/X-shooter observations reported elsewhere, increases this fraction to 77% (53/69), making the survey the most comprehensive in terms of redshift completeness of any sample to the full Swift depth, analyzed to date. We present the cumulative redshift distribution and derive a conservative, yet small, associated uncertainty. We constrain the fraction of Swift GRBs at high redshift to a maximum of 14% (5%) for z > 6 (z > 7). The mean redshift of the host sample is assessed to be (z) {approx}> 2.2, with the 10 new redshifts reducing it significantly. Using this more complete sample, we confirm previous findings that the GRB rate at high redshift (z {approx}> 3) appears to be in excess of predictions based on assumptions that it should follow conventional determinations of the star formation history of the universe, combined with an estimate of its likely metallicity dependence. This suggests that either star formation at high redshifts has been significantly underestimated, for example, due to a dominant contribution from faint, undetected galaxies, or that GRB production is enhanced in the conditions of early star formation, beyond that usually ascribed to lower metallicity.

  16. Gas clump formation via thermal instability in high-redshift dwarf galaxy mergers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arata, Shohei; Yajima, Hidenobu; Nagamine, Kentaro

    2018-04-01

    Star formation in high-redshift dwarf galaxies is a key to understand early galaxy evolution in the early Universe. Using the three-dimensional hydrodynamics code GIZMO, we study the formation mechanism of cold, high-density gas clouds in interacting dwarf galaxies with halo masses of ˜3 × 107 M⊙, which are likely to be the formation sites of early star clusters. Our simulations can resolve both the structure of interstellar medium on small scales of ≲ 0.1 pc and the galactic disc simultaneously. We find that the cold gas clouds form in the post-shock region via thermal instability due to metal-line cooling, when the cooling time is shorter than the galactic dynamical time. The mass function of cold clouds shows almost a power-law initially with an upper limit of thermally unstable scale. We find that some clouds merge into more massive ones with ≳104 M⊙ within ˜ 2 Myr. Only the massive cold clouds with ≳ 103 M⊙ can keep collapsing due to gravitational instability, resulting in the formation of star clusters. We find that the clump formation is more efficient in the prograde-prograde merger than the prograde-retrograde case due to the difference in the degree of shear flow. In addition, we investigate the dependence of cloud mass function on metallicity and H2 abundance, and show that the cases with low metallicities (≲10-2 Z⊙) or high H2 abundance (≳10-3) cannot form massive cold clouds with ≳103 M⊙.

  17. Mid-Infrared Observations of Possible Intergalactic Star Forming Regions in the Leo Ring

    Science.gov (United States)

    Giroux, Mark; Smith, B.; Struck, C.

    2011-05-01

    Within the Leo group of galaxies lies a gigantic loop of intergalactic gas known as the Leo Ring. Not clearly associated with any particular galaxy, its origin remains uncertain. It may be a primordial intergalactic cloud alternatively, it may be a collision ring, or have a tidal origin. Combining archival Spitzer images of this structure with published UV and optical data, we investigate the mid-infrared properties of possible knots of star formation in the ring. These sources are very faint in the mid-infrared compared to star forming regions in the tidal features of interacting galaxies. This suggests they are either deficient in dust, or they may not be associated with the ring.

  18. Gamma-Ray Bursts: Lighting Up the High-Redshift Universe

    Science.gov (United States)

    Toy, Vicki Louise

    Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are the most luminous events in the Universe with Egamma,iso ˜ 1048-54 erg. Leading models hypothesize that GRBs are created from inter- nal collisions within collimated and ultrarelativistic jets. The jets then shock-heat the surrounding material (e.g. interstellar medium) to create GRB afterglows. These afterglows are extremely useful probes of the Universe because long GRBs are (1) bright events that can be used as backlights for absorption studies, (2) able to probe at all redshifts massive stars exist, and (3) transient events that allow us to follow- up on the host galaxies at late times. In this thesis we study the environments of GRBs. We first explore the relationship between GRB and supernova (SN) using a nearby GRB-SN (GRB 130702A/SN 2013dx) at z = 0.145. There are only nine other GRB-SNe that were close enough to have extensive spectroscopic and photometric follow-up of the SN at late times. We create a quasi-bolometic light curve of SN 2013dx and fit an analytical equation to the quasi-bolometric light curve combined with measurements of the photospheric velocity to determine SN parameters: mass of 56Ni, kinetic energy, and ejecta mass. We examine the relationship between SN parameters and E gamma,iso for the 10 well-studied GRB-SNe, but find no correlations despite numerical simulation predictions that the mass of 56Ni should correlate with the degree of asymmetry. We then move to larger distance scales and use GRB afterglows as bright back- lights to study distant galaxies. We examine the galactic environments of Damped Lyman-alpha systems (DLAs; NHI ≥ 1020.3 cm-2 ) identified with GRB afterglows at z ˜ 2 - 6. We use late-time photometry after the GRB afterglow has faded to determine star formation rates (SFRs) from rest-frame ultraviolet measurements or spectral energy distribution (SED) models from multiband photometry. We com- pare our sample's SFRs to a sample of quasars (QSOs) DLA host galaxies. Despite the

  19. THE DARK SIDE OF QSO FORMATION AT HIGH REDSHIFTS

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Romano-Diaz, Emilio; Shlosman, Isaac; Trenti, Michele; Hoffman, Yehuda

    2011-01-01

    Observed high-redshift QSOs, at z ∼ 6, may reside in massive dark matter (DM) halos of more than 10 12 M sun and are thus expected to be surrounded by overdense regions. In a series of 10 constrained simulations, we have tested the environment of such QSOs. The usage of constrained realizations has enabled us to address the issue of cosmic variance and to study the statistical properties of the QSO host halos. Comparing the computed overdensities with respect to the unconstrained simulations of regions empty of QSOs, assuming there is no bias between the DM and baryon distributions, and invoking an observationally constrained duty cycle for Lyman break galaxies, we have obtained the galaxy count number for the QSO environment. We find that a clear discrepancy exists between the computed and observed galaxy counts in the Kim et al. samples. Our simulations predict that on average eight z ∼ 6 galaxies per QSO field should have been observed, while Kim et al. detect on average four galaxies per QSO field compared to an average of three galaxies in a control sample (GOODS fields). While we cannot rule out a small number of statistics for the observed fields to high confidence, the discrepancy suggests that galaxy formation in the QSO neighborhood proceeds differently than in the field. We also find that QSO halos are the most massive of the simulated volume at z ∼ 6 but this is no longer true at z ∼ 3. This implies that QSO halos, even in a case where they are the most massive ones at high redshifts, do not evolve into the most massive galaxy clusters at z = 0.

  20. Contamination of Broad-Band Photometry by Nebular Emission in High Redshift Galaxies: Investigations with Keck's MOSFIRE Near-Infrared Spectrograph

    OpenAIRE

    Schenker, Matthew A.; Ellis, Richard S.; Konidaris, Nick P.; Stark, Daniel P.

    2013-01-01

    Earlier work has raised the potential importance of nebular emission in the derivation of the physical characteristics of high-redshift Lyman break galaxies. Within certain redshift ranges, and especially at z ≃ 6-7, such lines may be strong enough to reduce estimates of the stellar masses and ages of galaxies compared with those derived assuming the broadband photometry represents stellar light alone. To test this hypothesis at the highest redshifts where such lines can be probed with ground...

  1. THE PRESSURE OF THE STAR-FORMING INTERSTELLAR MEDIUM IN COSMOLOGICAL SIMULATIONS

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Munshi, Ferah; Quinn, Thomas R.; Governato, Fabio; Christensen, Charlotte; Wadsley, James; Loebman, Sarah; Shen, Sijing

    2014-01-01

    We examine the pressure of the star-forming interstellar medium (ISM) of Milky-Way-sized disk galaxies using fully cosmological SPH+N-body, high-resolution simulations. These simulations include explicit treatment of metal-line cooling in addition to dust and self-shielding, H 2 -based star formation. The four simulated halos have masses ranging from a few times 10 10 to nearly 10 12 solar masses. Using a kinematic decomposition of these galaxies into present-day bulge and disk components, we find that the typical pressure of the star-forming ISM in the present-day bulge is higher than that in the present-day disk by an order of magnitude. We also find that the pressure of the star-forming ISM at high redshift is, on average, higher than ISM pressures at low redshift. This explains why the bulge forms at higher pressures: the disk assembles at lower redshift when the ISM exhibits lower pressure and the bulge forms at high redshift when the ISM has higher pressure. If ISM pressure and IMF variation are tied together, these results could indicate a time-dependent IMF in Milky-Way-like systems as well as a different IMF in the bulge and the disk

  2. The high-ion content and kinematics of low-redshift Lyman limit systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fox, Andrew J.; Tumlinson, Jason; Bordoloi, Rongmon; Lehner, Nicolas; Howk, J. Christopher; Tripp, Todd M.; Katz, Neal; Prochaska, J. Xavier; Werk, Jessica K.; O'Meara, John M.; Oppenheimer, Benjamin D.; Davé, Romeel

    2013-01-01

    We study the high-ion content and kinematics of the circumgalactic medium around low-redshift galaxies using a sample of 23 Lyman limit systems (LLSs) at 0.08 < z < 0.93 observed with the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph on board the Hubble Space Telescope. In Lehner et al., we recently showed that low-z LLSs have a bimodal metallicity distribution. Here we extend that analysis to search for differences between the high-ion and kinematic properties of the metal-poor and metal-rich branches. We find that metal-rich LLSs tend to show higher O VI columns and broader O VI profiles than metal-poor LLSs. The total H I line width (Δv 90 statistic) in LLSs is not correlated with metallicity, indicating that the H I kinematics alone cannot be used to distinguish inflow from outflow and gas recycling. Among the 17 LLSs with O VI detections, all but two show evidence of kinematic sub-structure, in the form of O VI-H I centroid offsets, multiple components, or both. Using various scenarios for how the metallicities in the high-ion and low-ion phases of each LLS compare, we constrain the ionized hydrogen column in the O VI phase to lie in the range log N(H II) ∼ 17.6-20. The O VI phase of LLSs is a substantial baryon reservoir, with M(high-ion) ∼ 10 8.5-10.9 (r/150 kpc) 2 M ☉ , similar to the mass in the low-ion phase. Accounting for the O VI phase approximately doubles the contribution of low-z LLSs to the cosmic baryon budget.

  3. The high-ion content and kinematics of low-redshift Lyman limit systems

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fox, Andrew J.; Tumlinson, Jason; Bordoloi, Rongmon [Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218 (United States); Lehner, Nicolas; Howk, J. Christopher [Department of Physics, University of Notre Dame, 225 Nieuwland Science Hall, Notre Dame, IN 46556 (United States); Tripp, Todd M.; Katz, Neal [Department of Astronomy, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003 (United States); Prochaska, J. Xavier; Werk, Jessica K. [UCO/Lick Observatory, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064 (United States); O' Meara, John M. [Department of Physics, Saint Michael' s College, One Winooski Park, Colchester, VT 05439 (United States); Oppenheimer, Benjamin D. [Leiden Observatory, Leiden University, NL-2300 RA Leiden (Netherlands); Davé, Romeel, E-mail: afox@stsci.edu [University of the Western Cape, Robert Sobukwe Road, Bellville 7535 (South Africa)

    2013-12-01

    We study the high-ion content and kinematics of the circumgalactic medium around low-redshift galaxies using a sample of 23 Lyman limit systems (LLSs) at 0.08 < z < 0.93 observed with the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph on board the Hubble Space Telescope. In Lehner et al., we recently showed that low-z LLSs have a bimodal metallicity distribution. Here we extend that analysis to search for differences between the high-ion and kinematic properties of the metal-poor and metal-rich branches. We find that metal-rich LLSs tend to show higher O VI columns and broader O VI profiles than metal-poor LLSs. The total H I line width (Δv {sub 90} statistic) in LLSs is not correlated with metallicity, indicating that the H I kinematics alone cannot be used to distinguish inflow from outflow and gas recycling. Among the 17 LLSs with O VI detections, all but two show evidence of kinematic sub-structure, in the form of O VI-H I centroid offsets, multiple components, or both. Using various scenarios for how the metallicities in the high-ion and low-ion phases of each LLS compare, we constrain the ionized hydrogen column in the O VI phase to lie in the range log N(H II) ∼ 17.6-20. The O VI phase of LLSs is a substantial baryon reservoir, with M(high-ion) ∼ 10{sup 8.5-10.9} (r/150 kpc){sup 2} M {sub ☉}, similar to the mass in the low-ion phase. Accounting for the O VI phase approximately doubles the contribution of low-z LLSs to the cosmic baryon budget.

  4. Photon Mass Limits from Fast Radio Bursts

    CERN Document Server

    Bonetti, Luca; Mavromatos, Nikolaos E.; Sakharov, Alexander S.; Sarkisyan-Grinbaum, Edward K.G.; Spallicci, Alessandro D.A.M.

    2016-06-10

    The frequency-dependent time delays in fast radio bursts (FRBs) can be used to constrain the photon mass, if the FRB redshifts are known, but the similarity between the frequency dependences of dispersion due to plasma effects and a photon mass complicates the derivation of a limit on $m_\\gamma$. The redshift of FRB 150418 has been measured to $\\sim 2$% and its dispersion measure (DM) is known to $\\sim 0.1$%, but the strength of the constraint on $m_\\gamma$ is limited by uncertainties in the modelling of the host galaxy and the Milky Way, as well as possible inhomogeneities in the intergalactic medium (IGM). Allowing for these uncertainties, the recent data on FRB 150418 indicate that $m_\\gamma \\lesssim 1.7 \\times 10^{-14}$ eV c$^{-2}$ ($4.6 \\times 10^{-50}$ kg). In the future, the different redshift dependences of the plasma and photon mass contributions to DM can be used to improve the sensitivity to $m_\\gamma$ if more FRB redshifts are measured. For a fixed fractional uncertainty in the extra-galactic cont...

  5. Fluctuations in radiation backgrounds at high redshift and the first stars

    Science.gov (United States)

    Holzbauer, Lauren Nicole

    The first stars to light up our universe are as yet unseen, but there have been many attempts to elucidate their properties. The characteristics of these stars (`Population/Pop III' stars) that we do know lie mostly within theory; they formed out of metal-free hydrogen and helium gas contained in dark matter minihalos at redshifts z 20-30. The extent to which Pop III star formation reached into later times is unknown. Current and near future instruments are incapable of resolving individual Pop III stars. Consequently, astronomers must devise creative means with which to indirectly predict and measure and their properties. In this thesis, we will investigate a few of those means. We use a new method to model fluctuations of the Lyman-Werner (LW) and Lyman-alpha radiation backgrounds at high redshift. At these early epochs the backgrounds are symptoms of a universe newly lit with its first stars. LW photons (11.5-13.6 eV) are of particular interest because they dissociate molecular hydrogen, the primary coolant in the first minihalos that is necessary for star formation. By using a variation of the `halo model', which describes the spatial distribution and clustering of halos, we can efficiently generate power spectra for these backgrounds. Spatial fluctuations in the LW and (indirectly) the Lyman-alpha BG can tell us about the transition from primordial star formation to a more metal-enriched mode that marks the beginning of the second generation of stars in our Universe. The Near Infrared Background (NIRB) has for some time been considered a potential tool with which to indirectly observe the first stars. Ultraviolet (UV) emission from these stars is redshifted into the NIR band, making the NIRB amenable for hunting Pop III stellar signatures. There have been several measurements of the NIRB and subsequent theoretical studies attempting to explain them in recent years. Though controversial, residual levels of the mean NIRB intensity and anisotropies have been

  6. Low-redshift Lyman continuum leaking galaxies with high [O III]/[O II] ratios

    Science.gov (United States)

    Izotov, Y. I.; Worseck, G.; Schaerer, D.; Guseva, N. G.; Thuan, T. X.; Fricke, K. J.; Verhamme, A.; Orlitová, I.

    2018-05-01

    We present observations with the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph onboard the Hubble Space Telescope of five star-forming galaxies at redshifts z in the range 0.2993 - 0.4317 and with high emission-line flux ratios O32 = [O III]λ5007/[O II]λ3727 ˜ 8 - 27 aiming to detect the Lyman continuum (LyC) emission. We detect LyC emission in all galaxies with the escape fractions fesc(LyC) in a range of 2 - 72 per cent. A narrow Lyα emission line with two peaks in four galaxies and with three peaks in one object is seen in medium-resolution COS spectra with a velocity separation between the peaks Vsep varying from ˜153 km s-1 to ˜ 345 km s-1. We find a general increase of the LyC escape fraction with increasing O32 and decreasing stellar mass M⋆, but with a large scatter of fesc(LyC). A tight anti-correlation is found between fesc(LyC) and Vsep making Vsep a good parameter for the indirect determination of the LyC escape fraction. We argue that one possible source driving the escape of ionizing radiation is stellar winds and radiation from hot massive stars.

  7. Galaxy correlations at high redshift and the environment of quasars

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Phillipps, Steven

    1986-01-01

    In close line-of-sight pairs of quasars absorption lines may be seen in the spectrum of the further quasar at a redshift corresponding to that of the nearer quasar. This is indicative of the presence of an intervening galaxy belonging to the same cluster as the (galaxy containing the) nearer quasar. The likelihood of this occurring is calculated in terms of the galaxy correlation function and it is found that present results already suggest that quasars at redshifts above one must be associated with rich clusters. (author)

  8. Infrared-faint radio sources in the SERVS deep fields. Pinpointing AGNs at high redshift

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maini, A.; Prandoni, I.; Norris, R. P.; Spitler, L. R.; Mignano, A.; Lacy, M.; Morganti, R.

    2016-12-01

    Context. Infrared-faint radio sources (IFRS) represent an unexpected class of objects which are relatively bright at radio wavelength, but unusually faint at infrared (IR) and optical wavelengths. A recent and extensive campaign on the radio-brightest IFRSs (S1.4 GHz≳ 10 mJy) has provided evidence that most of them (if not all) contain an active galactic nuclei (AGN). Still uncertain is the nature of the radio-faintest IFRSs (S1.4 GHz≲ 1 mJy). Aims: The scope of this paper is to assess the nature of the radio-faintest IFRSs, testing their classification and improving the knowledge of their IR properties by making use of the most sensitive IR survey available so far: the Spitzer Extragalactic Representative Volume Survey (SERVS). We also explore how the criteria of IFRSs can be fine-tuned to pinpoint radio-loud AGNs at very high redshift (z > 4). Methods: We analysed a number of IFRS samples identified in SERVS fields, including a new sample (21 sources) extracted from the Lockman Hole. 3.6 and 4.5 μm IR counterparts of the 64 sources located in the SERVS fields were searched for and, when detected, their IR properties were studied. Results: We compared the radio/IR properties of the IR-detected IFRSs with those expected for a number of known classes of objects. We found that IR-detected IFRSs are mostly consistent with a mixture of high-redshift (z ≳ 3) radio-loud AGNs. The faintest ones (S1.4 GHz 100 μJy), however, could be also associated with nearer (z 2) dust-enshrouded star-burst galaxies. We also argue that, while IFRSs with radio-to-IR ratios >500 can very efficiently pinpoint radio-loud AGNs at redshift 2 < z < 4, lower radio-to-IR ratios ( 100-200) are expected for higher redshift radio-loud AGNs.

  9. QUEST FOR COSMOS SUBMILLIMETER GALAXY COUNTERPARTS USING CARMA AND VLA: IDENTIFYING THREE HIGH-REDSHIFT STARBURST GALAXIES

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Smolčić, V.; Navarrete, F.; Bertoldi, F.; Aravena, M.; Sheth, K.; Ilbert, O.; Yun, M. S.; Salvato, M.; Finoguenov, A.; McCracken, H. J.; Diener, C.; Aretxaga, I.; Hughes, D.; Wilson, G.; Riechers, D. A.; Capak, P.; Scoville, N. Z.; Karim, A.; Schinnerer, E.

    2012-01-01

    We report on interferometric observations at 1.3 mm at 2''-3'' resolution using the Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-wave Astronomy. We identify multi-wavelength counterparts of three submillimeter galaxies (SMGs; F 1m > 5.5 mJy) in the COSMOS field, initially detected with MAMBO and AzTEC bolometers at low, ∼10''-30'', resolution. All three sources—AzTEC/C1, Cosbo-3, and Cosbo-8—are identified to coincide with positions of 20 cm radio sources. Cosbo-3, however, is not associated with the most likely radio counterpart, closest to the MAMBO source position, but with that farther away from it. This illustrates the need for intermediate-resolution (∼2'') mm-observations to identify the correct counterparts of single-dish-detected SMGs. All of our three sources become prominent only at NIR wavelengths, and their mm-to-radio flux based redshifts suggest that they lie at redshifts z ∼> 2. As a proof of concept, we show that photometric redshifts can be well determined for SMGs, and we find photometric redshifts of 5.6 ± 1.2, 1.9 +0.9 –0.5 , and ∼4 for AzTEC/C1, Cosbo-3, and Cosbo-8, respectively. Using these we infer that these galaxies have radio-based star formation rates of ∼> 1000 M ☉ yr –1 and IR luminosities of ∼10 13 L ☉ consistent with properties of high-redshift SMGs. In summary, our sources reflect a variety of SMG properties in terms of redshift and clustering, consistent with the framework that SMGs are progenitors of z ∼ 2 and today's passive galaxies.

  10. The [CII] 158 μm line emission in high-redshift galaxies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lagache, G.; Cousin, M.; Chatzikos, M.

    2018-02-01

    Gas is a crucial component of galaxies, providing the fuel to form stars, and it is impossible to understand the evolution of galaxies without knowing their gas properties. The [CII] fine structure transition at 158 μm is the dominant cooling line of cool interstellar gas, and is the brightest of emission lines from star forming galaxies from FIR through metre wavelengths, almost unaffected by attenuation. With the advent of ALMA and NOEMA, capable of detecting [CII]-line emission in high-redshift galaxies, there has been a growing interest in using the [CII] line as a probe of the physical conditions of the gas in galaxies, and as a star formation rate (SFR) indicator at z ≥ 4. In this paper, we have used a semi-analytical model of galaxy evolution (G.A.S.) combined with the photoionisation code CLOUDY to predict the [CII] luminosity of a large number of galaxies (25 000 at z ≃ 5) at 4 ≤ z ≤ 8. We assumed that the [CII]-line emission originates from photo-dominated regions. At such high redshift, the CMB represents a strong background and we discuss its effects on the luminosity of the [CII] line. We studied the L[CII ]-SFR and L[ CII ]-Zg relations and show that they do not strongly evolve with redshift from z = 4 and to z = 8. Galaxies with higher [CII] luminosities tend to have higher metallicities and higher SFRs but the correlations are very broad, with a scatter of about 0.5 and 0.8 dex for L[ CII ]-SFR and L[ CII ]-Zg, respectively. Our model reproduces the L[ CII ]-SFR relations observed in high-redshift star-forming galaxies, with [CII] luminosities lower than expected from local L[ CII ]-SFR relations. Accordingly, the local observed L[ CII ]-SFR relation does not apply at high-z (z ≳ 5), even when CMB effects are ignored. Our model naturally produces the [CII] deficit (i.e. the decrease of L[ CII ]/LIR with LIR), which appears to be strongly correlated with the intensity of the radiation field in our simulated galaxies. We then predict the

  11. PROBING THE EPOCH OF REIONIZATION WITH THE Lyα FOREST AT z ∼ 4-5

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cen Renyue; McDonald, Patrick; Trac, Hy; Loeb, Abraham

    2009-01-01

    The inhomogeneous cosmological reionization process leaves tangible imprints in the intergalactic medium (IGM) down to z ∼ 4-5. The Lyα forest flux power spectrum provides a potentially powerful probe of the epoch of reionization. With the existing Sloan Digital Sky Survey I/II quasar sample, we show that two cosmological reionization scenarios, one completing reionization at z = 6 and the other at z = 9, can be distinguished at ∼7σ level by utilizing Lyα forest absorption spectra at z = 3.9-4.1 in the absence of other physical processes that may also affect the Lyα flux power spectrum. The difference may not be distinguishable at such high significance after marginalization over other effects, but, in any case, one will need to consider this effect in order to correctly interpret the power spectrum in this redshift range. The redshift range z = 4-5 may provide the best window because there are still enough transmitted flux and quasars to measure precise statistics of the flux fluctuations, and the IGM still retains a significant amount of memory of reionization.

  12. Cosmological constraints with clustering-based redshifts

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kovetz, Ely D.; Raccanelli, Alvise; Rahman, Mubdi

    2017-07-01

    We demonstrate that observations lacking reliable redshift information, such as photometric and radio continuum surveys, can produce robust measurements of cosmological parameters when empowered by clustering-based redshift estimation. This method infers the redshift distribution based on the spatial clustering of sources, using cross-correlation with a reference data set with known redshifts. Applying this method to the existing Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) photometric galaxies, and projecting to future radio continuum surveys, we show that sources can be efficiently divided into several redshift bins, increasing their ability to constrain cosmological parameters. We forecast constraints on the dark-energy equation of state and on local non-Gaussianity parameters. We explore several pertinent issues, including the trade-off between including more sources and minimizing the overlap between bins, the shot-noise limitations on binning and the predicted performance of the method at high redshifts, and most importantly pay special attention to possible degeneracies with the galaxy bias. Remarkably, we find that once this technique is implemented, constraints on dynamical dark energy from the SDSS imaging catalogue can be competitive with, or better than, those from the spectroscopic BOSS survey and even future planned experiments. Further, constraints on primordial non-Gaussianity from future large-sky radio-continuum surveys can outperform those from the Planck cosmic microwave background experiment and rival those from future spectroscopic galaxy surveys. The application of this method thus holds tremendous promise for cosmology.

  13. MAPPING THE GALAXY COLOR–REDSHIFT RELATION: OPTIMAL PHOTOMETRIC REDSHIFT CALIBRATION STRATEGIES FOR COSMOLOGY SURVEYS

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Masters, Daniel; Steinhardt, Charles; Faisst, Andreas [Infrared Processing and Analysis Center, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States); Capak, Peter [Spitzer Science Center, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States); Stern, Daniel; Rhodes, Jason [Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109 (United States); Ilbert, Olivier [Aix Marseille Universite, CNRS, LAM (Laboratoire dAstrophysique de Marseille) UMR 7326, F-13388, Marseille (France); Salvato, Mara [Max-Planck-Institut für extraterrestrische Physik, Giessenbachstrasse, D-85748 Garching (Germany); Schmidt, Samuel [Department of Physics, University of California, Davis, CA 95616 (United States); Longo, Giuseppe [Department of Physics, University Federico II, via Cinthia 6, I-80126 Napoli (Italy); Paltani, Stephane; Coupon, Jean [Department of Astronomy, University of Geneva ch. dcogia 16, CH-1290 Versoix (Switzerland); Mobasher, Bahram [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521 (United States); Hoekstra, Henk [Leiden Observatory, Leiden University, P.O. Box 9513, 2300 RA, Leiden (Netherlands); Hildebrandt, Hendrik [Argelander-Institut für Astronomie, Universität Bonn, Auf dem H’´ugel 71, D-53121 Bonn (Germany); Speagle, Josh [Department of Astronomy, Harvard University, 60 Garden Street, MS 46, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States); Kalinich, Adam [Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139 (United States); Brodwin, Mark [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Missouri, Kansas City, MO 64110 (United States); Brescia, Massimo; Cavuoti, Stefano [Astronomical Observatory of Capodimonte—INAF, via Moiariello 16, I-80131, Napoli (Italy)

    2015-11-01

    Calibrating the photometric redshifts of ≳10{sup 9} galaxies for upcoming weak lensing cosmology experiments is a major challenge for the astrophysics community. The path to obtaining the required spectroscopic redshifts for training and calibration is daunting, given the anticipated depths of the surveys and the difficulty in obtaining secure redshifts for some faint galaxy populations. Here we present an analysis of the problem based on the self-organizing map, a method of mapping the distribution of data in a high-dimensional space and projecting it onto a lower-dimensional representation. We apply this method to existing photometric data from the COSMOS survey selected to approximate the anticipated Euclid weak lensing sample, enabling us to robustly map the empirical distribution of galaxies in the multidimensional color space defined by the expected Euclid filters. Mapping this multicolor distribution lets us determine where—in galaxy color space—redshifts from current spectroscopic surveys exist and where they are systematically missing. Crucially, the method lets us determine whether a spectroscopic training sample is representative of the full photometric space occupied by the galaxies in a survey. We explore optimal sampling techniques and estimate the additional spectroscopy needed to map out the color–redshift relation, finding that sampling the galaxy distribution in color space in a systematic way can efficiently meet the calibration requirements. While the analysis presented here focuses on the Euclid survey, similar analysis can be applied to other surveys facing the same calibration challenge, such as DES, LSST, and WFIRST.

  14. Requirements on the Redshift Accuracy for future Supernova and Number Count Surveys

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Huterer, Dragan; Kim, Alex; Broderick, Tamara

    2004-01-01

    We investigate the required redshift accuracy of type Ia supernova and cluster number-count surveys in order for the redshift uncertainties not to contribute appreciably to the dark energy parameter error budget. For the SNAP supernova experiment, we find that, without the assistance of ground-based measurements, individual supernova redshifts would need to be determined to about 0.002 or better, which is a challenging but feasible requirement for a low-resolution spectrograph. However, we find that accurate redshifts for z < 0.1 supernovae, obtained with ground-based experiments, are sufficient to immunize the results against even relatively large redshift errors at high z. For the future cluster number-count surveys such as the South Pole Telescope, Planck or DUET, we find that the purely statistical error in photometric redshift is less important, and that the irreducible, systematic bias in redshift drives the requirements. The redshift bias will have to be kept below 0.001-0.005 per redshift bin (which is determined by the filter set), depending on the sky coverage and details of the definition of the minimal mass of the survey. Furthermore, we find that X-ray surveys have a more stringent required redshift accuracy than Sunyaev-Zeldovich (SZ) effect surveys since they use a shorter lever arm in redshift; conversely, SZ surveys benefit from their high redshift reach only so long as some redshift information is available for distant (zgtrsim1) clusters

  15. Quasars Probing Quasars: The Circumgalactic Medium Surrounding Z 2 Quasars

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lau, Marie Wingyee

    Models of galaxy formation make the most direct predictions on gas related processes. Specifically, a picture on how gas flows through dark matter halos and onto galaxies to fuel star formation. A major prediction is that massive halos, including those hosting the progenitors of massive elliptical galaxies, exhibit a higher fraction of hot gas with T 107 K. Another prediction is that some mechanism must be invoked to quench the supply of cool gas in massive systems. Under the current galaxy formation paradigm, every massive galaxy has undergone a quasar phase, making high-redshift quasars the progenitors of inactive supermassive black holes found in the center of nearly all galaxies. Moreover, quasars clustering implies Mhalo = 1012.5 Msun , making quasar-host galaxies the progenitors of present day, massive, red and dead galaxies. The Quasars Probing Quasars survey is well-suited to examine gas related processes in the context of massive galaxy formation, as well as quasar feedback. To date the survey has selected 700 closely projected quasar pairs. To study the circumgalactic medium, a sub-sample of pairs with projected separation within 300 kpc at the foreground quasar's redshift are selected. From the first to seventh paper in the Quasars Probing Quasars series, the statistical results had been limited to covering fractions, equivalent widths, and without precise redshift measurements of the foreground quasars. Signatures of quasar feedback in the cool circumgalactic medium had not been identified. Hence, a sub-sample of 14 pairs with echellette spectra are selected for more detailed analysis. It is found that the low and high ions roughly trace each other in velocity structure. The HI and low ion surface densities decline with projected distance. HI absorption is strong even beyond the virial radius. Unresolved Lyalpha emission in one case and NV detection in another case together imply that a fraction of transverse sightlines are illuminated. The ionization

  16. FIRST Bent-Double Radio Sources: Tracers of High-Redshift Clusters

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Blanton, E. L.; Gregg, M. D.; Helfand, D. J.; Becker, R. H.; White, R. L.

    2000-01-01

    Bent-double radio sources can act as tracers for clusters of galaxies. We present imaging and spectroscopic observations of the environments surrounding 10 of these sources (most of them wide-angle tails [WATs]) selected from the VLA FIRST survey. Our results reveal a previously unknown cluster associated with eight of the radio sources with redshifts in the range 0.33< z<0.85; furthermore, we cannot rule out that the other two bent doubles may be associated with clusters at higher redshift. Richness measurements indicate that these clusters are typical of the majority of those found in the Abell catalog, with a range of Abell richness classes from 0 to 2. The line-of-sight velocity dispersions are very different from cluster to cluster, ranging from approximately 300 to 1100 km s-1. At the upper end of these intervals, we may be sampling some of the highest redshift massive clusters known. Alternatively, the large velocity dispersions measured in some of the clusters may indicate that they are merging systems with significant substructure, consistent with recent ideas concerning WAT formation (Burns et al.). (c) 2000 The American Astronomical Society

  17. FIREBALL-2: Pioneering Space UV Baryon Mapping (Lead Institution)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martin, Christopher

    This is the lead proposal of a multi-institutional submission. The Faint Intergalactic-medium Redshifted Emission Balloon (FIREBall-2) is designed to discover and map faint emission from the Intergalactic Medium (IGM) for low redshift galaxies. This balloon is a modification of FIREBall-1 (FB-1), a path-finding mission built by our team with two successful flights. FB-1 provided the strongest constrains on IGM emission available from any instrument at the time. FIREBall-2 has been significantly upgraded compared to FB-1, and is nearly ready for integration and testing before an anticipated Spring 2016 launch from Ft. Sumner, New Mexico. The spectrograph has been redesigned and an upgraded detector system including a groundbreaking high QE, low-noise, UV CCD detector is under final testing and will improve instrument performance by more than an order of magnitude. CNES is providing the spectrograph, gondola, and flight support team, with construction of all components nearly complete. The initial FIREBall-2 launch is now scheduled for Spring 2016. FIREBall-2 combines several innovations: -First ever multi-object UV spectrograph -Arcsecond quality balloon pointing system, developed from scratch, improved from FB-1 -Partnership of national space agencies (NASA & CNES); highly leveraged NASA resources -A Schmidt corrector built into the UV grating for better optical performance and throughput -A total of four women trained in space experimental astrophysics, including 3 Columbia Ph.Ds. and 1 Caltech Ph.D. -A total of 7 graduate students trained on FIREBall-1 (3) and FIREBall-2 (4), with opportunities for more in future flights. FIREBall-2 will test key technologies and science strategies for a future mission to map IGM emission. Its flights will provide important training for the next generation of space astrophysicists working in UV instrumentation. Most importantly, FIREBall-2 will detect emission from the CGM of nearby galaxies, providing the first census of the

  18. CONTAMINATION OF BROADBAND PHOTOMETRY BY NEBULAR EMISSION IN HIGH-REDSHIFT GALAXIES: INVESTIGATIONS WITH KECK'S MOSFIRE NEAR-INFRARED SPECTROGRAPH

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Schenker, Matthew A; Ellis, Richard S; Konidaris, Nick P; Stark, Daniel P

    2013-01-01

    Earlier work has raised the potential importance of nebular emission in the derivation of the physical characteristics of high-redshift Lyman break galaxies. Within certain redshift ranges, and especially at z ≅ 6-7, such lines may be strong enough to reduce estimates of the stellar masses and ages of galaxies compared with those derived assuming the broadband photometry represents stellar light alone. To test this hypothesis at the highest redshifts where such lines can be probed with ground-based facilities, we examine the near-infrared spectra of a representative sample of 28 3.0 < z < 3.8 Lyman break galaxies using the newly commissioned MOSFIRE near-infrared spectrograph at the Keck I telescope. We use these data to derive the rest-frame equivalent widths (EWs) of [O III] emission and show that these are comparable with estimates derived using the spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting technique introduced for sources of known redshift by Stark et al. Although our current sample is modest, its [O III] EW distribution is consistent with that inferred for Hα based on SED fitting of Stark et al.'s larger sample of 3.8 < z < 5 galaxies. For a subset of survey galaxies, we use the combination of optical and near-infrared spectroscopy to quantify kinematics of outflows in z ≅ 3.5 star-forming galaxies and discuss the implications for reionization measurements. The trends we uncover underline the dangers of relying purely on broadband photometry to estimate the physical properties of high-redshift galaxies and emphasize the important role of diagnostic spectroscopy

  19. CONTINUUM OBSERVATIONS AT 350 MICRONS OF HIGH-REDSHIFT MOLECULAR EMISSION LINE GALAXIES

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wu Jingwen; Evans, Neal J.; Dunham, Michael M.; Vanden Bout, Paul A.

    2009-01-01

    We report observations of 15 high-redshift (z = 1 - 5) galaxies at 350 μm using the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory and Submillimeter High Angular Resolution Camera II array detector. Emission was detected from eight galaxies, for which far-infrared luminosities, star formation rates (SFRs), total dust masses, and minimum source size estimates are derived. These galaxies have SFRs and star formation efficiencies comparable to other high-redshift molecular emission line galaxies. The results are used to test the idea that star formation in these galaxies occurs in a large number of basic units, the units being similar to star-forming clumps in the Milky Way. The luminosity of these extreme galaxies can be reproduced in a simple model with (0.9-30)x10 6 dense clumps, each with a luminosity of 5 x 10 5 L sun , the mean value for such clumps in the Milky Way. Radiative transfer models of such clumps can provide reasonable matches to the overall spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of the galaxies. They indicate that the individual clumps are quite opaque in the far-infrared. Luminosity-to-mass ratios vary over two orders of magnitude, correlating strongly with the dust temperature derived from simple fits to the SED. The gas masses derived from the dust modeling are in remarkable agreement with those from CO luminosities, suggesting that the assumptions going into both calculations are reasonable.

  20. Why high-latitude clouds in our galaxy and the highly redshifted clouds observed in front of QSOs do not belong to the same parent population

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wolfe, A.M.

    1983-01-01

    International Ultraviolet Explorer observations of high-latitude gas in our Galaxy reveal the presence of both C II and C IV absorption in the spectra of stars with z>2 kpc. On the other hand, C II is generally absent from unbiased samples of QSO redshift systems with C IV absorption. Comparison between the equivalent-width distributions of the QSO sample and of the galactic sample (which is suitably corrected for contamination by disk absorption) shows that a probability that the two samples are drawn from the same parent population is less than 1% for C II and less than 10% for C IV. Thus, contrary to prevailing opinion, it is highly unlikely that gaseous halos comprised of material with properties of the high-latitude gas are responsible for the bulk of known QSO redshift systems. However, gaseous halos with bimodal states of ionization, or in which the ionization state is a unique function of redshift, are compatible with QSO absorption statistics

  1. THE QUEST FOR DUSTY STAR-FORMING GALAXIES AT HIGH REDSHIFT z ≳ 4

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mancuso, C.; Lapi, A.; Shi, J.; Aversa, R.; Danese, L.; Gonzalez-Nuevo, J.

    2016-01-01

    We exploit the continuity equation approach and “main-sequence” star formation timescales to show that the observed high abundance of galaxies with stellar masses ≳ a few 10 10 M ⊙ at redshift z ≳ 4 implies the existence of a galaxy population featuring large star formation rates (SFRs) ψ ≳ 10 2 M ⊙ yr −1 in heavily dust-obscured conditions. These galaxies constitute the high-redshift counterparts of the dusty star-forming population already surveyed for z ≲ 3 in the far-IR band by the Herschel Space Observatory . We work out specific predictions for the evolution of the corresponding stellar mass and SFR functions out to z ∼ 10, determining that the number density at z ≲ 8 for SFRs ψ ≳ 30 M ⊙ yr −1 cannot be estimated relying on the UV luminosity function alone, even when standard corrections for dust extinction based on the UV slope are applied. We compute the number counts and redshift distributions (including galaxy-scale gravitational lensing) of this galaxy population, and show that current data from the AzTEC - LABOCA , SCUBA-2 , and ALMA - SPT surveys are already addressing it. We demonstrate how an observational strategy based on color preselection in the far-IR or (sub-)millimeter band with Herschel and SCUBA-2 , supplemented by photometric data from on-source observations with ALMA , can allow us to reconstruct the bright end of the SFR functions out to z ≲ 8. In parallel, such a challenging task can be managed by exploiting current UV surveys in combination with (sub-)millimeter observations by ALMA and NIKA2 and/or radio observations by SKA and its precursors.

  2. Cosmic magnetic fields

    CERN Document Server

    Kronberg, Philipp P

    2016-01-01

    Magnetic fields are important in the Universe and their effects contain the key to many astrophysical phenomena that are otherwise impossible to understand. This book presents an up-to-date overview of this fast-growing topic and its interconnections to plasma processes, astroparticle physics, high energy astrophysics, and cosmic evolution. The phenomenology and impact of magnetic fields are described in diverse astrophysical contexts within the Universe, from galaxies to the filaments and voids of the intergalactic medium, and out to the largest redshifts. The presentation of mathematical formulae is accessible and is designed to add insight into the broad range of topics discussed. Written for graduate students and researchers in astrophysics and related disciplines, this volume will inspire readers to devise new ways of thinking about magnetic fields in space on galaxy scales and beyond.

  3. The MOSDEF Survey: A Stellar Mass–SFR–Metallicity Relation Exists at z ∼ 2.3

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sanders, Ryan L.; Shapley, Alice E.; Kriek, Mariska; Freeman, William R.; Reddy, Naveen A.; Siana, Brian; Coil, Alison L.; Mobasher, Bahram; Davé, Romeel; Shivaei, Irene; Azadi, Mojegan; Price, Sedona H.; Leung, Gene; Fetherholf, Tara; de Groot, Laura; Zick, Tom; Fornasini, Francesca M.; Barro, Guillermo

    2018-05-01

    We investigate the nature of the relation among stellar mass, star formation rate, and gas-phase metallicity (the {M}* –SFR–Z relation) at high redshifts using a sample of 260 star-forming galaxies at z ∼ 2.3 from the MOSDEF survey. We present an analysis of the high-redshift {M}* –SFR–Z relation based on several emission-line ratios for the first time. We show that a {M}* –SFR–Z relation clearly exists at z ∼ 2.3. The strength of this relation is similar to predictions from cosmological hydrodynamical simulations. By performing a direct comparison of stacks of z ∼ 0 and z ∼ 2.3 galaxies, we find that z ∼ 2.3 galaxies have ∼0.1 dex lower metallicity at fixed {M}* and SFR. In the context of chemical evolution models, this evolution of the {M}* –SFR–Z relation suggests an increase with redshift of the mass-loading factor at fixed {M}* , as well as a decrease in the metallicity of infalling gas that is likely due to a lower importance of gas recycling relative to accretion from the intergalactic medium at high redshifts. Performing this analysis simultaneously with multiple metallicity-sensitive line ratios allows us to rule out the evolution in physical conditions (e.g., N/O ratio, ionization parameter, and hardness of the ionizing spectrum) at fixed metallicity as the source of the observed trends with redshift and with SFR at fixed {M}* at z ∼ 2.3. While this study highlights the promise of performing high-order tests of chemical evolution models at high redshifts, detailed quantitative comparisons ultimately await a full understanding of the evolution of metallicity calibrations with redshift. Based on data obtained at the W. M. Keck Observatory, which is operated as a scientific partnership among the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and NASA, and was made possible by the generous financial support of the W. M. Keck Foundation.

  4. Selection and Physical Properties of High-redshift Galaxies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fang, G. W.

    2014-09-01

    galaxies; and the clustering amplitude of OGs is a factor of ˜2 larger than DGs. In Chapter 3, we pick out 1609 star-forming galaxies (sgzKs: gzK=(z-K)_{AB}-1.4(g-z)_{AB}≥ 0.2) and 422 passively evolving galaxies (pgzKs: gzK2.7) at z˜2 in the AEGIS field (K_{AB} rate (SFR) and specific SFR (sSFR) of sgzKs increase with redshift at all masses, implying that star-forming galaxies were much more active on average in the past. Moreover, the sSFR of massive galaxies is lower at all redshifts, suggesting that the mass growth of low-mass galaxies is more attributed to the star formation while comparing with high-mass galaxies. From the HST WFC3/F160W imaging data, we find that gzKs not only have diffuse structures, but also have single-object morphologies, implying that there are morphological variety and different formation processes for these galaxies at z˜2. In addition, we also find ˜ 10% of 828 gzKs can be classified as AGNs. In Chapter 4, we present Spitzer/IRS spectra of a sample of 14 ULIRGs with 0.2 {mJy} 10^{11} M_{⊙} and 410 M_⊙\\cdot yr^{-1}< SFR <1022 M_⊙\\cdot yr^{-1}, respectively. Their rest-frame optical morphologies are very diversified including string-like, extended/diffused, and even early type spiral morphologies, implying that there are different formation processes for these galaxies. We also search for active galactic nucleus (AGN) signature in our sample using X-ray, radio, and mid-infrared (MIR) observations. EGS22, EGS25, EGS27, and EGS34 are detected in the X-ray imaging. The X-ray luminosities for EGS22 and EGS34 can be accounted for by their intensive star formation. EGS25 and EGS27 have higher L_{2-10 keV}, indicating that they harbor AGNs. About 14% to 29% of the sample show signatures of AGNs in X-ray, MIR or radio. Finally, the summary of the whole thesis and outlook are presented in Chapter 5.

  5. ASSOCIATIONS OF HIGH-REDSHIFT QUASI-STELLAR OBJECTS WITH ACTIVE, LOW-REDSHIFT SPIRAL GALAXIES

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Burbidge, G.; Napier, W. M.

    2009-01-01

    Following the discovery in the 1960s of radio and optical QSOs it was found that some of them lie very close to low-redshift (z ≤ 0.01) spiral galaxies with separations of ∼<2 arcmin. These were discovered both serendipitously by many observers, and systematically by Arp. They are some of the brightest QSOs in radio and optical wavelengths and are very rare. We have carried out a new statistical analysis of most of those galaxy-QSO pairs and find that the configurations have high statistical significance. We show that gravitational microlensing due to stars or other dark objects in the halos of the galaxies apparently cannot account for the excess. Sampling or identification bias likewise seems unable to explain it. Following this up we selected all ∼4000 QSOs with g ≤ 18 from a catalog of confirmed QSOs in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, and compared them with various subsets of galaxies from the RC 3 galaxy catalog. In contrast to the earlier results, no significant excess of such QSOs was found around these galaxies. Possible reasons for the discrepancy are discussed.

  6. Is there a maximum star formation rate in high-redshift galaxies? , , ,

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Barger, A. J.; Cowie, L. L.; Chen, C.-C.; Casey, C. M.; Lee, N.; Sanders, D. B.; Williams, J. P.; Owen, F. N.; Wang, W.-H.

    2014-01-01

    We use the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope's SCUBA-2 camera to image a 400 arcmin 2 area surrounding the GOODS-N field. The 850 μm rms noise ranges from a value of 0.49 mJy in the central region to 3.5 mJy at the outside edge. From these data, we construct an 850 μm source catalog to 2 mJy containing 49 sources detected above the 4σ level. We use an ultradeep (11.5 μJy at 5σ) 1.4 GHz image obtained with the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array together with observations made with the Submillimeter Array to identify counterparts to the submillimeter galaxies. For most cases of multiple radio counterparts, we can identify the correct counterpart from new and existing Submillimeter Array data. We have spectroscopic redshifts for 62% of the radio sources in the 9' radius highest sensitivity region (556/894) and 67% of the radio sources in the GOODS-N region (367/543). We supplement these with a modest number of additional photometric redshifts in the GOODS-N region (30). We measure millimetric redshifts from the radio to submillimeter flux ratios for the unidentified submillimeter sample, assuming an Arp 220 spectral energy distribution. We find a radio-flux-dependent K – z relation for the radio sources, which we use to estimate redshifts for the remaining radio sources. We determine the star formation rates (SFRs) of the submillimeter sources based on their radio powers and their submillimeter fluxes and find that they agree well. The radio data are deep enough to detect star-forming galaxies with SFRs >2000 M ☉ yr –1 to z ∼ 6. We find galaxies with SFRs up to ∼6000 M ☉ yr –1 over the redshift range z = 1.5-6, but we see evidence for a turn-down in the SFR distribution function above 2000 M ☉ yr –1 .

  7. CALIBRATING PHOTOMETRIC REDSHIFT DISTRIBUTIONS WITH CROSS-CORRELATIONS

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Schulz, A. E.

    2010-01-01

    The next generation of proposed galaxy surveys will increase the number of galaxies with photometric redshift identifications by two orders of magnitude, drastically expanding both the redshift range and detection threshold from the current state of the art. Obtaining spectra for a fair subsample of these new data could be cumbersome and expensive. However, adequate calibration of the true redshift distribution of galaxies is vital to tapping the potential of these surveys to illuminate the processes of galaxy evolution and to constrain the underlying cosmology and growth of structure. We examine here an alternative to direct spectroscopic follow-up: calibration of the redshift distribution of photometric galaxies via cross-correlation with an overlapping spectroscopic survey whose members trace the same density field. We review the theory, develop a pipeline to implement the method, apply it to mock data from N-body simulations, and examine the properties of this redshift distribution estimator. We demonstrate that the method is generally effective, but the estimator is weakened by two main factors. One is that the correlation function of the spectroscopic sample must be measured in many bins along the line of sight, which renders the measurement noisy and interferes with high-quality reconstruction of the photometric redshift distribution. Also, the method is not able to disentangle the photometric redshift distribution from redshift dependence in the bias of the photometric sample. We establish the impact of these factors using our mock catalogs. We conclude that it may still be necessary to spectroscopically follow up a fair subsample of the photometric survey data. Nonetheless, it is significant that the method has been successfully implemented on mock data, and with further refinement it may appreciably decrease the number of spectra that will be needed to calibrate future surveys.

  8. Highly red-shifted NIR emission from a novel anthracene conjugated polymer backbone containing Pt( ii ) porphyrins

    KAUST Repository

    Freeman, D. M. E.

    2015-11-30

    © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2016. We present the synthesis of a novel diphenylanthracene (DPA) based semiconducting polymer. The polymer is solubilised by alkoxy groups attached directly to a DPA monomer, meaning the choice of co-monomer is not limited to exclusively highly solubilising moieties. Interestingly, the polymer shows a red-shifted elecroluminescence maximum (510 nm) when compared to its photoluminescence maximum (450 nm) which we attribute to excimer formation. The novel polymer was utilised as a host for a covalently-linked platinum(ii) complexed porphyrin dopant. Emission from these polymers was observed in the NIR and again showed almost a 100 nm red shift from photoluminescence to electroluminescence. This work demonstrates that utilising highly aggregating host materials is an effective tool for inducing red-shifted emission in OLEDs.

  9. An optical search for the intergalactic HI cloud in Leo

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kibblewhite, E.J.; Cawson, M.G.M.; Disney, M.J.; Phillipps, S.

    1985-01-01

    An optical search has been made for the large intergalactic HI cloud discovered from Arecibo by previous authors. A very deep red UKSTU plate of the area has been scanned by the APM machine and deep CCD frames of a small area near a peak in the HI emission have been acquired. No extended emission is found at the limiting surface brightness of the photographic material and no excess of stars above that expected from the Galaxy is found in the CCD data. However, due to the extreme size of the HI cloud, the upper limit on the total luminosity is that of a dwarf galaxy, Msub(B) >approx.-18. As its hydrogen and total masses would not be unusual for a galaxy, a highly extended very low surface brightness galaxy can not be ruled out, at present. (author)

  10. Direct comparison of observed magnitude-redshift relations in complete galaxy samples with systematic predictions of alternative redshift-distance laws

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Segal, I.E.

    1989-01-01

    The directly observed average apparent magnitude (or in one case, angular diameter) as a function of redshift in each of a number of large complete galaxy samples is compared with the predictions of hypothetical redshift-distance power laws, as a systematic statistical question. Due account is taken of observational flux limits by an entirely objective and reproducible optimal statistical procedure, and no assumptions are made regarding the distribution of the galaxies in space. The laws considered are of the form z varies as r p , where r denotes the distance, for p = 1, 2 and 3. The comparative fits of the various redshift-distance laws are similar in all the samples. Overall, the cubic law fits better than the linear law, but each shows substantial systematic deviations from observation. The quadratic law fits extremely well except at high redshifts in some of the samples, where no power law fits closely and the correlation of apparent magnitude with redshift is small or negative. In all cases, the luminosity function required for theoretical prediction was estimated from the sample by the non-parametric procedure ROBUST, whose intrinsic neutrality as programmed was checked by comprehensive computer simulations. (author)

  11. MAPPING THE MOST MASSIVE OVERDENSITY THROUGH HYDROGEN (MAMMOTH). I. METHODOLOGY

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cai, Zheng; Prochaska, J. Xavier; Lau, Marie Wingyee; Tejos, Nicolas [UCO/Lick Observatory, University of California, 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95064 (United States); Fan, Xiaohui; Frye, Brenda; McGreer, Ian [Steward Observatory, University of Arizona, 933 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721 (United States); Peirani, Sebastien [Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris, 98 bis, Boulevard Arago—F-75014 Paris (France); Bian, Fuyan [Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Mount Stromlo Observatory, Cotter Road, Weston ACT 2611 (Australia); Ho, Shirley [McWilliams Center for Cosmology, Department of Physics, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15213 (United States); Schneider, Donald P. [Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802 (United States)

    2016-12-20

    Modern cosmology predicts that a galaxy overdensity (e.g., protocluster) will be associated with a large intergalactic medium gas reservoir, which can be traced by Ly α forest absorption. We have undertaken a systematic study of the relation between Coherently Strong intergalactic Ly α Absorption systems (CoSLAs), which have the highest optical depth ( τ ) in the τ distribution, and mass overdensities on the scales of ∼10–20 h {sup −1} comoving Mpc. On such large scales, our cosmological simulations show a strong correlation between the effective optical depth ( τ {sub eff}) of the CoSLAs and the three-dimensional mass overdensity. In spectra with moderate signal-to-noise ratio, however, the profiles of CoSLAs can be confused with individual high column density absorbers. For z  > 2.6, where the corresponding Ly β is redshifted to the optical, we have developed a selection technique to distinguish between these two alternatives. We have applied this technique to ∼6000 sight lines provided by Sloan Digital Sky Survey III quasar survey at z = 2.6–3.3 with a continuum-to-noise ratio greater than 8, and we present a sample of five CoSLA candidates with τ {sub eff} on 15 h {sup −1} Mpc greater than 4.5× the mean optical depth. At lower redshifts of z  < 2.6, where the background quasar density is higher, the overdensity can be traced by intergalactic absorption groups using multiple sight lines with small angular separations. Our overdensity searches fully use the current and next generation of Ly α forest surveys, which cover a survey volume of >1 ( h {sup −1} Gpc){sup 3}. Systems traced by CoSLAs will yield a uniform sample of the most massive overdensities at z  > 2 to provide stringent constraints to models of structure formation.

  12. The onset of star formation 250 million years after the Big Bang

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hashimoto, Takuya; Laporte, Nicolas; Mawatari, Ken; Ellis, Richard S.; Inoue, Akio K.; Zackrisson, Erik; Roberts-Borsani, Guido; Zheng, Wei; Tamura, Yoichi; Bauer, Franz E.; Fletcher, Thomas; Harikane, Yuichi; Hatsukade, Bunyo; Hayatsu, Natsuki H.; Matsuda, Yuichi; Matsuo, Hiroshi; Okamoto, Takashi; Ouchi, Masami; Pelló, Roser; Rydberg, Claes-Erik; Shimizu, Ikkoh; Taniguchi, Yoshiaki; Umehata, Hideki; Yoshida, Naoki

    2018-05-01

    A fundamental quest of modern astronomy is to locate the earliest galaxies and study how they influenced the intergalactic medium a few hundred million years after the Big Bang1-3. The abundance of star-forming galaxies is known to decline4,5 from redshifts of about 6 to 10, but a key question is the extent of star formation at even earlier times, corresponding to the period when the first galaxies might have emerged. Here we report spectroscopic observations of MACS1149-JD16, a gravitationally lensed galaxy observed when the Universe was less than four per cent of its present age. We detect an emission line of doubly ionized oxygen at a redshift of 9.1096 ± 0.0006, with an uncertainty of one standard deviation. This precisely determined redshift indicates that the red rest-frame optical colour arises from a dominant stellar component that formed about 250 million years after the Big Bang, corresponding to a redshift of about 15. Our results indicate that it may be possible to detect such early episodes of star formation in similar galaxies with future telescopes.

  13. The evolution of grain mantles and silicate dust growth at high redshift

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ceccarelli, Cecilia; Viti, Serena; Balucani, Nadia; Taquet, Vianney

    2018-05-01

    In dense molecular clouds, interstellar grains are covered by mantles of iced molecules. The formation of the grain mantles has two important consequences: it removes species from the gas phase and promotes the synthesis of new molecules on the grain surfaces. The composition of the mantle is a strong function of the environment that the cloud belongs to. Therefore, clouds in high-zeta galaxies, where conditions - like temperature, metallicity, and cosmic ray flux - are different from those in the Milky Way, will have different grain mantles. In the last years, several authors have suggested that silicate grains might grow by accretion of silicon-bearing species on smaller seeds. This would occur simultaneously with the formation of the iced mantles and be greatly affected by its composition as a function of time. In this work, we present a numerical study of the grain mantle formation in high-zeta galaxies, and we quantitatively address the possibility of silicate growth. We find that the mantle thickness decreases with increasing redshift, from about 120 to 20 layers for z varying from 0 to 8. Furthermore, the mantle composition is also a strong function of the cloud redshift, with the relative importance of CO, CO2, ammonia, methane, and methanol highly varying with z. Finally, being Si-bearing species always a very minor component of the mantle, the formation of silicates in molecular clouds is practically impossible.

  14. THE QUEST FOR DUSTY STAR-FORMING GALAXIES AT HIGH REDSHIFT z ≳ 4

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mancuso, C.; Lapi, A.; Shi, J.; Aversa, R.; Danese, L. [SISSA, Via Bonomea 265, I-34136 Trieste (Italy); Gonzalez-Nuevo, J. [Departamento de Física, Universidad de Oviedo, C. Calvo Sotelo s/n, E-33007 Oviedo (Spain)

    2016-06-01

    We exploit the continuity equation approach and “main-sequence” star formation timescales to show that the observed high abundance of galaxies with stellar masses ≳ a few 10{sup 10} M {sub ⊙} at redshift z ≳ 4 implies the existence of a galaxy population featuring large star formation rates (SFRs) ψ ≳ 10{sup 2} M {sub ⊙} yr{sup −1} in heavily dust-obscured conditions. These galaxies constitute the high-redshift counterparts of the dusty star-forming population already surveyed for z ≲ 3 in the far-IR band by the Herschel Space Observatory . We work out specific predictions for the evolution of the corresponding stellar mass and SFR functions out to z ∼ 10, determining that the number density at z ≲ 8 for SFRs ψ ≳ 30 M {sub ⊙} yr{sup −1} cannot be estimated relying on the UV luminosity function alone, even when standard corrections for dust extinction based on the UV slope are applied. We compute the number counts and redshift distributions (including galaxy-scale gravitational lensing) of this galaxy population, and show that current data from the AzTEC - LABOCA , SCUBA-2 , and ALMA - SPT surveys are already addressing it. We demonstrate how an observational strategy based on color preselection in the far-IR or (sub-)millimeter band with Herschel and SCUBA-2 , supplemented by photometric data from on-source observations with ALMA , can allow us to reconstruct the bright end of the SFR functions out to z ≲ 8. In parallel, such a challenging task can be managed by exploiting current UV surveys in combination with (sub-)millimeter observations by ALMA and NIKA2 and/or radio observations by SKA and its precursors.

  15. Highly red-shifted NIR emission from a novel anthracene conjugated polymer backbone containing Pt( ii ) porphyrins

    KAUST Repository

    Freeman, D. M. E.; Minotto, A.; Duffy, Warren; Fallon, K. J.; McCulloch, Iain; Cacialli, F.; Bronstein, H.

    2015-01-01

    -monomer is not limited to exclusively highly solubilising moieties. Interestingly, the polymer shows a red-shifted elecroluminescence maximum (510 nm) when compared to its photoluminescence maximum (450 nm) which we attribute to excimer formation. The novel polymer

  16. The Overdense Environments of WISE-Selected, Ultra-Luminous, High-Redshift AGN in the Submillimeter

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Jones, Suzy F., E-mail: suzy.jones@chalmers.se [Department of Space, Earth, and Environment, Chalmers University of Technology, Onsala Space Observatory, Onsala (Sweden)

    2017-11-21

    The environments around WISE-selected hot dust obscured galaxies (Hot DOGs) and WISE/radio-selected active galactic nuclei (AGNs) at average redshifts of z = 2.7 and z = 1.7, respectively, were found to have overdensities of companion Submillimeter-selected sources. The overdensities were of ~2–3 and ~5–6, respectively, compared with blank field submm surveys. The space densities in both samples were found to be overdense compared to normal star-forming galaxies and Submillimeter galaxies (SMGs). All of the companion sources have consistent mid-IR colors and mid-IR to submm ratios to SMGs. Monte Carlo simulations show no angular correlation, which could indicate protoclusters on scales larger than the SCUBA-2 1.5 arcmin scale maps. WISE-selected AGNs appear to be good indicators of overdense areas of active galaxies at high redshift.

  17. Getting started With Amazon Redshift

    CERN Document Server

    Bauer, Stefan

    2013-01-01

    Getting Started With Amazon Redshift is a step-by-step, practical guide to the world of Redshift. Learn to load, manage, and query data on Redshift.This book is for CIOs, enterprise architects, developers, and anyone else who needs to get familiar with RedShift. The CIO will gain an understanding of what their technical staff is working on; the technical implementation personnel will get an in-depth view of the technology, and what it will take to implement their own solutions.

  18. Calibrating photometric redshifts of luminous red galaxies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Padmanabhan, Nikhil; Budavari, Tamas; Schlegel, David J.; Bridges, Terry; Brinkmann, Jonathan

    2005-01-01

    We discuss the construction of a photometric redshift catalogue of luminous red galaxies (LRGs) from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), emphasizing the principal steps necessary for constructing such a catalogue: (i) photometrically selecting the sample, (ii) measuring photometric redshifts and their error distributions, and (iii) estimating the true redshift distribution. We compare two photometric redshift algorithms for these data and find that they give comparable results. Calibrating against the SDSS and SDSS–2dF (Two Degree Field) spectroscopic surveys, we find that the photometric redshift accuracy is σ~ 0.03 for redshifts less than 0.55 and worsens at higher redshift (~ 0.06 for z < 0.7). These errors are caused by photometric scatter, as well as systematic errors in the templates, filter curves and photometric zero-points. We also parametrize the photometric redshift error distribution with a sum of Gaussians and use this model to deconvolve the errors from the measured photometric redshift distribution to estimate the true redshift distribution. We pay special attention to the stability of this deconvolution, regularizing the method with a prior on the smoothness of the true redshift distribution. The methods that we develop are applicable to general photometric redshift surveys.

  19. RECONSTRUCTING REDSHIFT DISTRIBUTIONS WITH CROSS-CORRELATIONS: TESTS AND AN OPTIMIZED RECIPE

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Matthews, Daniel J.; Newman, Jeffrey A.

    2010-01-01

    Many of the cosmological tests to be performed by planned dark energy experiments will require extremely well-characterized photometric redshift measurements. Current estimates for cosmic shear are that the true mean redshift of the objects in each photo-z bin must be known to better than 0.002(1 + z), and the width of the bin must be known to ∼0.003(1 + z) if errors in cosmological measurements are not to be degraded significantly. A conventional approach is to calibrate these photometric redshifts with large sets of spectroscopic redshifts. However, at the depths probed by Stage III surveys (such as DES), let alone Stage IV (LSST, JDEM, and Euclid), existing large redshift samples have all been highly (25%-60%) incomplete, with a strong dependence of success rate on both redshift and galaxy properties. A powerful alternative approach is to exploit the clustering of galaxies to perform photometric redshift calibrations. Measuring the two-point angular cross-correlation between objects in some photometric redshift bin and objects with known spectroscopic redshift, as a function of the spectroscopic z, allows the true redshift distribution of a photometric sample to be reconstructed in detail, even if it includes objects too faint for spectroscopy or if spectroscopic samples are highly incomplete. We test this technique using mock DEEP2 Galaxy Redshift survey light cones constructed from the Millennium Simulation semi-analytic galaxy catalogs. From this realistic test, which incorporates the effects of galaxy bias evolution and cosmic variance, we find that the true redshift distribution of a photometric sample can, in fact, be determined accurately with cross-correlation techniques. We also compare the empirical error in the reconstruction of redshift distributions to previous analytic predictions, finding that additional components must be included in error budgets to match the simulation results. This extra error contribution is small for surveys that sample

  20. COSMOLOGICAL IMPLICATIONS OF FAST RADIO BURST/GAMMA-RAY BURST ASSOCIATIONS

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Deng, Wei; Zhang, Bing, E-mail: deng@physics.unlv.edu, E-mail: zhang@physics.unlv.edu [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nevada Las Vegas, Las Vegas, NV 89154 (United States)

    2014-03-10

    If a small fraction of fast radio bursts (FRBs) are associated with gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), as recently suggested by Zhang, the combination of redshift measurements of GRBs and dispersion measure (DM) measurements of FRBs opens a new window to study cosmology. At z < 2 where the universe is essentially fully ionized, detections of FRB/GRB pairs can give an independent measurement of the intergalactic medium portion of the baryon mass fraction, Ω {sub b} f {sub IGM}, of the universe. If a good sample of FRB/GRB associations are discovered at higher redshifts, the free electron column density history can be mapped, which can be used to probe the reionization history of both hydrogen and helium in the universe. We apply our formulation to GRBs 101011A and 100704A that each might have an associated FRB, and constrained Ω {sub b} f {sub IGM} to be consistent with the value derived from other methods. The methodology developed here is also applicable, if the redshifts of FRBs not associated with GRBs can be measured by other means.

  1. COSMOLOGICAL IMPLICATIONS OF FAST RADIO BURST/GAMMA-RAY BURST ASSOCIATIONS

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Deng, Wei; Zhang, Bing

    2014-01-01

    If a small fraction of fast radio bursts (FRBs) are associated with gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), as recently suggested by Zhang, the combination of redshift measurements of GRBs and dispersion measure (DM) measurements of FRBs opens a new window to study cosmology. At z < 2 where the universe is essentially fully ionized, detections of FRB/GRB pairs can give an independent measurement of the intergalactic medium portion of the baryon mass fraction, Ω b f IGM , of the universe. If a good sample of FRB/GRB associations are discovered at higher redshifts, the free electron column density history can be mapped, which can be used to probe the reionization history of both hydrogen and helium in the universe. We apply our formulation to GRBs 101011A and 100704A that each might have an associated FRB, and constrained Ω b f IGM to be consistent with the value derived from other methods. The methodology developed here is also applicable, if the redshifts of FRBs not associated with GRBs can be measured by other means

  2. Dark-ages Reionization and Galaxy Formation Simulation - XIV. Gas accretion, cooling, and star formation in dwarf galaxies at high redshift

    Science.gov (United States)

    Qin, Yuxiang; Duffy, Alan R.; Mutch, Simon J.; Poole, Gregory B.; Geil, Paul M.; Mesinger, Andrei; Wyithe, J. Stuart B.

    2018-06-01

    We study dwarf galaxy formation at high redshift (z ≥ 5) using a suite of high-resolution, cosmological hydrodynamic simulations and a semi-analytic model (SAM). We focus on gas accretion, cooling, and star formation in this work by isolating the relevant process from reionization and supernova feedback, which will be further discussed in a companion paper. We apply the SAM to halo merger trees constructed from a collisionless N-body simulation sharing identical initial conditions to the hydrodynamic suite, and calibrate the free parameters against the stellar mass function predicted by the hydrodynamic simulations at z = 5. By making comparisons of the star formation history and gas components calculated by the two modelling techniques, we find that semi-analytic prescriptions that are commonly adopted in the literature of low-redshift galaxy formation do not accurately represent dwarf galaxy properties in the hydrodynamic simulation at earlier times. We propose three modifications to SAMs that will provide more accurate high-redshift simulations. These include (1) the halo mass and baryon fraction which are overestimated by collisionless N-body simulations; (2) the star formation efficiency which follows a different cosmic evolutionary path from the hydrodynamic simulation; and (3) the cooling rate which is not well defined for dwarf galaxies at high redshift. Accurate semi-analytic modelling of dwarf galaxy formation informed by detailed hydrodynamical modelling will facilitate reliable semi-analytic predictions over the large volumes needed for the study of reionization.

  3. Dark-ages Reionization and Galaxy Formation Simulation - XIV. Gas accretion, cooling and star formation in dwarf galaxies at high redshift

    Science.gov (United States)

    Qin, Yuxiang; Duffy, Alan R.; Mutch, Simon J.; Poole, Gregory B.; Geil, Paul M.; Mesinger, Andrei; Wyithe, J. Stuart B.

    2018-03-01

    We study dwarf galaxy formation at high redshift (z ≥ 5) using a suite of high-resolution, cosmological hydrodynamic simulations and a semi-analytic model (SAM). We focus on gas accretion, cooling and star formation in this work by isolating the relevant process from reionization and supernova feedback, which will be further discussed in a companion paper. We apply the SAM to halo merger trees constructed from a collisionless N-body simulation sharing identical initial conditions to the hydrodynamic suite, and calibrate the free parameters against the stellar mass function predicted by the hydrodynamic simulations at z = 5. By making comparisons of the star formation history and gas components calculated by the two modelling techniques, we find that semi-analytic prescriptions that are commonly adopted in the literature of low-redshift galaxy formation do not accurately represent dwarf galaxy properties in the hydrodynamic simulation at earlier times. We propose 3 modifications to SAMs that will provide more accurate high-redshift simulations. These include 1) the halo mass and baryon fraction which are overestimated by collisionless N-body simulations; 2) the star formation efficiency which follows a different cosmic evolutionary path from the hydrodynamic simulation; and 3) the cooling rate which is not well defined for dwarf galaxies at high redshift. Accurate semi-analytic modelling of dwarf galaxy formation informed by detailed hydrodynamical modelling will facilitate reliable semi-analytic predictions over the large volumes needed for the study of reionization.

  4. Evolution of radio quasars from redshift 0.6-3.7

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Neff, S.G.; Hutchings, J.B.

    1990-01-01

    This paper presents the results of VLA radio imaging of 58 radio-loud quasars with redshift 2.0 or higher, which fill the redshift-luminosity plane as evenly as possible. This work completes a survey of about 250 quasars covering redshifts from 0.6-3.7, which attempts to sample luminosity and look-back time in a uniform way. Within the constraints of possible selection effects it is found that the relative population of extended and unresolved sources changes with redshift in a way that suggests that radio quasars may live longer and spend more time as large triple sources in the present epoch than in the earlier universe. There appear to be few low-luminosity radio quasars at high redshift. Ejection of material appears to occur on one side at a time, with usually at least one reversal of direction in the source lifetime. The velocity of ejection appears to be mildly relativistic at high redshift, but of lower velocity in the present epoch. There is also evidence suggestive of changes in the IGM with cosmic time; however, the data presented do not show the minimum in density at z about 2 that has been suggested for cluster environments. 11 refs

  5. The parameter of the dark energy equation of state for high redshifts

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Montiel, Ariadna; Breton, Nora

    2011-01-01

    We study the behavior of the parameter w(z) of the dark-energy equation of state, P x = w(z)ρ x , as function of the redshift data from GRBs, to check its deviations from its most accepted value of -1. To this end we first find a reasonable calibration for the GRB in order to extract the luminosity distance d L as a function of the redshift. Then we proceed to calculate the Hubble function H(z) and w(z).

  6. Machine-z: Rapid Machine-Learned Redshift Indicator for Swift Gamma-Ray Bursts

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ukwatta, T. N.; Wozniak, P. R.; Gehrels, N.

    2016-01-01

    Studies of high-redshift gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) provide important information about the early Universe such as the rates of stellar collapsars and mergers, the metallicity content, constraints on the re-ionization period, and probes of the Hubble expansion. Rapid selection of high-z candidates from GRB samples reported in real time by dedicated space missions such as Swift is the key to identifying the most distant bursts before the optical afterglow becomes too dim to warrant a good spectrum. Here, we introduce 'machine-z', a redshift prediction algorithm and a 'high-z' classifier for Swift GRBs based on machine learning. Our method relies exclusively on canonical data commonly available within the first few hours after the GRB trigger. Using a sample of 284 bursts with measured redshifts, we trained a randomized ensemble of decision trees (random forest) to perform both regression and classification. Cross-validated performance studies show that the correlation coefficient between machine-z predictions and the true redshift is nearly 0.6. At the same time, our high-z classifier can achieve 80 per cent recall of true high-redshift bursts, while incurring a false positive rate of 20 per cent. With 40 per cent false positive rate the classifier can achieve approximately 100 per cent recall. The most reliable selection of high-redshift GRBs is obtained by combining predictions from both the high-z classifier and the machine-z regressor.

  7. Rest-frame optical photometry of a z-7.54 quasar and its environment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Decarli, Roberto; Banados, Eduardo; Fan, Xiaohui; Walter, Fabian; Venemans, Bram; Paolo, Emanuele; Mazzucchelli, Chiara; Wang, Feige; Stern, Daniel

    2017-10-01

    Bright quasars are unique tools to study the dawn of galaxy and black hole formation, and to investigate the properties of the universe at the earliest cosmic epochs. We recently discovered the luminous quasar ULAS J1342+0928 at a record-breaking redshift of z=7.54 (whereas the previous quasar redshift record holder was at z=7.08). The presence of a damping wing in the quasar's spectrum, associated with a highly neutral intergalactic medium, and the high bolometric luminosity, powered by accretion on a supermassive, 8e8 Msun black hole, set unparalleled constraints on the history of reionization and on the formation and evolution of first massive black holes, only 690 Myr after the Big Bang. Here we propose to obtain sensitive Spitzer observations to sample the rest-frame optical emission of this quasar and of potential bright companion galaxies. By complementing our already secured observations with HST, IRAM/NOEMA, ALMA, and many other facilities, the proposed dataset will allow us (1) to constrain the Spectral Energy Distribution of the quasar, thus disentangling the contribution of its various components at optical wavelengths; (2) to investigate the quasar environment; and (3) to lay the foundation for high-resolution imaging and sensitive spectroscopy at MIR wavelengths with the James Webb Space Telescope.

  8. THE REDSHIFT DISTRIBUTION OF DUSTY STAR-FORMING GALAXIES FROM THE SPT SURVEY

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Strandet, M. L.; Weiss, A. [Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie, Auf dem Hügel 69 D-53121 Bonn (Germany); Vieira, J. D.; Furstenau, R. M. [European Southern Observatory, Karl Schwarzschild Straße 2, D-85748 Garching (Germany); De Breuck, C.; Béthermin, M.; Gullberg, B. [Department of Astronomy and Department of Physics, University of Illinois, 1002 West Green St., Urbana, IL 61801 (United States); Aguirre, J. E. [University of Pennsylvania, 209 South 33rd Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104 (United States); Aravena, M. [Núcleo de Astronomía, Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad Diego Portales, Av. Ejército 441, Santiago (Chile); Ashby, M. L. N. [Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States); Bradford, C. M. [Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109 (United States); Carlstrom, J. E.; Crawford, T. M. [Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics, University of Chicago, 5640 South Ellis Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637 (United States); Chapman, S. C. [Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia (Canada); Everett, W. [Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences and Department of Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309 (United States); Fassnacht, C. D. [Department of Physics, University of California, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616 (United States); Gonzalez, A. H. [Department of Astronomy, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611 (United States); Greve, T. R. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT (United Kingdom); Hezaveh, Y. [Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305 (United States); and others

    2016-05-10

    We use the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Cycle 1 to determine spectroscopic redshifts of high-redshift dusty star-forming galaxies (DSFGs) selected by their 1.4 mm continuum emission in the South Pole Telescope (SPT) survey. We present ALMA 3 mm spectral scans between 84 and 114 GHz for 15 galaxies and targeted ALMA 1 mm observations for an additional eight sources. Our observations yield 30 new line detections from CO, [C i], [N ii], H{sub 2}O and NH{sub 3}. We further present Atacama Pathfinder Experiment [C ii] and CO mid- J observations for seven sources for which only a single line was detected in spectral-scan data from ALMA Cycle 0 or Cycle 1. We combine the new observations with previously published and new millimeter/submillimeter line and photometric data of the SPT-selected DSFGs to study their redshift distribution. The combined data yield 39 spectroscopic redshifts from molecular lines, a success rate of >85%. Our sample represents the largest data set of its kind today and has the highest spectroscopic completeness among all redshift surveys of high- z DSFGs. The median of the redshift distribution is z = 3.9 ± 0.4, and the highest-redshift source in our sample is at z = 5.8. We discuss how the selection of our sources affects the redshift distribution, focusing on source brightness, selection wavelength, and strong gravitational lensing. We correct for the effect of gravitational lensing and find the redshift distribution for 1.4 mm selected sources with a median redshift of z = 3.1 ± 0.3. Comparing to redshift distributions selected at shorter wavelengths from the literature, we show that selection wavelength affects the shape of the redshift distribution.

  9. Stochastic Order Redshift Technique (SORT): a simple, efficient and robust method to improve cosmological redshift measurements

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tejos, Nicolas; Rodríguez-Puebla, Aldo; Primack, Joel R.

    2018-01-01

    We present a simple, efficient and robust approach to improve cosmological redshift measurements. The method is based on the presence of a reference sample for which a precise redshift number distribution (dN/dz) can be obtained for different pencil-beam-like sub-volumes within the original survey. For each sub-volume we then impose that: (i) the redshift number distribution of the uncertain redshift measurements matches the reference dN/dz corrected by their selection functions and (ii) the rank order in redshift of the original ensemble of uncertain measurements is preserved. The latter step is motivated by the fact that random variables drawn from Gaussian probability density functions (PDFs) of different means and arbitrarily large standard deviations satisfy stochastic ordering. We then repeat this simple algorithm for multiple arbitrary pencil-beam-like overlapping sub-volumes; in this manner, each uncertain measurement has multiple (non-independent) 'recovered' redshifts which can be used to estimate a new redshift PDF. We refer to this method as the Stochastic Order Redshift Technique (SORT). We have used a state-of-the-art N-body simulation to test the performance of SORT under simple assumptions and found that it can improve the quality of cosmological redshifts in a robust and efficient manner. Particularly, SORT redshifts (zsort) are able to recover the distinctive features of the so-called 'cosmic web' and can provide unbiased measurement of the two-point correlation function on scales ≳4 h-1Mpc. Given its simplicity, we envision that a method like SORT can be incorporated into more sophisticated algorithms aimed to exploit the full potential of large extragalactic photometric surveys.

  10. The Magnetic Field in Galaxies, Galaxy Clusters, and the InterGalactic Space

    CERN Document Server

    Dar, A; Dar, Arnon

    2005-01-01

    Magnetic fields of debated origin appear to permeate the Universe on all large scales. There is mounting evidence that supernovae produce not only roughly spherical ejecta and winds, but also highly relativistic jets of ordinary matter. These jets, which travel long distances, slow down by accelerating the matter encountered on their path to cosmic-ray energies. We show that, if the turbulent motions induced by the winds and the cosmic rays generate magnetic fields in rough energy equipartition, the predicted magnetic-field strengths coincide with the ones observed not only in galaxies (5 $\\mu$G in the Milky Way) but also in galaxy clusters (6 $\\mu$G in Coma). The prediction for the intergalactic (or inter-cluster) field is 50 nG.

  11. Intensity Mapping of the [CII] Fine Structure Line during the Epoch of Reionization

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gong, Yan; Cooray, A.; Silva, M.; Santos, M. G.; Bock, J.; Bradford, M.; Zemcov, M.

    2012-01-01

    The atomic CII fine-structure line is one of the brightest lines in a typical star-forming galaxy spectrum with a luminosity 0.1% to 1% of the bolometric luminosity. It is otentially a reliable tracer of the dense gas distribution at high edshifts and could provide an additional probe to the era of reionization. By taking into account of the spontaneous, stimulated and collisional emission of the CII line, we calculate the spin temperature and the mean intensity as a function of the redshift. When averaged over a cosmologically large volume, we find that the CII emission from ionized carbon in individual galaxies is larger than the signal generated by carbon in the intergalactic medium (IGM). Assuming that the CII luminosity is proportional to the carbon mass in dark matter halos, we also compute the power spectrum of the CII line intensity at various redshifts. In order to avoid the contamination from CO rotational lines at low redshift when targeting a CII survey at high redshifts, we propose the cross-correlation of CII and 21-cm line emission from high redshifts. To explore the detectability of the CII signal from reionization, we also evaluate the expected errors on the CII power spectrum and CII-21 cm cross power spectrum based on the design of the future milimeter surveys. We note that the CII-21 cm cross power spectrum contains interesting features that captures physics during reionization, including the ionized bubble sizes and the mean ionization fraction, which are challenging to measure from 21-cm data alone. We propose an instrumental concept for the reionization CII experiment targeting the frequency range of 200 to 300 GHz with 1, 3 and 10 meter apertures and a bolometric spectrometer array with 64 independent spectral pixels with about 20,000 bolometers.

  12. Comments on the Redshift Distribution of 44,200 SDSS Quasars: Evidence for Predicted Preferred Redshifts?

    OpenAIRE

    Bell, M. B.

    2004-01-01

    A Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) source sample containing 44,200 quasar redshifts is examined. Although arguments have been put forth to explain some of the structure observed in the redshift distribution, it is argued here that this structure may just as easily be explained by the presence of previously predicted preferred redshifts.

  13. Formation of hot intergalactic gas by gas ejection from a galaxy in an early explosive era

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ikeuchi, Satoru

    1977-01-01

    Chemical evolution of a galaxy in an early explosive era is studied by means of one zone model. Calculating the thermal properties of interstellar gas and the overlapping factor of expanding supernova-remnant shells, the gas escape conditions from a galaxy are examined. From these, it is shown that the total mass of ejected gas from a galaxy amounts to 10 -- 40% of the initial mass of a galaxy. The ejected gas extends to the intergalactic space and the whole universe. The mass, the heavy-element abundance and other physical properties of thus formed intergalactic gas are investigated for various parameters of galactic evolution. Some other effects of gas release on the evolution of a galaxy and the evolution of the universe are discussed. (auth.)

  14. The Infrared-Radio Correlation of Dusty Star Forming Galaxies at High Redshift

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lower, Sidney; Vieira, Joaquin Daniel; Jarugula, Sreevani

    2018-01-01

    Far-infrared (FIR) and radio continuum emission in galaxies are related by a common origin: massive stars and the processes triggered during their birth, lifetime, and death. FIR emission is produced by cool dust, heated by the absorption of UV emission from massive stars, which is then re-emitted in the FIR. Thermal free-free radiation emitted from HII regions dominates the spectral energy density (SED) of galaxies at roughly 30 GHz, while non-thermal synchrotron radiation dominates at lower frequencies. At low redshift, the infrared radio correlation (IRC, or qIR) holds as a tight empirical relation for many star forming galaxy types, but until recently, there has not been sensitive enough radio observations to extend this relation to higher redshifts. Many selection biases cloud the results of these analyses, leaving the evolution of the IRC with redshift ambiguous. In this poster, I present CIGALE fitted spectral energy distributions (SEDs) for 24 gravitationally-lensed sources selected in the mm-wave from the South Pole Telescope (SPT) survey. I fit the IRC from infrared and submillimeter fluxes obtained with Herschel, Atacama Pathfinder Experiment (APEX), and SPT and radio fluxes obtained with ATCA at 2.1, 5.5, 9, and 30 GHz. This sample of SPT sources has a spectroscopic redshift range of 2.1poster, I will present the results of this study and compare our results to various results in the literature.

  15. Active galactic nuclei emission line diagnostics and the mass-metallicity relation up to redshift z ∼ 2: The impact of selection effects and evolution

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Juneau, Stéphanie; Bournaud, Frédéric; Daddi, Emanuele; Elbaz, David; Duc, Pierre-Alain; Gobat, Raphael; Jean-Baptiste, Ingrid; Le Floc' h, Émeric; Pannella, Maurilio; Schreiber, Corentin [CEA-Saclay, DSM/IRFU/SAp, F-91191 Gif-sur-Yvette (France); Charlot, Stéphane; Lehnert, M. D.; Pacifici, Camilla [UPMC-CNRS, UMR 7095, Institut d' Astrophysique de Paris, F-75014 Paris (France); Trump, Jonathan R. [University of California Observatories/Lick Observatory, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064 (United States); Brinchmann, Jarle [Leiden Observatory, Leiden University, P.O. Box 9513, 2300 RA Leiden (Netherlands); Dickinson, Mark, E-mail: stephanie.juneau@cea.fr [National Optical Astronomy Observatory, 950 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85719 (United States)

    2014-06-10

    Emission line diagnostic diagrams probing the ionization sources in galaxies, such as the Baldwin-Phillips-Terlevich (BPT) diagram, have been used extensively to distinguish active galactic nuclei (AGN) from purely star-forming galaxies. However, they remain poorly understood at higher redshifts. We shed light on this issue with an empirical approach based on a z ∼ 0 reference sample built from ∼300,000 Sloan Digital Sky Survey galaxies, from which we mimic selection effects due to typical emission line detection limits at higher redshift. We combine this low-redshift reference sample with a simple prescription for luminosity evolution of the global galaxy population to predict the loci of high-redshift galaxies on the BPT and Mass-Excitation (MEx) diagnostic diagrams. The predicted bivariate distributions agree remarkably well with direct observations of galaxies out to z ∼ 1.5, including the observed stellar mass-metallicity (MZ) relation evolution. As a result, we infer that high-redshift star-forming galaxies are consistent with having normal interstellar medium (ISM) properties out to z ∼ 1.5, after accounting for selection effects and line luminosity evolution. Namely, their optical line ratios and gas-phase metallicities are comparable to that of low-redshift galaxies with equivalent emission-line luminosities. In contrast, AGN narrow-line regions may show a shift toward lower metallicities at higher redshift. While a physical evolution of the ISM conditions is not ruled out for purely star-forming galaxies and may be more important starting at z ≳ 2, we find that reliably quantifying this evolution is hindered by selections effects. The recipes provided here may serve as a basis for future studies toward this goal. Code to predict the loci of galaxies on the BPT and MEx diagnostic diagrams and the MZ relation as a function of emission line luminosity limits is made publicly available.

  16. Active galactic nuclei emission line diagnostics and the mass-metallicity relation up to redshift z ∼ 2: The impact of selection effects and evolution

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Juneau, Stéphanie; Bournaud, Frédéric; Daddi, Emanuele; Elbaz, David; Duc, Pierre-Alain; Gobat, Raphael; Jean-Baptiste, Ingrid; Le Floc'h, Émeric; Pannella, Maurilio; Schreiber, Corentin; Charlot, Stéphane; Lehnert, M. D.; Pacifici, Camilla; Trump, Jonathan R.; Brinchmann, Jarle; Dickinson, Mark

    2014-01-01

    Emission line diagnostic diagrams probing the ionization sources in galaxies, such as the Baldwin-Phillips-Terlevich (BPT) diagram, have been used extensively to distinguish active galactic nuclei (AGN) from purely star-forming galaxies. However, they remain poorly understood at higher redshifts. We shed light on this issue with an empirical approach based on a z ∼ 0 reference sample built from ∼300,000 Sloan Digital Sky Survey galaxies, from which we mimic selection effects due to typical emission line detection limits at higher redshift. We combine this low-redshift reference sample with a simple prescription for luminosity evolution of the global galaxy population to predict the loci of high-redshift galaxies on the BPT and Mass-Excitation (MEx) diagnostic diagrams. The predicted bivariate distributions agree remarkably well with direct observations of galaxies out to z ∼ 1.5, including the observed stellar mass-metallicity (MZ) relation evolution. As a result, we infer that high-redshift star-forming galaxies are consistent with having normal interstellar medium (ISM) properties out to z ∼ 1.5, after accounting for selection effects and line luminosity evolution. Namely, their optical line ratios and gas-phase metallicities are comparable to that of low-redshift galaxies with equivalent emission-line luminosities. In contrast, AGN narrow-line regions may show a shift toward lower metallicities at higher redshift. While a physical evolution of the ISM conditions is not ruled out for purely star-forming galaxies and may be more important starting at z ≳ 2, we find that reliably quantifying this evolution is hindered by selections effects. The recipes provided here may serve as a basis for future studies toward this goal. Code to predict the loci of galaxies on the BPT and MEx diagnostic diagrams and the MZ relation as a function of emission line luminosity limits is made publicly available.

  17. Selecting ultra-faint dwarf candidate progenitors in cosmological N-body simulations at high redshifts

    Science.gov (United States)

    Safarzadeh, Mohammadtaher; Ji, Alexander P.; Dooley, Gregory A.; Frebel, Anna; Scannapieco, Evan; Gómez, Facundo A.; O'Shea, Brian W.

    2018-06-01

    The smallest satellites of the Milky Way ceased forming stars during the epoch of reionization and thus provide archaeological access to galaxy formation at z > 6. Numerical studies of these ultrafaint dwarf galaxies (UFDs) require expensive cosmological simulations with high mass resolution that are carried out down to z = 0. However, if we are able to statistically identify UFD host progenitors at high redshifts with relatively high probabilities, we can avoid this high computational cost. To find such candidates, we analyse the merger trees of Milky Way type haloes from the high-resolution Caterpillar suite of dark matter only simulations. Satellite UFD hosts at z = 0 are identified based on four different abundance matching (AM) techniques. All the haloes at high redshifts are traced forward in time in order to compute the probability of surviving as satellite UFDs today. Our results show that selecting potential UFD progenitors based solely on their mass at z = 12 (8) results in a 10 per cent (20 per cent) chance of obtaining a surviving UFD at z = 0 in three of the AM techniques we adopted. We find that the progenitors of surviving satellite UFDs have lower virial ratios (η), and are preferentially located at large distances from the main MW progenitor, while they show no correlation with concentration parameter. Haloes with favorable locations and virial ratios are ≈3 times more likely to survive as satellite UFD candidates at z = 0.

  18. CONTAMINATION OF BROADBAND PHOTOMETRY BY NEBULAR EMISSION IN HIGH-REDSHIFT GALAXIES: INVESTIGATIONS WITH KECK'S MOSFIRE NEAR-INFRARED SPECTROGRAPH

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Schenker, Matthew A; Ellis, Richard S; Konidaris, Nick P [Department of Astrophysics, California Institute of Technology, MC 249-17, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States); Stark, Daniel P, E-mail: schenker@astro.caltech.edu [Department of Astronomy and Steward Observatory, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721 (United States)

    2013-11-01

    Earlier work has raised the potential importance of nebular emission in the derivation of the physical characteristics of high-redshift Lyman break galaxies. Within certain redshift ranges, and especially at z ≅ 6-7, such lines may be strong enough to reduce estimates of the stellar masses and ages of galaxies compared with those derived assuming the broadband photometry represents stellar light alone. To test this hypothesis at the highest redshifts where such lines can be probed with ground-based facilities, we examine the near-infrared spectra of a representative sample of 28 3.0 < z < 3.8 Lyman break galaxies using the newly commissioned MOSFIRE near-infrared spectrograph at the Keck I telescope. We use these data to derive the rest-frame equivalent widths (EWs) of [O III] emission and show that these are comparable with estimates derived using the spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting technique introduced for sources of known redshift by Stark et al. Although our current sample is modest, its [O III] EW distribution is consistent with that inferred for Hα based on SED fitting of Stark et al.'s larger sample of 3.8 < z < 5 galaxies. For a subset of survey galaxies, we use the combination of optical and near-infrared spectroscopy to quantify kinematics of outflows in z ≅ 3.5 star-forming galaxies and discuss the implications for reionization measurements. The trends we uncover underline the dangers of relying purely on broadband photometry to estimate the physical properties of high-redshift galaxies and emphasize the important role of diagnostic spectroscopy.

  19. Using gamma-ray bursts to probe the cosmic intergalactic medium

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sudilovsky, Vladimir

    2014-05-28

    Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) rapidly liberate enormous amounts of energy through the cataclysmic destruction of an individual massive object. GRBs are the most energetic events in the Universe, boasting isotropic equivalent energy releases of E∝10{sup 51-54} erg in time scales of seconds - more energy than even active galaxies in the same time-frame. These transient events represent the ultimate high energy laboratories, and their afterglows are readily detectable from ground-based observatories out to cosmological distances out to z∝8. For this reason, GRBs are a natural tool to probe the early universe. To this end, programs to quickly measure the photometric and spectroscopic properties of GRB afterglows are providing a wealth of data that enable us to characterize the physical properties of both the burst itself and its host environment. In addition to providing extremely poignant information on the burst and its medium, GRB afterglow spectra show the presence of matter intervening along the line of sight. MgII, an important tracer of α-element processes and thus of star formation and galaxies, has been measured in ∝ 60% of GRB afterglow spectra. Surprisingly, MgII is only found in ∝30% of quasar spectra. This discrepancy in the number density dn/dz of intervening MgII absorbers implies that there are significant observational biases in either the spectroscopic samples of either GRB afterglows or quasars. In this work, we review the MgII issue and the biases proposed to explain it. We find that observations of other tracer systems (namely CIV) do not show the same overdensity, and thus conclude that solution to the MgII problem is related to the geometry of the sight-line relative to the absorbers. We conclude that an observational bias stemming from dust extinction arising from MgII cannot explain such a large discrepancy. Finally, we search for a signal of the MgII discrepancy in the transverse direction by computing the GRB-galaxy two point correlation

  20. Using gamma-ray bursts to probe the cosmic intergalactic medium

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sudilovsky, Vladimir

    2014-01-01

    Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) rapidly liberate enormous amounts of energy through the cataclysmic destruction of an individual massive object. GRBs are the most energetic events in the Universe, boasting isotropic equivalent energy releases of E∝10 51-54 erg in time scales of seconds - more energy than even active galaxies in the same time-frame. These transient events represent the ultimate high energy laboratories, and their afterglows are readily detectable from ground-based observatories out to cosmological distances out to z∝8. For this reason, GRBs are a natural tool to probe the early universe. To this end, programs to quickly measure the photometric and spectroscopic properties of GRB afterglows are providing a wealth of data that enable us to characterize the physical properties of both the burst itself and its host environment. In addition to providing extremely poignant information on the burst and its medium, GRB afterglow spectra show the presence of matter intervening along the line of sight. MgII, an important tracer of α-element processes and thus of star formation and galaxies, has been measured in ∝ 60% of GRB afterglow spectra. Surprisingly, MgII is only found in ∝30% of quasar spectra. This discrepancy in the number density dn/dz of intervening MgII absorbers implies that there are significant observational biases in either the spectroscopic samples of either GRB afterglows or quasars. In this work, we review the MgII issue and the biases proposed to explain it. We find that observations of other tracer systems (namely CIV) do not show the same overdensity, and thus conclude that solution to the MgII problem is related to the geometry of the sight-line relative to the absorbers. We conclude that an observational bias stemming from dust extinction arising from MgII cannot explain such a large discrepancy. Finally, we search for a signal of the MgII discrepancy in the transverse direction by computing the GRB-galaxy two point correlation

  1. PHOTOMETRIC REDSHIFTS OF SUBMILLIMETER GALAXIES

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chakrabarti, Sukanya; Magnelli, Benjamin; Lutz, Dieter; Berta, Stefano; Popesso, Paola; McKee, Christopher F.; Pozzi, Francesca

    2013-01-01

    We use the photometric redshift method of Chakrabarti and McKee to infer photometric redshifts of submillimeter galaxies with far-IR (FIR) Herschel data obtained as part of the PACS Evolutionary Probe program. For the sample with spectroscopic redshifts, we demonstrate the validity of this method over a large range of redshifts (4 ∼> z ∼> 0.3) and luminosities, finding an average accuracy in (1 + z phot )/(1 + z spec ) of 10%. Thus, this method is more accurate than other FIR photometric redshift methods. This method is different from typical FIR photometric methods in deriving redshifts from the light-to-gas mass (L/M) ratio of infrared-bright galaxies inferred from the FIR spectral energy distribution, rather than dust temperatures. To assess the dependence of our photometric redshift method on the data in this sample, we contrast the average accuracy of our method when we use PACS data, versus SPIRE data, versus both PACS and SPIRE data. We also discuss potential selection effects that may affect the Herschel sample. Once the redshift is derived, we can determine physical properties of infrared-bright galaxies, including the temperature variation within the dust envelope, luminosity, mass, and surface density. We use data from the GOODS-S field to calculate the star formation rate density (SFRD) of submillimeter bright sources detected by AzTEC and PACS. The AzTEC-PACS sources, which have a threshold 850 μm flux ∼> 5 mJy, contribute 15% of the SFRD from all ultraluminous infrared galaxies (L IR ∼> 10 12 L ☉ ), and 3% of the total SFRD at z ∼ 2

  2. A POPULATION OF WEAK METAL-LINE ABSORBERS SURROUNDING THE MILKY WAY

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Richter, Philipp; Charlton, Jane C.; Fangano, Alessio P. M.; Bekhti, Nadya Ben; Masiero, Joseph R.

    2009-01-01

    intergalactic medium and satellite galaxies, galactic fountains, and outflows. We speculate that this absorber population represents the local analog of weak Mg II systems that are commonly observed in the circumgalactic environment of low- and high-redshift galaxies.

  3. Escape of ionizing radiation from star-forming regions in Young galaxies

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Razoumov, A; Sommer-Larsen, Jesper

    2006-01-01

    Galaxies: Formation, Galaxies: Intergalactic Medium, ISM: H II Regions, Radiative Transfer Udgivelsesdato: Nov. 10......Galaxies: Formation, Galaxies: Intergalactic Medium, ISM: H II Regions, Radiative Transfer Udgivelsesdato: Nov. 10...

  4. Is There a Maximum Star Formation Rate in High-redshift Galaxies?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barger, A. J.; Cowie, L. L.; Chen, C.-C.; Owen, F. N.; Wang, W.-H.; Casey, C. M.; Lee, N.; Sanders, D. B.; Williams, J. P.

    2014-03-01

    We use the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope's SCUBA-2 camera to image a 400 arcmin2 area surrounding the GOODS-N field. The 850 μm rms noise ranges from a value of 0.49 mJy in the central region to 3.5 mJy at the outside edge. From these data, we construct an 850 μm source catalog to 2 mJy containing 49 sources detected above the 4σ level. We use an ultradeep (11.5 μJy at 5σ) 1.4 GHz image obtained with the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array together with observations made with the Submillimeter Array to identify counterparts to the submillimeter galaxies. For most cases of multiple radio counterparts, we can identify the correct counterpart from new and existing Submillimeter Array data. We have spectroscopic redshifts for 62% of the radio sources in the 9' radius highest sensitivity region (556/894) and 67% of the radio sources in the GOODS-N region (367/543). We supplement these with a modest number of additional photometric redshifts in the GOODS-N region (30). We measure millimetric redshifts from the radio to submillimeter flux ratios for the unidentified submillimeter sample, assuming an Arp 220 spectral energy distribution. We find a radio-flux-dependent K - z relation for the radio sources, which we use to estimate redshifts for the remaining radio sources. We determine the star formation rates (SFRs) of the submillimeter sources based on their radio powers and their submillimeter fluxes and find that they agree well. The radio data are deep enough to detect star-forming galaxies with SFRs >2000 M ⊙ yr-1 to z ~ 6. We find galaxies with SFRs up to ~6000 M ⊙ yr-1 over the redshift range z = 1.5-6, but we see evidence for a turn-down in the SFR distribution function above 2000 M ⊙ yr-1. The James Clerk Maxwell Telescope is operated by the Joint Astronomy Centre on behalf of the Science and Technology Facilities Council of the United Kingdom, the National Research Council of Canada, and (until 2013 March 31) the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific

  5. The Hubble series: convergence properties and redshift variables

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cattoen, Celine; Visser, Matt

    2007-01-01

    In cosmography, cosmokinetics and cosmology, it is quite common to encounter physical quantities expanded as a Taylor series in the cosmological redshift z. Perhaps the most well-known exemplar of this phenomenon is the Hubble relation between distance and redshift. However, we now have considerable high-z data available; for instance, we have supernova data at least back to redshift z ∼ 1.75. This opens up the theoretical question as to whether or not the Hubble series (or more generally any series expansion based on the z-redshift) actually converges for large redshift. Based on a combination of mathematical and physical reasonings, we argue that the radius of convergence of any series expansion in z is less than or equal to 1, and that z-based expansions must break down for z > 1, corresponding to a universe less than half of its current size. Furthermore, we shall argue on theoretical grounds for the utility of an improved parametrization y = z/(1 + z). In terms of the y-redshift, we again argue that the radius of convergence of any series expansion in y is less than or equal to 1, so that y-based expansions are likely to be good all the way back to the big bang (y = 1), but that y-based expansions must break down for y < -1, now corresponding to a universe more than twice its current size

  6. Discovery of a probable galaxy with a redshift of 3.218

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Djorgovski, S.; Spinard, H.; McCarthy, P.; Strauss, M.A.

    1985-01-01

    We report the discovery of a narrow emission line object, probably a galaxy, with a redshift of 3.218. The object is a companion to the quasar PKS 1614+051, which is at a redshift of 3.209. This is the most distant non--QSO, non--gravitationally lensed object presently known by a large margin. Its properties are consistent with those expected of a high-redshift galaxy. This object has an age of only a few percent of the present age of the universe. The object was discovered with a novel technique, which promises to push studies of distant galaxies to redshifts as high as those of the most distant quasars known, and which may eventually lead to the discovery of primeval galaxies. This discovery opens the way for studies of galaxies beyond z = 3, which should prove invaluable for observational cosmology

  7. PHOTOMETRIC REDSHIFTS AND QUASAR PROBABILITIES FROM A SINGLE, DATA-DRIVEN GENERATIVE MODEL

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bovy, Jo; Hogg, David W.; Weaver, Benjamin A.; Myers, Adam D.; Hennawi, Joseph F.; McMahon, Richard G.; Schiminovich, David; Sheldon, Erin S.; Brinkmann, Jon; Schneider, Donald P.

    2012-01-01

    We describe a technique for simultaneously classifying and estimating the redshift of quasars. It can separate quasars from stars in arbitrary redshift ranges, estimate full posterior distribution functions for the redshift, and naturally incorporate flux uncertainties, missing data, and multi-wavelength photometry. We build models of quasars in flux-redshift space by applying the extreme deconvolution technique to estimate the underlying density. By integrating this density over redshift, one can obtain quasar flux densities in different redshift ranges. This approach allows for efficient, consistent, and fast classification and photometric redshift estimation. This is achieved by combining the speed obtained by choosing simple analytical forms as the basis of our density model with the flexibility of non-parametric models through the use of many simple components with many parameters. We show that this technique is competitive with the best photometric quasar classification techniques—which are limited to fixed, broad redshift ranges and high signal-to-noise ratio data—and with the best photometric redshift techniques when applied to broadband optical data. We demonstrate that the inclusion of UV and NIR data significantly improves photometric quasar-star separation and essentially resolves all of the redshift degeneracies for quasars inherent to the ugriz filter system, even when included data have a low signal-to-noise ratio. For quasars spectroscopically confirmed by the SDSS 84% and 97% of the objects with Galaxy Evolution Explorer UV and UKIDSS NIR data have photometric redshifts within 0.1 and 0.3, respectively, of the spectroscopic redshift; this amounts to about a factor of three improvement over ugriz-only photometric redshifts. Our code to calculate quasar probabilities and redshift probability distributions is publicly available.

  8. The many flavours of photometric redshifts

    Science.gov (United States)

    Salvato, Mara; Ilbert, Olivier; Hoyle, Ben

    2018-06-01

    Since more than 70 years ago, the colours of galaxies derived from flux measurements at different wavelengths have been used to estimate their cosmological distances. Such distance measurements, called photometric redshifts, are necessary for many scientific projects, ranging from investigations of the formation and evolution of galaxies and active galactic nuclei to precision cosmology. The primary benefit of photometric redshifts is that distance estimates can be obtained relatively cheaply for all sources detected in photometric images. The drawback is that these cheap estimates have low precision compared with resource-expensive spectroscopic ones. The methodology for estimating redshifts has been through several revolutions in recent decades, triggered by increasingly stringent requirements on the photometric redshift accuracy. Here, we review the various techniques for obtaining photometric redshifts, from template-fitting to machine learning and hybrid schemes. We also describe state-of-the-art results on current extragalactic samples and explain how survey strategy choices affect redshift accuracy. We close with a description of the photometric redshift efforts planned for upcoming wide-field surveys, which will collect data on billions of galaxies, aiming to investigate, among other matters, the stellar mass assembly and the nature of dark energy.

  9. Properties of the Intergalactic Magnetic Field Constrained by Gamma-Ray Observations of Gamma-Ray Bursts

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Veres, P.; Dermer, C. D.; Dhuga, K. S. [Department of Physics, George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052 (United States)

    2017-09-20

    The magnetic field in intergalactic space gives important information about magnetogenesis in the early universe. The properties of this field can be probed by searching for radiation of secondary e {sup +} e {sup −} pairs created by TeV photons that produce GeV range radiation by Compton-scattering cosmic microwave background photons. The arrival times of the GeV “echo” photons depend strongly on the magnetic field strength and coherence length. A Monte Carlo code that accurately treats pair creation is developed to simulate the spectrum and time-dependence of the echo radiation. The extrapolation of the spectrum of powerful gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) like GRB 130427A to TeV energies is used to demonstrate how the intergalactic magnetic field can be constrained if it falls in the 10{sup −21}–10{sup −17} G range for a 1 Mpc coherence length.

  10. Counts of galaxies in the region of the 'intergalactic dark cloud' near iota Microscopii

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Meinunger, I.

    1976-01-01

    The distribution of the total numbers of galaxies down to about 18th magnitude on 84 squares is largely in agreement with the structure of the hypothetic intergalactic absorbing cloud near iota Microscopii found by C. Hoffmeister. The counts of galaxies were performed on the Whiteoak prints covering that region. (author)

  11. Discovery of Very High Energy Gamma Rays from PKS 1424+240 and Multiwavelength Constraints on its Redshift

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Acciari, V.A.; /Harvard-Smithsonian Ctr. Astrophys.; Aliu, E.; /Delaware U., Bartol Inst.; Arlen, T.; /UCLA; Aune, T.; /UC, Santa Cruz; Bautista, M.; /McGill U.; Beilicke, M. /Washington U., St. Louis; Benbow, W.; /Harvard-Smithsonian Ctr. Astrophys.; Bottcher, M.; /Ohio U.; Boltuch, D.; /Delaware U., Bartol Inst.; Bradbury, S.M.; /Leeds U.; Buckley, J.H.; /Washington U., St. Louis; Bugaev, V.; /Washington U., St. Louis; Byrum, K.; /Argonne; Cannon, A.; /University Coll., Dublin; Cesarini, A.; /Natl. U. of Ireland, Galway; Chow, Y.C.; /UCLA; Ciupik, L.; /Roosevelt U., Chicago; Cogan, P.; /McGill U.; Cui, W.; /Purdue U.; Duke, C.; /Grinnell Coll.; Falcone, A.; /Penn State U. /Purdue U. /Utah U. /Roosevelt U., Chicago /Harvard-Smithsonian Ctr. Astrophys. /Purdue U. /Natl. U. of Ireland, Galway /Utah U. /University Coll., Dublin /McGill U. /Roosevelt U., Chicago /McGill U. /Delaware U., Bartol Inst. /Utah U. /Chicago U., EFI /Iowa State U. /Roosevelt U., Chicago /DePauw U. /Utah U. /Pittsburg State U. /Washington U., St. Louis /Iowa State U. /Natl. U. of Ireland, Galway /Utah U. /McGill U. /Washington U., St. Louis /McGill U. /McGill U. /Purdue U. /Anderson U. /Galway-Mayo Inst. of Tech. /Iowa State U. /UCLA; /more authors..

    2012-04-05

    We report the first detection of very-high-energy (VHE) gamma-ray emission above 140GeV from PKS 1424+240, a BL Lac object with an unknown redshift. The photon spectrum above 140GeV measured by VERITAS is well described by a power law with a photon index of 3.8 {+-}0.5{sub stat} {+-} 0.3{sub syst} and a flux normalization at 200 GeV of (5.1 {+-} 0.9{sub stat} {+-} 0.5{sub syst}) x 10{sup -11} TeV{sup -1} cm{sup -2} s{sup -1}, where stat and syst denote the statistical and systematical uncertainty, respectively. The VHE flux is steady over the observation period between MJD 54881 and 55003 (2009 February 19 to June 21). Flux variability is also not observed in contemporaneous high energy observations with the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT). Contemporaneous X-ray and optical data were also obtained from the Swift XRT and MDM observatory, respectively. The broadband spectral energy distribution (SED) is well described by a one-zone synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) model favoring a redshift of less than 0.1. Using the photon index measured with Fermi in combination with recent extragalactic background light (EBL) absorption models it can be concluded from the VERITAS data that the redshift of PKS 1424+240 is less than 0.66.

  12. DISCOVERY OF VERY HIGH ENERGY GAMMA RAYS FROM PKS 1424+240 AND MULTIWAVELENGTH CONSTRAINTS ON ITS REDSHIFT

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Acciari, V. A.; Benbow, W.; Aliu, E.; Boltuch, D.; Arlen, T.; Chow, Y. C.; Aune, T.; Bautista, M.; Cogan, P.; Beilicke, M.; Buckley, J. H.; Bugaev, V.; Boettcher, M.; Bradbury, S. M.; Byrum, K.; Cannon, A.; Cesarini, A.; Ciupik, L.; Cui, W.; Duke, C.

    2010-01-01

    We report the first detection of very high energy 83 Gamma-ray emission above 100 GeV. (VHE) gamma-ray emission above 140 GeV from PKS 1424+240, a BL Lac object with an unknown redshift. The photon spectrum above 140 GeV measured by VERITAS is well described by a power law with a photon index of 3.8 ± 0.5 stat ± 0.3 syst and a flux normalization at 200 GeV of (5.1 ± 0.9 stat ± 0.5 syst ) x 10 -11 TeV -1 cm -2 s -1 , where stat and syst denote the statistical and systematical uncertainties, respectively. The VHE flux is steady over the observation period between MJD 54881 and 55003 (from 2009 February 19 to June 21). Flux variability is also not observed in contemporaneous high-energy observations with the Fermi Large Area Telescope. Contemporaneous X-ray and optical data were also obtained from the Swift XRT and MDM observatory, respectively. The broadband spectral energy distribution is well described by a one-zone synchrotron self-Compton model favoring a redshift of less than 0.1. Using the photon index measured with Fermi in combination with recent extragalactic background light absorption models it can be concluded from the VERITAS data that the redshift of PKS 1424+240 is less than 0.66.

  13. One millimeter continuum observations of high redshift quasars

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ennis, D.J.; Soifer, B.T.

    1981-01-01

    Upper limits to the one-millimeter continuum flux densities of the high redshift quasars B2 1225 + 31, Ton 490, and PHL 957 are presented. The upper limit to the power observed from these quasars at 1 mm is, on the average, one half of the observed power in the continuum at L-alpha. These observations are used to constrain the temperature of a hypothetical dust shell which reddens the quasar line and continuum emission by an extinction optical depth sufficient to account for the anomalously low L-alpha/H-alpha emission line ratio observed in each of these quasars. For the quasars studied, dust shell temperatures between 25 K and 50 to 95 K are prohibited by the present data. A dust shell at a temperature within this span reradiating all the power absorbed from the quasar ultraviolet continuum would produce a one-millimeter flux density greater than the measured upper limit. The average radius of the model dust shell cannot be between 70 kpc and 1 Mpc

  14. Intergalactic medium emission observations with the cosmic web imager. II. Discovery of extended, kinematically linked emission around SSA22 Lyα BLOB 2

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Christopher Martin, D.; Chang, Daphne; Matuszewski, Matt; Morrissey, Patrick; Rahman, Shahin; Moore, Anna; Steidel, Charles C.; Matsuda, Yuichi

    2014-01-01

    The intergalactic medium (IGM) is the dominant reservoir of baryons, delineates the large-scale structure of the universe at low to moderate overdensities, and provides gas from which galaxies form and evolve. Simulations of a cold-dark-matter- (CDM-) dominated universe predict that the IGM is distributed in a cosmic web of filaments and that galaxies should form along and at the intersections of these filaments. While observations of QSO absorption lines and the large-scale distribution of galaxies have confirmed the CDM paradigm, the cosmic web of IGM has never been confirmed by direct imaging. Here we report our observation of the Lyα blob 2 (LAB2) in SSA22 with the Cosmic Web Imager (CWI). This is an integral field spectrograph optimized for low surface brightness, extended emission. With 22 hr of total on- and off-source exposure, CWI has revealed that LAB2 has extended Lyα emission that is organized into azimuthal zones consistent with filaments. We perform numerous tests with simulations and the data to secure the robustness of this result, which relies on data with modest signal-to-noise ratios. We have developed a smoothing algorithm that permits visualization of data cube slices along image or spectral image planes. With both raw and smoothed data cubes we demonstrate that the filaments are kinematically associated with LAB2 and display double-peaked profiles characteristic of optically thick Lyα emission. The flux is 10-20 times brighter than expected for the average emission from the IGM but is consistent with boosted fluorescence from a buried QSO or gravitation cooling radiation. Using simple emission models, we infer a baryon mass in the filaments of at least 1-4 × 10 11 M ☉ , and the dark halo mass is at least 2 × 10 12 M ☉ . The spatial-kinematic morphology is more consistent with inflow from the cosmic web than outflow from LAB2, although an outflow feature maybe present at one azimuth. LAB2 and the surrounding gas have significant and

  15. Intergalactic medium emission observations with the cosmic web imager. II. Discovery of extended, kinematically linked emission around SSA22 Lyα BLOB 2

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Christopher Martin, D.; Chang, Daphne; Matuszewski, Matt; Morrissey, Patrick; Rahman, Shahin [Cahill Center for Astrophysics, California Institute of Technology, 1216 East California Boulevard, Mail Code 278-17, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States); Moore, Anna [Caltech Optical Observatories, Cahill Center for Astrophysics, California Institute of Technology, 1216 East California Boulevard, Mail Code 11-17, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States); Steidel, Charles C.; Matsuda, Yuichi, E-mail: cmartin@srl.caltech.edu [Cahill Center for Astrophysics, California Institute of Technology, 1216 East California Boulevard, Mail Code 249-17, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States)

    2014-05-10

    The intergalactic medium (IGM) is the dominant reservoir of baryons, delineates the large-scale structure of the universe at low to moderate overdensities, and provides gas from which galaxies form and evolve. Simulations of a cold-dark-matter- (CDM-) dominated universe predict that the IGM is distributed in a cosmic web of filaments and that galaxies should form along and at the intersections of these filaments. While observations of QSO absorption lines and the large-scale distribution of galaxies have confirmed the CDM paradigm, the cosmic web of IGM has never been confirmed by direct imaging. Here we report our observation of the Lyα blob 2 (LAB2) in SSA22 with the Cosmic Web Imager (CWI). This is an integral field spectrograph optimized for low surface brightness, extended emission. With 22 hr of total on- and off-source exposure, CWI has revealed that LAB2 has extended Lyα emission that is organized into azimuthal zones consistent with filaments. We perform numerous tests with simulations and the data to secure the robustness of this result, which relies on data with modest signal-to-noise ratios. We have developed a smoothing algorithm that permits visualization of data cube slices along image or spectral image planes. With both raw and smoothed data cubes we demonstrate that the filaments are kinematically associated with LAB2 and display double-peaked profiles characteristic of optically thick Lyα emission. The flux is 10-20 times brighter than expected for the average emission from the IGM but is consistent with boosted fluorescence from a buried QSO or gravitation cooling radiation. Using simple emission models, we infer a baryon mass in the filaments of at least 1-4 × 10{sup 11} M {sub ☉}, and the dark halo mass is at least 2 × 10{sup 12} M {sub ☉}. The spatial-kinematic morphology is more consistent with inflow from the cosmic web than outflow from LAB2, although an outflow feature maybe present at one azimuth. LAB2 and the surrounding gas

  16. COSMOLOGICAL CONCORDANCE OR CHEMICAL COINCIDENCE? DEUTERATED MOLECULAR HYDROGEN ABUNDANCES AT HIGH REDSHIFT

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tumlinson, J.; Malec, A. L.; Murphy, M. T.; Carswell, R. F.; Jorgenson, R. A.; Buning, R.; Ubachs, W.; Milutinovic, N.; Ellison, S. L.; Prochaska, J. X.; Wolfe, A. M.

    2010-01-01

    We report two detections of deuterated molecular hydrogen (HD) in QSO absorption-line systems at z>2. Toward J2123-0500, we find N(HD) =13.84 ± 0.2 for a sub-Damped Lyman Alpha system (DLA) with metallicity ≅0.5Z sun and N(H 2 ) = 17.64 ± 0.15 at z = 2.0594. Toward FJ0812+32, we find N(HD) =15.38 ± 0.3 for a solar-metallicity DLA with N(H 2 ) = 19.88 ± 0.2 at z = 2.6265. These systems have ratios of HD to H 2 above that observed in dense clouds within the Milky Way disk and apparently consistent with a simple conversion from the cosmological ratio of D/H. These ratios are not readily explained by any available model of HD chemistry, and there are no obvious trends with metallicity or molecular content. Taken together, these two systems and the two published z>2 HD-bearing DLAs indicate that HD is either less effectively dissociated or more efficiently produced in high-redshift interstellar gas, even at low molecular fraction and/or solar metallicity. It is puzzling that such diverse systems should show such consistent HD/H 2 ratios. Without clear knowledge of all the aspects of HD chemistry that may help determine the ratio HD/H 2 , we conclude that these systems are potentially more revealing of gas chemistry than of D/H itself and that it is premature to use such systems to constrain D/H at high redshift.

  17. LOWER BOUNDS ON PHOTOMETRIC REDSHIFT ERRORS FROM TYPE Ia SUPERNOVA TEMPLATES

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Asztalos, S.; Nikolaev, S.; De Vries, W.; Olivier, S.; Cook, K.; Wang, L.

    2010-01-01

    Cosmology with Type Ia supernova heretofore has required extensive spectroscopic follow-up to establish an accurate redshift. Though this resource-intensive approach is tolerable at the present discovery rate, the next generation of ground-based all-sky survey instruments will render it unsustainable. Photometry-based redshift determination may be a viable alternative, though the technique introduces non-negligible errors that ultimately degrade the ability to discriminate between competing cosmologies. We present a strictly template-based photometric redshift estimator and compute redshift reconstruction errors in the presence of statistical errors. Under highly degraded photometric conditions corresponding to a statistical error σ of 0.5, the residual redshift error is found to be 0.236 when assuming a nightly observing cadence and a single Large Synoptic Science Telescope (LSST) u-band filter. Utilizing all six LSST bandpass filters reduces the residual redshift error to 9.1 x 10 -3 . Assuming a more optimistic statistical error σ of 0.05, we derive residual redshift errors of 4.2 x 10 -4 , 5.2 x 10 -4 , 9.2 x 10 -4 , and 1.8 x 10 -3 for observations occuring nightly, every 5th, 20th and 45th night, respectively, in each of the six LSST bandpass filters. Adopting an observing cadence in which photometry is acquired with all six filters every 5th night and a realistic supernova distribution, binned redshift errors are combined with photometric errors with a σ of 0.17 and systematic errors with a σ∼ 0.003 to derive joint errors (σ w , σ w ' ) of (0.012, 0.066), respectively, in (w,w') with 68% confidence using Fisher matrix formalism. Though highly idealized in the present context, the methodology is nonetheless quite relevant for the next generation of ground-based all-sky surveys.

  18. LEAVING THE DARK AGES WITH AMIGA

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Manrique, Alberto; Salvador-Solé, Eduard; Juan, Enric; Rozas, José María; Sagristà, Antoni; Casteels, Kevin [Institut de Ciències del Cosmos, Universitat de Barcelona, UB-IEEC, Martí i Franquès 1, E-08028 Barcelona (Spain); Hatziminaoglou, Evanthia [European Southern Observatory, Karl-Schwarzschild-Strasse 2, D-85748 Garching bei Mnchen (Germany); Bruzual, Gustavo [Centro de Radioastronomía y Astrofísica, UNAM, Campus Morella (Mexico); Magris, Gladis, E-mail: a.manrique@ub.edu [Centro de Investigaciones de Astronomía, Apartado Postal 264, Mérida 5101-A (Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of)

    2015-01-01

    We present an Analytic Model of Intergalactic-medium and GAlaxy (AMIGA) evolution since the dark ages. AMIGA is in the spirit of the popular semi-analytic models of galaxy formation, although it does not use halo merger trees but interpolates halo properties in grids that are progressively built. This strategy is less memory-demanding and allows one to start modeling at sufficiently high redshifts and low halo masses to have trivial boundary conditions. The number of free parameters is minimized by making a causal connection between physical processes usually treated as independent of each other, which leads to more reliable predictions. However, the strongest points of AMIGA are the following: (1) the inclusion of molecular cooling and metal-poor, population III (Pop III) stars with the most dramatic feedback and (2) accurate follow up of the temperature and volume filling factor of neutral, singly ionized, and doubly ionized regions, taking into account the distinct halo mass functions in those environments. We find the following general results. Massive Pop III stars determine the intergalactic medium metallicity and temperature, and the growth of spheroids and disks is self-regulated by that of massive black holes (MBHs) developed from the remnants of those stars. However, the properties of normal galaxies and active galactic nuclei appear to be quite insensitive to Pop III star properties due to the much higher yield of ordinary stars compared to Pop III stars and the dramatic growth of MBHs when normal galaxies begin to develop, which cause the memory loss of the initial conditions.

  19. LEAVING THE DARK AGES WITH AMIGA

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Manrique, Alberto; Salvador-Solé, Eduard; Juan, Enric; Rozas, José María; Sagristà, Antoni; Casteels, Kevin; Hatziminaoglou, Evanthia; Bruzual, Gustavo; Magris, Gladis

    2015-01-01

    We present an Analytic Model of Intergalactic-medium and GAlaxy (AMIGA) evolution since the dark ages. AMIGA is in the spirit of the popular semi-analytic models of galaxy formation, although it does not use halo merger trees but interpolates halo properties in grids that are progressively built. This strategy is less memory-demanding and allows one to start modeling at sufficiently high redshifts and low halo masses to have trivial boundary conditions. The number of free parameters is minimized by making a causal connection between physical processes usually treated as independent of each other, which leads to more reliable predictions. However, the strongest points of AMIGA are the following: (1) the inclusion of molecular cooling and metal-poor, population III (Pop III) stars with the most dramatic feedback and (2) accurate follow up of the temperature and volume filling factor of neutral, singly ionized, and doubly ionized regions, taking into account the distinct halo mass functions in those environments. We find the following general results. Massive Pop III stars determine the intergalactic medium metallicity and temperature, and the growth of spheroids and disks is self-regulated by that of massive black holes (MBHs) developed from the remnants of those stars. However, the properties of normal galaxies and active galactic nuclei appear to be quite insensitive to Pop III star properties due to the much higher yield of ordinary stars compared to Pop III stars and the dramatic growth of MBHs when normal galaxies begin to develop, which cause the memory loss of the initial conditions

  20. Bayesian Multiscale Analysis of X-Ray Jet Features in High Redshift Quasars

    Science.gov (United States)

    McKeough, Kathryn; Siemiginowska, A.; Kashyap, V.; Stein, N.

    2014-01-01

    X-ray emission of powerful quasar jets may be a result of the inverse Compton (IC) process in which the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) photons gain energy by interactions with the jet’s relativistic electrons. However, there is no definite evidence that IC/CMB process is responsible for the observed X-ray emission of large scale jets. A step toward understanding the X-ray emission process is to study the Radio and X-ray morphologies of the jet. We implement a sophisticated Bayesian image analysis program, Low-count Image Reconstruction and Analysis (LIRA) (Esch et al. 2004; Conners & van Dyk 2007), to analyze jet features in 11 Chandra images of high redshift quasars (z ~ 2 - 4.8). Out of the 36 regions where knots are visible in the radio jets, nine showed detectable X-ray emission. We measured the ratios of the X-ray and radio luminosities of the detected features and found that they are consistent with the CMB radiation relationship. We derived a range of the bulk lorentz factor (Γ) for detected jet features under the CMB jet emission model. There is no discernible trend of Γ with redshift within the sample. The efficiency of the X-ray emission between the detected jet feature and the corresponding quasar also shows no correlation with redshift. This work is supported in part by the National Science Foundation REU and the Department of Defense ASSURE programs under NSF Grant no.1262851 and by the Smithsonian Institution, and by NASA Contract NAS8-39073 to the Chandra X-ray Center (CXC). This research has made use of data obtained from the Chandra Data Archive and Chandra Source Catalog, and software provided by the CXC in the application packages CIAO, ChIPS, and Sherpa. We thank Teddy Cheung for providing the VLA radio images. Connors, A., & van Dyk, D. A. 2007, Statistical Challenges in Modern Astronomy IV, 371, 101 Esch, D. N., Connors, A., Karovska, M., & van Dyk, D. A. 2004, ApJ, 610, 1213

  1. A faint galaxy redshift survey behind massive clusters

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Frye, Brenda Louise [Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)

    1999-05-01

    This thesis is concerned with the gravitational lensing effect by massive galaxy clusters. We have explored a new technique for measuring galaxy masses and for detecting high-z galaxies by their optical colors. A redshift survey has been obtained at the Keck for a magnitude limited sample of objects (I<23) behind three clusters, A1689, A2390, and A2218 within a radius of 0.5M pc. For each cluster we see both a clear trend of increasing flux and redshift towards the center. This behavior is the result of image magnifications, such that at fixed redshift one sees further down the luminosity function. The gradient of this magnification is, unlike measurements of image distortion, sensitive to the mass profile, and found to depart strongly from a pure isothermal halo. We have found that V RI color selection can be used effectively as a discriminant for finding high-z galaxies behind clusters and present five 4.1 < z < 5.1 spectra which are of very high quality due to their high mean magnification of ~20, showing strong, visibly-saturated interstellar metal lines in some cases. We have also investigated the radio ring lens PKS 1830-211, locating the source and multiple images and detected molecular absorption at mm wavelengths. Broad molecular absorption of width 1/40kms is found toward the southwest component only, where surprisingly it does not reach the base of the continuum, which implies incomplete coverage of the SW component by molecular gas, despite the small projected size of the source, less than 1/8h pc at the absorption redshift.

  2. VERY STRONG EMISSION-LINE GALAXIES IN THE WFC3 INFRARED SPECTROSCOPIC PARALLEL SURVEY AND IMPLICATIONS FOR HIGH-REDSHIFT GALAXIES

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Atek, H.; Colbert, J.; Shim, H. [Spitzer Science Center, Caltech, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States); Siana, B.; Bridge, C. [Department of Astronomy, Caltech, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States); Scarlata, C. [Department of Astronomy, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, Minneapolis, MN 55455 (United States); Malkan, M.; Ross, N. R. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles, CA (United States); McCarthy, P.; Dressler, A.; Hathi, N. P. [Observatories of the Carnegie Institution for Science, Pasadena, CA 91101 (United States); Teplitz, H. [Infrared Processing and Analysis Center, Caltech, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States); Henry, A.; Martin, C. [Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106 (United States); Bunker, A. J. [Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Denys Wilkinson Building, Keble Road, Oxford OX1 3RH (United Kingdom); Fosbury, R. A. E. [Space Telescope-European Coordinating Facility, Garching bei Muenchen (Germany)

    2011-12-20

    The WFC3 Infrared Spectroscopic Parallel Survey uses the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) infrared grism capabilities to obtain slitless spectra of thousands of galaxies over a wide redshift range including the peak of star formation history of the universe. We select a population of very strong emission-line galaxies with rest-frame equivalent widths (EWs) higher than 200 A. A total of 176 objects are found over the redshift range 0.35 < z < 2.3 in the 180 arcmin{sup 2} area that we have analyzed so far. This population consists of young and low-mass starbursts with high specific star formation rates (sSFR). After spectroscopic follow-up of one of these galaxies with Keck/Low Resolution Imaging Spectrometer, we report the detection at z = 0.7 of an extremely metal-poor galaxy with 12 + log(O/H) =7.47 {+-} 0.11. After estimating the active galactic nucleus fraction in the sample, we show that the high-EW galaxies have higher sSFR than normal star-forming galaxies at any redshift. We find that the nebular emission lines can substantially affect the total broadband flux density with a median brightening of 0.3 mag, with some examples of line contamination producing brightening of up to 1 mag. We show that the presence of strong emission lines in low-z galaxies can mimic the color-selection criteria used in the z {approx} 8 dropout surveys. In order to effectively remove low-redshift interlopers, deep optical imaging is needed, at least 1 mag deeper than the bands in which the objects are detected. Without deep optical data, most of the interlopers cannot be ruled out in the wide shallow HST imaging surveys. Finally, we empirically demonstrate that strong nebular lines can lead to an overestimation of the mass and the age of galaxies derived from fitting of their spectral energy distribution (SED). Without removing emission lines, the age and the stellar mass estimates are overestimated by a factor of 2 on average and up to a factor of 10 for the high-EW galaxies

  3. On the Redshift of TeV BL Lac Objects

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Paiano, Simona; Falomo, Renato [INAF, Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, Vicolo dell’Osservatorio 5 I-35122 Padova (PD) (Italy); Landoni, Marco; Righi, Chiara [INAF, Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera, Via E. Bianchi 46 I-23807 Merate (Italy); Treves, Aldo [Università degli Studi dell’Insubria, Via Valleggio 11 I-22100 Como (Italy); Scarpa, Riccardo [Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias, C/O Via Lactea, s/n E38205—La Laguna (Tenerife) (Spain)

    2017-03-10

    We report results of a spectroscopic campaign carried out at the 10 m Gran Telescopio Canarias for a sample of 22 BL Lac objects detected (or candidates) at TeV energies, aiming to determine or constrain their redshift. This is of fundamental importance for the interpretation of their emission models and for population studies and is also mandatory for studying the interaction of high-energy photons with the extragalactic background light using TeV sources. Optical spectra with high signal-to-noise ratios in the range 4250–10000 Å were obtained to search for faint emission or absorption lines from both the host galaxy and the nucleus. We determine a new redshift for PKS 1424+240 ( z = 0.604) and a tentative one for 1ES 0033+595 ( z = 0.467). We are able to set new spectroscopic redshift lower limits for three other sources on the basis of Mg ii and Ca ii intervening absorption features: BZB J1243+3627 ( z > 0.483), BZB J1540+8155 ( z > 0.672), and BZB 0J2323+4210 ( z > 0.267). We confirm previous redshift estimates for four blazars: S3 0218+357 ( z = 0.944), 1ES 1215+303 ( z = 0.129), W Comae ( z = 0.102), and MS 1221.8+2452 ( z = 0.218). For the remaining targets, in seven cases (S2 0109+22, 3C 66A, VER J0521+211, S4 0954+65, BZB J1120+4214, S3 1227+25, BZB J2323+4210), we do not validate the proposed redshift. Finally, for all sources of still-unknown redshift, we set a lower limit based on the minimum equivalent width of absorption features expected from the host galaxy.

  4. Hydrodynamic Simulation of the Cosmological X-Ray Background

    Science.gov (United States)

    Croft, Rupert A. C.; Di Matteo, Tiziana; Davé, Romeel; Hernquist, Lars; Katz, Neal; Fardal, Mark A.; Weinberg, David H.

    2001-08-01

    We use a hydrodynamic simulation of an inflationary cold dark matter model with a cosmological constant to predict properties of the extragalactic X-ray background (XRB). We focus on emission from the intergalactic medium (IGM), with particular attention to diffuse emission from warm-hot gas that lies in relatively smooth filamentary structures between galaxies and galaxy clusters. We also include X-rays from point sources associated with galaxies in the simulation, and we make maps of the angular distribution of the emission. Although much of the X-ray luminous gas has a filamentary structure, the filaments are not evident in the simulated maps because of projection effects. In the soft (0.5-2 keV) band, our calculated mean intensity of radiation from intergalactic and cluster gas is 2.3×10-12 ergs-1 cm-2 deg-2, 35% of the total softband emission. This intensity is compatible at the ~1 σ level with estimates of the unresolved soft background intensity from deep ROSAT and Chandra measurements. Only 4% of the hard (2-10 keV) emission is associated with intergalactic gas. Relative to active galactic nuclei flux, the IGM component of the XRB peaks at a lower redshift (median z~0.45) and spans a narrower redshift range, so its clustering makes an important contribution to the angular correlation function of the total emission. The clustering on the scales accessible to our simulation (0.1‧-10') is significant, with an amplitude roughly consistent with an extrapolation of recent ROSAT results to small scales. A cross-correlation analysis of the XRB against nearby galaxies taken from a simulated redshift survey also yields a strong signal from the IGM. Our conclusions about the soft background intensity differ from those of some recent papers that have argued that the expected emission from gas in galaxy, group, and cluster halos would exceed the observed background unless much of the gas is expelled by supernova feedback. We obtain reasonable compatibility with

  5. TRACING THE EVOLUTION OF HIGH-REDSHIFT GALAXIES USING STELLAR ABUNDANCES

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Crosby, Brian D.; O’Shea, Brian W. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824 (United States); Beers, Timothy C. [Department of Physics and JINA—Center for the Evolution of the Elements, University of Notre Dame, 225 Nieuwland Science Hall, Notre Dame, IN 46556 (United States); Tumlinson, Jason, E-mail: crosby.bd@gmail.com [Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218 (United States)

    2016-03-20

    This paper presents the first results from a model for chemical evolution that can be applied to N-body cosmological simulations and quantitatively compared to measured stellar abundances from large astronomical surveys. This model convolves the chemical yield sets from a range of stellar nucleosynthesis calculations (including asymptotic giant branch stars, Type Ia and II supernovae, and stellar wind models) with a user-specified stellar initial mass function (IMF) and metallicity to calculate the time-dependent chemical evolution model for a “simple stellar population” (SSP) of uniform metallicity and formation time. These SSP models are combined with a semianalytic model for galaxy formation and evolution that uses merger trees from N-body cosmological simulations to track several α- and iron-peak elements for the stellar and multiphase interstellar medium components of several thousand galaxies in the early (z ≥ 6) universe. The simulated galaxy population is then quantitatively compared to two complementary data sets of abundances in the Milky Way stellar halo and is capable of reproducing many of the observed abundance trends. The observed abundance ratio distributions are best reproduced with a Chabrier IMF, a chemically enriched star formation efficiency of 0.2, and a redshift of reionization of 7. Many abundances are qualitatively well matched by our model, but our model consistently overpredicts the carbon-enhanced fraction of stars at low metallicities, likely owing to incomplete coverage of Population III stellar yields and supernova models and the lack of dust as a component of our model.

  6. On the moment of inertia and surface redshift of neutron star

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Li Wenfei; Zhang Fengshou; Chen Liewen

    2001-01-01

    Using temperature, density and isospin dependent nuclear equation of state, the authors calculated the moment of inertia and surface redshift of neutron star by resolving Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkoff equation. It is found that the moment of inertia and surface redshift strongly depend on the nuclear equation of state. The equation of state with high value of un-compressibility and symmetry energy strength coefficient provides a big moment of inertia, while effective mass of nucleon has almost no effect on moment of inertia. Meanwhile, the equation of state with high value of un-compressibility and effective mass of nucleon provides a big surface redshift, while the symmetry energy strength coefficient has almost no effect on surface redshift of neutron star. The relationship between moment of inertia and mass is also given. By comparing the calculated results with the one obtained semi-empirically from astronomy, the authors find that a softer equation of state can provide a more reasonable result

  7. New photoionization models of intergalactic clouds

    Science.gov (United States)

    Donahue, Megan; Shull, J. M.

    1991-01-01

    New photoionization models of optically thin low-density intergalactic gas at constant pressure, photoionized by QSOs, are presented. All ion stages of H, He, C, N, O, Si, and Fe, plus H2 are modeled, and the column density ratios of clouds at specified values of the ionization parameter of n sub gamma/n sub H and cloud metallicity are predicted. If Ly-alpha clouds are much cooler than the previously assumed value, 30,000 K, the ionization parameter must be very low, even with the cooling contribution of a trace component of molecules. If the clouds cool below 6000 K, their final equilibrium must be below 3000 K, owing to the lack of a stable phase between 6000 and 3000 K. If it is assumed that the clouds are being irradiated by an EUV power-law continuum typical of WSOs, with J0 = 10 exp -21 ergs/s sq cm Hz, typical cloud thicknesses along the line of sight that are much smaller than would be expected from shocks, thermal instabilities, or gravitational collapse are derived.

  8. Planck intermediate results XXXIX. The Planck list of high-redshift source candidates

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ade, P. A. R.; Aghanim, N.; Arnaud, M.

    2016-01-01

    on a component-separation procedure using a combination of Planck and IRAS data, has been validated and characterized on numerous simulations, and applied to select the most luminous cold submillimetre sources with spectral energy distributions peaking between 353 and 857 GHz at 5' resolution. A total of 2151......The Planck mission, thanks to its large frequency range and all-sky coverage, has a unique potential for systematically detecting the brightest, and rarest, submillimetre sources on the sky, including distant objects in the high-redshift Universe traced by their dust emission. A novel method, based...... Planck high-z source candidates (the PHZ) have been detected in the cleanest 26% of the sky, with flux density at 545 GHz above 500 mJy. Embedded in the cosmic infrared background close to the confusion limit, these high-z candidates exhibit colder colours than their surroundings, consistent...

  9. The effects of the small-scale DM power on the cosmological neutral hydrogen (HI) distribution at high redshifts

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sarkar, Abir; Sethi, Shiv K.; Mondal, Rajesh; Bharadwaj, Somnath; Das, Subinoy; Marsh, David J.E.

    2016-01-01

    The particle nature of dark matter remains a mystery. In this paper, we consider two dark matter models—Late Forming Dark Matter (LFDM) and Ultra-Light Axion (ULA) models—where the matter power spectra show novel effects on small scales. The high redshift universe offers a powerful probe of their parameters. In particular, we study two cosmological observables: the neutral hydrogen (HI) redshifted 21-cm signal from the epoch of reionization, and the evolution of the collapsed fraction of HI in the redshift range 2 < z < 5. We model the theoretical predictions of the models using CDM-like N-body simulations with modified initial conditions, and generate reionization fields using an excursion set model. The N-body approximation is valid on the length and halo mass scales studied. We show that LFDM and ULA models predict an increase in the HI power spectrum from the epoch of reionization by a factor between 2–10 for a range of scales 0.1 < k < 4 Mpc −1 . Assuming a fiducial model where a neutral hydrogen fraction x-bar HI  = 0.5 must be achieved by z = 8, the reionization process allows us to put approximate bounds on the redshift of dark matter formation z f  > 4 × 10 5 (for LFDM) and the axion mass m a  > 2.6 × 10 −23  eV (for ULA). The comparison of the collapsed mass fraction inferred from damped Lyman-α observations to the theoretical predictions of our models lead to the weaker bounds: z f  > 2 × 10 5 and m a  > 10 −23  eV. These bounds are consistent with other constraints in the literature using different observables; we briefly discuss how these bounds compare with possible constraints from the observation of luminosity function of galaxies at high redshifts. In the case of ULAs, these constraints are also consistent with a solution to the cusp-core problem of CDM

  10. GRB 120521C at z ∼ 6 and the properties of high-redshift γ-ray bursts

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Laskar, Tanmoy; Berger, Edo; Zauderer, B. Ashley; Margutti, Raffaella; Fong, Wen-fai [Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States); Tanvir, Nial; Wiersema, Klaas [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leicester, University Road, Leicester LE1 7RH (United Kingdom); Levan, Andrew [Department of Physics, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL (United Kingdom); Perley, Daniel [Department of Astronomy, California Institute of Technology, MC 249-17, 1200 East California Boulevard, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States); Menten, Karl [Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie, Auf dem Hügel 69, D-53121 Bonn (Germany); Hrudkova, Marie [Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes, Apartado de Correos 321, E-387 00 Santa Cruz de la Palma, Canary Islands (Spain)

    2014-01-20

    We present optical, near-infrared, and radio observations of the afterglow of GRB 120521C. By modeling the multi-wavelength data set, we derive a photometric redshift of z ≈ 6.0, which we confirm with a low signal-to-noise ratio spectrum of the afterglow. We find that a model with a constant-density environment provides a good fit to the afterglow data, with an inferred density of n ≲ 0.05 cm{sup –3}. The radio observations reveal the presence of a jet break at t {sub jet} ≈ 7 d, corresponding to a jet opening angle of θ{sub jet} ≈ 3°. The beaming-corrected γ-ray and kinetic energies are E {sub γ} ≈ E{sub K} ≈ 3 × 10{sup 50} erg. We quantify the uncertainties in our results using a detailed Markov Chain Monte Carlo analysis, which allows us to uncover degeneracies between the physical parameters of the explosion. To compare GRB 120521C to other high-redshift bursts in a uniform manner we re-fit all available afterglow data for the two other bursts at z ≳ 6 with radio detections (GRBs 050904 and 090423). We find a jet break at t {sub jet} ≈ 15 d for GRB 090423, in contrast to previous work. Based on these three events, we find that γ-ray bursts (GRBs) at z ≳ 6 appear to explode in constant-density environments, and exhibit a wide range of energies and densities that span the range inferred for lower redshift bursts. On the other hand, we find a hint for narrower jets in the z ≳ 6 bursts, potentially indicating a larger true event rate at these redshifts. Overall, our results indicate that long GRBs share a common progenitor population at least to z ∼ 8.

  11. Photometric Redshifts with the LSST: Evaluating Survey Observing Strategies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Graham, Melissa L.; Connolly, Andrew J.; Ivezić, Željko; Schmidt, Samuel J.; Jones, R. Lynne; Jurić, Mario; Daniel, Scott F.; Yoachim, Peter

    2018-01-01

    In this paper we present and characterize a nearest-neighbors color-matching photometric redshift estimator that features a direct relationship between the precision and accuracy of the input magnitudes and the output photometric redshifts. This aspect makes our estimator an ideal tool for evaluating the impact of changes to LSST survey parameters that affect the measurement errors of the photometry, which is the main motivation of our work (i.e., it is not intended to provide the “best” photometric redshifts for LSST data). We show how the photometric redshifts will improve with time over the 10 year LSST survey and confirm that the nominal distribution of visits per filter provides the most accurate photo-z results. The LSST survey strategy naturally produces observations over a range of airmass, which offers the opportunity of using an SED- and z-dependent atmospheric affect on the observed photometry as a color-independent redshift indicator. We show that measuring this airmass effect and including it as a prior has the potential to improve the photometric redshifts and can ameliorate extreme outliers, but that it will only be adequately measured for the brightest galaxies, which limits its overall impact on LSST photometric redshifts. We furthermore demonstrate how this airmass effect can induce a bias in the photo-z results, and caution against survey strategies that prioritize high-airmass observations for the purpose of improving this prior. Ultimately, we intend for this work to serve as a guide for the expectations and preparations of the LSST science community with regard to the minimum quality of photo-z as the survey progresses.

  12. Diverse properties of interstellar medium embedding gamma-ray bursts at the epoch of reionization

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cen, Renyue; Kimm, Taysun

    2014-01-01

    Analysis is performed on ultra-high-resolution large-scale cosmological radiation-hydrodynamic simulations to quantify, for the first time, the physical environment of long-duration gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) at the epoch of reionization. We find that, on parsec scales, 13% of GRBs remain in high-density (≥10 4 cm –3 ) low-temperature star-forming regions, whereas 87% of GRBs occur in low-density (∼10 –2.5 cm –3 ) high-temperature regions heated by supernovae. More importantly, the spectral properties of GRB afterglows, such as the neutral hydrogen column density, total hydrogen column density, dust column density, gas temperature, and metallicity of intervening absorbers, vary strongly from sight line to sight line. Although our model explains extant limited observationally inferred values with respect to circumburst density, metallicity, column density, and dust properties, a substantially larger sample of high-z GRB afterglows would be required to facilitate a statistically solid test of the model. Our findings indicate that any attempt to infer the physical properties (such as metallicity) of the interstellar medium (ISM) of the host galaxy based on a very small number (usually one) of sight lines would be precarious. Utilizing high-z GRBs to probe the ISM and intergalactic medium should be undertaken properly, taking into consideration the physical diversities of the ISM.

  13. Center for astrophysics redshift survey

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Davis, M.; Huchra, J.; Latham, D.

    1983-01-01

    Major advances in the art of redshift measurements have improved the obtainable accuracy to better than 30 km/s. It is now posible to obtain a redshift for almost any galaxy brighter than 15th magnitude on a 60-inch telescope in 60 minutes or less. These advances were utilized in an observation program initiated in the spring of 1978. This program represents a survey of radial velocities for all 2400 galaxies brighter than 14.5 at high galactic latitude in the northern hemisphere. The obtained data set has been employed as a basis for a derivation of a good measure of the local mean mass density. In addition, information was obtained concerning the overdensity and the dynamics of the local supercluster, and an analysis was conducted of the dynamics of groups and clusters of galaxies within the sample volume. 16 references

  14. Spacetimes admitting a universal redshift function

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dautcourt, G.

    1987-01-01

    The conditions are given for a velocity congruence in a Riemannian spacetime admitting a universal redshift function R. This function allows to calculate in a simple way (as a quotient of R values taken at the emission and registration event) the redshift or blueshift connected with an emitter and observer both following the congruence. Spacetimes and congruences with an universal redshift function are shortly discussed. (author)

  15. DISCOVERY OF WATER VAPOR IN THE HIGH-REDSHIFT QUASAR APM 08279+5255 AT z = 3.91

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lis, D. C.; Phillips, T. G.; Neufeld, D. A.; Gerin, M.; Neri, R.

    2011-01-01

    We report a detection of the excited 2 20 -2 11 rotational transition of para-H 2 O in APM 08279+5255 using the IRAM Plateau de Bure Interferometer. At z = 3.91, this is the highest-redshift detection of interstellar water to date. From large velocity gradient modeling, we conclude that this transition is predominantly radiatively pumped and on its own does not provide a good estimate of the water abundance. However, additional water transitions are predicted to be detectable in this source, which would lead to an improved excitation model. We also present a sensitive upper limit for the hydrogen fluoride (HF) J = 1-0 absorption toward APM 08279+5255. While the face-on geometry of this source is not favorable for absorption studies, the lack of HF absorption is still puzzling and may be indicative of a lower fluorine abundance at z = 3.91 compared with the Galactic interstellar medium.

  16. Automated reliability assessment for spectroscopic redshift measurements

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jamal, S.; Le Brun, V.; Le Fèvre, O.; Vibert, D.; Schmitt, A.; Surace, C.; Copin, Y.; Garilli, B.; Moresco, M.; Pozzetti, L.

    2018-03-01

    Context. Future large-scale surveys, such as the ESA Euclid mission, will produce a large set of galaxy redshifts (≥106) that will require fully automated data-processing pipelines to analyze the data, extract crucial information and ensure that all requirements are met. A fundamental element in these pipelines is to associate to each galaxy redshift measurement a quality, or reliability, estimate. Aim. In this work, we introduce a new approach to automate the spectroscopic redshift reliability assessment based on machine learning (ML) and characteristics of the redshift probability density function. Methods: We propose to rephrase the spectroscopic redshift estimation into a Bayesian framework, in order to incorporate all sources of information and uncertainties related to the redshift estimation process and produce a redshift posterior probability density function (PDF). To automate the assessment of a reliability flag, we exploit key features in the redshift posterior PDF and machine learning algorithms. Results: As a working example, public data from the VIMOS VLT Deep Survey is exploited to present and test this new methodology. We first tried to reproduce the existing reliability flags using supervised classification in order to describe different types of redshift PDFs, but due to the subjective definition of these flags (classification accuracy 58%), we soon opted for a new homogeneous partitioning of the data into distinct clusters via unsupervised classification. After assessing the accuracy of the new clusters via resubstitution and test predictions (classification accuracy 98%), we projected unlabeled data from preliminary mock simulations for the Euclid space mission into this mapping to predict their redshift reliability labels. Conclusions: Through the development of a methodology in which a system can build its own experience to assess the quality of a parameter, we are able to set a preliminary basis of an automated reliability assessment for

  17. Early growth of typical high-redshift black holes seeded by direct collapse

    Science.gov (United States)

    Latif, Muhammad A.; Volonteri, Marta; Wise, John H.

    2018-06-01

    Understanding the growth of high-redshift massive black holes (MBHs) is a problem of great astrophysical interest. The most luminous quasars at z > 6 are frequently observed but they represent only the tip of the iceberg as the majority of the low-luminosity active galactic nuclei (AGN) population remains undetected. In this study, we perform a radiation hydrodynamics cosmological simulation to study the growth of `normal' black holes in the high-redshift universe. In our simulation, we model the formation of Pop III and Pop II stars along with their chemical, mechanical, and radiative feedback. We consider both UV and X-ray emission from an accreting BH to simulate its radiative feedback. The selected halo has a mass of 3 × 10^{10} M_{⊙} at z = 7.5 and we turn on radiative feedback from a MBH seed of 10^5 M_{⊙} along with in situ star formation at z = 12 when the halo mass reaches well above the atomic cooling limit. We find that the MBH accretes only about 2200 M_{⊙} during 320 Myr and the average mass accretion on to the MBH is a few times 10^{-6} M_{⊙} yr^{-1}. Our results suggest that the stunted growth of MBH is a consequence of supernovae in tandem with MBH feedback which drive large outflows and evacuate the gas from MBH vicinity. This may explain why a population of low-luminosity AGN has not been detected so-far at z > 6; the large contrast between the star formation rate and the MBH accretion rate may make then hard to detect even in upcoming deep surveys.

  18. Multipole analysis of redshift-space distortions around cosmic voids

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hamaus, Nico; Cousinou, Marie-Claude; Pisani, Alice; Aubert, Marie; Escoffier, Stéphanie; Weller, Jochen

    2017-07-01

    We perform a comprehensive redshift-space distortion analysis based on cosmic voids in the large-scale distribution of galaxies observed with the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. To this end, we measure multipoles of the void-galaxy cross-correlation function and compare them with standard model predictions in cosmology. Merely considering linear-order theory allows us to accurately describe the data on the entire available range of scales and to probe void-centric distances down to about 2 h-1Mpc. Common systematics, such as the Fingers-of-God effect, scale-dependent galaxy bias, and nonlinear clustering do not seem to play a significant role in our analysis. We constrain the growth rate of structure via the redshift-space distortion parameter β at two median redshifts, β(bar z=0.32)=0.599+0.134-0.124 and β(bar z=0.54)=0.457+0.056-0.054, with a precision that is competitive with state-of-the-art galaxy-clustering results. While the high-redshift constraint perfectly agrees with model expectations, we observe a mild 2σ deviation at bar z=0.32, which increases to 3σ when the data is restricted to the lowest available redshift range of 0.15

  19. Multipole analysis of redshift-space distortions around cosmic voids

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hamaus, Nico; Weller, Jochen [Universitäts-Sternwarte München, Fakultät für Physik, Ludwig-Maximilians Universität, Scheinerstr. 1, D-81679 München (Germany); Cousinou, Marie-Claude; Pisani, Alice; Aubert, Marie; Escoffier, Stéphanie, E-mail: hamaus@usm.lmu.de, E-mail: cousinou@cppm.in2p3.fr, E-mail: pisani@cppm.in2p3.fr, E-mail: maubert@cppm.in2p3.fr, E-mail: escoffier@cppm.in2p3.fr, E-mail: jochen.weller@usm.lmu.de [Aix Marseille Univ., CNRS/IN2P3, CPPM, 163 avenue de Luminy, F-13288, Marseille (France)

    2017-07-01

    We perform a comprehensive redshift-space distortion analysis based on cosmic voids in the large-scale distribution of galaxies observed with the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. To this end, we measure multipoles of the void-galaxy cross-correlation function and compare them with standard model predictions in cosmology. Merely considering linear-order theory allows us to accurately describe the data on the entire available range of scales and to probe void-centric distances down to about 2 h {sup −1}Mpc. Common systematics, such as the Fingers-of-God effect, scale-dependent galaxy bias, and nonlinear clustering do not seem to play a significant role in our analysis. We constrain the growth rate of structure via the redshift-space distortion parameter β at two median redshifts, β( z-bar =0.32)=0.599{sup +0.134}{sub −0.124} and β( z-bar =0.54)=0.457{sup +0.056}{sub −0.054}, with a precision that is competitive with state-of-the-art galaxy-clustering results. While the high-redshift constraint perfectly agrees with model expectations, we observe a mild 2σ deviation at z-bar =0.32, which increases to 3σ when the data is restricted to the lowest available redshift range of 0.15< z <0.33.

  20. Multipole analysis of redshift-space distortions around cosmic voids

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hamaus, Nico; Weller, Jochen; Cousinou, Marie-Claude; Pisani, Alice; Aubert, Marie; Escoffier, Stéphanie

    2017-01-01

    We perform a comprehensive redshift-space distortion analysis based on cosmic voids in the large-scale distribution of galaxies observed with the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. To this end, we measure multipoles of the void-galaxy cross-correlation function and compare them with standard model predictions in cosmology. Merely considering linear-order theory allows us to accurately describe the data on the entire available range of scales and to probe void-centric distances down to about 2 h −1 Mpc. Common systematics, such as the Fingers-of-God effect, scale-dependent galaxy bias, and nonlinear clustering do not seem to play a significant role in our analysis. We constrain the growth rate of structure via the redshift-space distortion parameter β at two median redshifts, β( z-bar =0.32)=0.599 +0.134 −0.124 and β( z-bar =0.54)=0.457 +0.056 −0.054 , with a precision that is competitive with state-of-the-art galaxy-clustering results. While the high-redshift constraint perfectly agrees with model expectations, we observe a mild 2σ deviation at z-bar =0.32, which increases to 3σ when the data is restricted to the lowest available redshift range of 0.15< z <0.33.

  1. Outshining the quasars at reionization

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Watson, D.; Reeves, J.N.; Hjorth, J.

    2006-01-01

    Gamma Rays: Bursts, Galaxies: Intergalactic Medium, Galaxies: Quasars: Absorption Lines, X-Rays: Galaxies, X-Rays: General Udgivelsesdato: 19 January......Gamma Rays: Bursts, Galaxies: Intergalactic Medium, Galaxies: Quasars: Absorption Lines, X-Rays: Galaxies, X-Rays: General Udgivelsesdato: 19 January...

  2. THE ENVIRONMENTS OF HIGH-REDSHIFT QUASI-STELLAR OBJECTS

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, Soyoung; Stiavelli, Massimo; Trenti, M.; Pavlovsky, C. M.; Djorgovski, S. G.; Scarlata, C.; Stern, D.; Mahabal, A.; Thompson, D.; Panagia, N.; Dickinson, M.; Meylan, G.

    2009-01-01

    We present a sample of i 775 -dropout candidates identified in five Hubble Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) fields centered on Sloan Digital Sky Survey quasi-stellar objects (QSOs) at redshift z ∼ 6. Our fields are as deep as the GOODS ACS images, which are used as a reference field sample. We find them to be overdense in two fields, underdense in two fields, and as dense as the average density of GOODS in one field. The two excess fields show significantly different color distributions from that of GOODS at the 99% confidence level, strengthening the idea that the excess objects are indeed associated with the QSO. The distribution of i 775 -dropout counts in the five fields is broader than that derived from GOODS at the 80%-96% confidence level, depending on which selection criteria were adopted to identify i 775 -dropouts; its width cannot be explained by cosmic variance alone. Thus, QSOs seem to affect their environments in complex ways. We suggest the picture where the highest redshift QSOs are located in very massive overdensities and are therefore surrounded by an overdensity of lower mass halos. Radiative feedback by the QSO can in some cases prevent halos from becoming galaxies, thereby generating in extreme cases an underdensity of galaxies. The presence of both enhancement and suppression is compatible with the expected differences between lines of sight at the end of reionization as the presence of residual diffuse neutral hydrogen would provide young galaxies with shielding from the radiative effects of the QSO.

  3. High-redshift Blazars through NuSTAR Eyes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Marcotulli, L.; Paliya, V. S.; Ajello, M.; Kaur, A.; Hartmann, D. H. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Clemson University, Kinard Lab of Physics, Clemson, SC 29634-0978 (United States); Gasparrini, D. [Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI) Science Data Center, I-00133 Roma (Italy); Greiner, J.; Rau, A.; Schady, P. [Max Planck Institute für extraterrestrische Physik, Giessenbachstrasse 1, D-85748 Garching (Germany); Baloković, M. [Cahill Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States); Stern, D. [Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109 (United States); Madejski, G., E-mail: lmarcot@g.clemson.edu, E-mail: vpaliya@g.clemson.edu [Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, CA 94025 (United States)

    2017-04-20

    The most powerful sources among the blazar family are MeV blazars. Often detected at z > 2, they usually display high X- and γ -ray luminosities, larger-than-average jet powers, and black hole masses ≳10{sup 9} M {sub ☉}. In the present work, we perform a multiwavelength study of three high-redshift blazars: 3FGL J0325.5+2223 ( z = 2.06), 3FGL J0449.0+1121 ( z = 2.15), and 3FGL J0453.2−2808 ( z = 2.56), analyzing quasi-simultaneous data from GROND, Swift -UVOT and XRT, Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array ( NuSTAR ), and Fermi -LAT. Our main focus is on the hard X-ray band recently unveiled by NuSTAR (3–79 keV) where these objects show a hard spectrum that enables us to constrain the inverse Compton (IC) peak and the jet power. We found that all three targets resemble the most powerful blazars, with the synchrotron peak located in the submillimeter range and the IC peak in the MeV range, and therefore belong to the MeV blazar class. Using a simple one-zone leptonic emission model to reproduce the spectral energy distributions, we conclude that a simple combination of synchrotron and accretion disk emission reproduces the infrared–optical spectra, while the X-ray to γ -ray part is well reproduced by the IC scattering of low-energy photons supplied by the broad-line region. The black hole masses for each of the three sources are calculated to be ≳4 × 10{sup 8} M {sub ☉}. The three studied sources have jet power at the level of, or beyond, the accretion luminosity.

  4. High-redshift Blazars through NuSTAR Eyes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Marcotulli, L.; Paliya, V. S.; Ajello, M.; Kaur, A.; Hartmann, D. H.; Gasparrini, D.; Greiner, J.; Rau, A.; Schady, P.; Baloković, M.; Stern, D.; Madejski, G.

    2017-01-01

    The most powerful sources among the blazar family are MeV blazars. Often detected at z > 2, they usually display high X- and γ -ray luminosities, larger-than-average jet powers, and black hole masses ≳10 9 M ☉ . In the present work, we perform a multiwavelength study of three high-redshift blazars: 3FGL J0325.5+2223 ( z = 2.06), 3FGL J0449.0+1121 ( z = 2.15), and 3FGL J0453.2−2808 ( z = 2.56), analyzing quasi-simultaneous data from GROND, Swift -UVOT and XRT, Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array ( NuSTAR ), and Fermi -LAT. Our main focus is on the hard X-ray band recently unveiled by NuSTAR (3–79 keV) where these objects show a hard spectrum that enables us to constrain the inverse Compton (IC) peak and the jet power. We found that all three targets resemble the most powerful blazars, with the synchrotron peak located in the submillimeter range and the IC peak in the MeV range, and therefore belong to the MeV blazar class. Using a simple one-zone leptonic emission model to reproduce the spectral energy distributions, we conclude that a simple combination of synchrotron and accretion disk emission reproduces the infrared–optical spectra, while the X-ray to γ -ray part is well reproduced by the IC scattering of low-energy photons supplied by the broad-line region. The black hole masses for each of the three sources are calculated to be ≳4 × 10 8 M ☉ . The three studied sources have jet power at the level of, or beyond, the accretion luminosity.

  5. Impact of Massive Neutrinos and Dark Radiation on the High-redshift Cosmic Web. I. Lyα Forest Observables

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rossi, Graziano

    2017-11-01

    With upcoming high-quality data from surveys such as the Extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey or the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument, improving the theoretical modeling and gaining a deeper understanding of the effects of neutrinos and dark radiation on structure formation at small scales are necessary, to obtain robust constraints free from systematic biases. Using a novel suite of hydrodynamical simulations that incorporate dark matter, baryons, massive neutrinos, and dark radiation, we present a detailed study of their impact on Lyα forest observables. In particular, we accurately measure the tomographic evolution of the shape and amplitude of the small-scale matter and flux power spectra and search for unique signatures along with preferred scales where a neutrino mass detection may be feasible. We then investigate the thermal state of the intergalactic medium (IGM) through the temperature-density relation. Our findings suggest that at k˜ 5 h {{Mpc}}-1 the suppression on the matter power spectrum induced by \\sum {m}ν =0.1 {eV} neutrinos can reach ˜ 4 % at z˜ 3 when compared to a massless neutrino cosmology, and ˜ 10 % if a massless sterile neutrino is included; surprisingly, we also find good agreement (˜ 2 % ) with some analytic predictions. For the 1D flux power spectrum {P}{ F }1{{D}}, the highest response to free-streaming effects is achieved at k˜ 0.005 {[{km}/{{s}}]}-1 when \\sum {m}ν =0.1 {eV}; this k-limit falls in the Lyα forest regime, making the small-scale {P}{ F }1{{D}} an excellent probe for detecting neutrino and dark radiation imprints. Our results indicate that the IGM at z˜ 3 provides the best sensitivity to active and sterile neutrinos.

  6. The VIMOS Public Extragalactic Redshift Survey (VIPERS). Star formation history of passive red galaxies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Siudek, M.; Małek, K.; Scodeggio, M.; Garilli, B.; Pollo, A.; Haines, C. P.; Fritz, A.; Bolzonella, M.; de la Torre, S.; Granett, B. R.; Guzzo, L.; Abbas, U.; Adami, C.; Bottini, D.; Cappi, A.; Cucciati, O.; De Lucia, G.; Davidzon, I.; Franzetti, P.; Iovino, A.; Krywult, J.; Le Brun, V.; Le Fèvre, O.; Maccagni, D.; Marchetti, A.; Marulli, F.; Polletta, M.; Tasca, L. A. M.; Tojeiro, R.; Vergani, D.; Zanichelli, A.; Arnouts, S.; Bel, J.; Branchini, E.; Ilbert, O.; Gargiulo, A.; Moscardini, L.; Takeuchi, T. T.; Zamorani, G.

    2017-01-01

    Aims: We trace the evolution and the star formation history of passive red galaxies, using a subset of the VIMOS Public Extragalactic Redshift Survey (VIPERS). The detailed spectral analysis of stellar populations of intermediate-redshift passive red galaxies allows the build up of their stellar content to be followed over the last 8 billion years. Methods: We extracted a sample of passive red galaxies in the redshift range 0.4 quality. The spectra of passive red galaxies were stacked in narrow bins of stellar mass and redshift. We use the stacked spectra to measure the 4000 Å break (D4000) and the Hδ Lick index (HδA) with high precision. These spectral features are used as indicators of the star formation history of passive red galaxies. We compare the results with a grid of synthetic spectra to constrain the star formation epochs of these galaxies. We characterize the formation redshift-stellar mass relation for intermediate-redshift passive red galaxies. Results: We find that at z 1 stellar populations in low-mass passive red galaxies are younger than in high-mass passive red galaxies, similar to what is observed at the present epoch. Over the full analyzed redshift range 0.4 web site is http://www.vipers.inaf.it/

  7. Galaxy Clustering in Early SDSS Redshift Data

    CERN Document Server

    Zehavi, I.; Frieman, Joshua A.; Weinberg, David H.; Mo, Houjun J.; Anderson, Scott F.; Strauss, Michael A.; Annis, James; Bahcall, Neta A.; Bernardi, Mariangela; Briggs, John W.; Brinkmann, Jon; Burles, Scott; Carey, Larry; Castander, Francisco J.; Connolly, J.; Csabai, Istvan; Dalcanton, Julianne J.; Dodelson,Scott; Doi,Mamoru; Eisenstein, Daniel; Evans, Michael L.; Finkbeiner, Douglas P.; Friedman, Scott; Fukugita, Masataka; Gunn, James E.; Hennessy, Greg S.; Hindsley, Robert B.; Ivezic, Zeljko; Kent,Stephen; Knapp, Gillian R.; Kron, Richard; Kunszt, Peter; Lamb, Donald; French Leger, R.; Long, Daniel C.; Loveday, Jon.; Lupton, Robert H.; McKay, Timothy; Meiksin, Avery; Merrelli, Aronne; Munn, Jeffrey A.; Narayanan, Vijay; Newcomb, Matt; Nichol, Robert C.; Owen, Russell; Peoples, John; Pope, Adrian; Rockosi, Constance M.; Schlegel, David; Schneider, Donald P.; Scoccimarro, Roman; Sheth, Ravi K.; Siegmund, Walter; Smee, Stephen; Snir, Yehuda; Stebbins, Albert; Stoughton, Christopher; SubbaRao, Mark; Szalay, Alexander S.; Szapudi, Istvan; Tegmark, Max; Tucker, Douglas L.; Uomoto, Alan; Vanden Berk, Dan; Vogeley, Michael S.; Waddell,Patrick; Yanny, Brian; York, Donald G.; Zehavi, Idit; Blanton, Michael R.; Frieman, Joshua A.; Weinberg, David H.; Mo, Houjun J.; Strauss, Michael A.

    2002-01-01

    We present the first measurements of clustering in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) galaxy redshift survey. Our sample consists of 29,300 galaxies with redshifts 5,700 km/s < cz < 39,000 km/s, distributed in several long but narrow (2.5-5 degree) segments, covering 690 square degrees. For the full, flux-limited sample, the redshift-space correlation length is approximately 8 Mpc/h. The two-dimensional correlation function \\xi(r_p,\\pi) shows clear signatures of both the small-scale, ``fingers-of-God'' distortion caused by velocity dispersions in collapsed objects and the large-scale compression caused by coherent flows, though the latter cannot be measured with high precision in the present sample. The inferred real-space correlation function is well described by a power law, \\xi(r)=(r/6.1+/-0.2 Mpc/h)^{-1.75+/-0.03}, for 0.1 Mpc/h < r < 16 Mpc/h. The galaxy pairwise velocity dispersion is \\sigma_{12} ~ 600+/-100 km/s for projected separations 0.15 Mpc/h < r_p < 5 Mpc/h. When we divide the...

  8. SU(2)CMB at high redshifts and the value of H0

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hahn, Steffen; Hofmann, Ralf

    2017-07-01

    We investigate a high-z cosmological model to compute the comoving sound horizon rs at baryon-velocity freeze-out towards the end of hydrogen recombination. This model assumes a replacement of the conventional cosmic microwave background (CMB) photon gas by deconfining SU(2) Yang-Mills thermodynamics, three flavours of massless neutrinos (Nν = 3) and a purely baryonic matter sector [no cold dark-matter (CDM)]. The according SU(2) temperature-redshift relation of the CMB is contrasted with recent measurements appealing to the thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect and CMB-photon absorption by molecular rotation bands or atomic hyperfine levels. Relying on a realistic simulation of the ionization history throughout recombination, we obtain z* = 1693.55 ± 6.98 and zdrag = 1812.66 ± 7.01. Due to considerable widths of the visibility functions in the solutions to the associated Boltzmann hierarchy and Euler equation, we conclude that z* and zdrag overestimate the redshifts for the respective photon and baryon-velocity freeze-out. Realistic decoupling values turn out to be zlf,* = 1554.89 ± 5.18 and zlf, drag = 1659.30 ± 5.48. With rs(zlf, drag) = (137.19 ± 0.45) Mpc and the essentially model independent extraction of rsH0 = constant from low-z data in Bernal, Verde & Riess, we obtain a good match with the value H0 = (73.24 ± 1.74) km s-1 Mpc-1 extracted in Riess et al. by appealing to Cepheid-calibrated Type Ia supernovae, new parallax measurements, stronger constraints on the Hubble flow and a refined computation of distance to NGC 4258 from maser data. We briefly comment on a possible interpolation of our high-z model, invoking percolated and unpercolated U(1) topological solitons of a Planck-scale axion field, to the phenomenologically successful low-z ΛCDM cosmology.

  9. THE REDSHIFT DISTRIBUTION OF GIANT ARCS IN THE SLOAN GIANT ARCS SURVEY

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bayliss, Matthew B.; Gladders, Michael D.; Koester, Benjamin P.; Oguri, Masamune; Hennawi, Joseph F.; Sharon, Keren; Dahle, Haakon

    2011-01-01

    We measure the redshift distribution of a sample of 28 giant arcs discovered as a part of the Sloan Giant Arcs Survey. Gemini/GMOS-North spectroscopy provides precise redshifts for 24 arcs, and 'redshift desert' constrains for the remaining 4 arcs. This is a direct measurement of the redshift distribution of a uniformly selected sample of bright giant arcs, which is an observable that can be used to inform efforts to predict giant arc statistics. Our primary giant arc sample has a median redshift z = 1.821 and nearly two-thirds of the arcs, 64%, are sources at z ∼> 1.4, indicating that the population of background sources that are strongly lensed into bright giant arcs resides primarily at high redshift. We also analyze the distribution of redshifts for 19 secondary strongly lensed background sources that are not visually apparent in Sloan Digital Sky Survey imaging, but were identified in deeper follow-up imaging of the lensing cluster fields. Our redshift sample for the secondary sources is not spectroscopically complete, but combining it with our primary giant arc sample suggests that a large fraction of all background galaxies that are strongly lensed by foreground clusters reside at z ∼> 1.4. Kolmogorov-Smirnov tests indicate that our well-selected, spectroscopically complete primary giant arc redshift sample can be reproduced with a model distribution that is constructed from a combination of results from studies of strong-lensing clusters in numerical simulations and observational constraints on the galaxy luminosity function.

  10. Future Cosmological Constraints From Fast Radio Bursts

    Science.gov (United States)

    Walters, Anthony; Weltman, Amanda; Gaensler, B. M.; Ma, Yin-Zhe; Witzemann, Amadeus

    2018-03-01

    We consider the possible observation of fast radio bursts (FRBs) with planned future radio telescopes, and investigate how well the dispersions and redshifts of these signals might constrain cosmological parameters. We construct mock catalogs of FRB dispersion measure (DM) data and employ Markov Chain Monte Carlo analysis, with which we forecast and compare with existing constraints in the flat ΛCDM model, as well as some popular extensions that include dark energy equation of state and curvature parameters. We find that the scatter in DM observations caused by inhomogeneities in the intergalactic medium (IGM) poses a big challenge to the utility of FRBs as a cosmic probe. Only in the most optimistic case, with a high number of events and low IGM variance, do FRBs aid in improving current constraints. In particular, when FRBs are combined with CMB+BAO+SNe+H 0 data, we find the biggest improvement comes in the {{{Ω }}}{{b}}{h}2 constraint. Also, we find that the dark energy equation of state is poorly constrained, while the constraint on the curvature parameter, Ω k , shows some improvement when combined with current constraints. When FRBs are combined with future baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) data from 21 cm Intensity Mapping, we find little improvement over the constraints from BAOs alone. However, the inclusion of FRBs introduces an additional parameter constraint, {{{Ω }}}{{b}}{h}2, which turns out to be comparable to existing constraints. This suggests that FRBs provide valuable information about the cosmological baryon density in the intermediate redshift universe, independent of high-redshift CMB data.

  11. Hitomi observations of the LMC SNR N 132 D: Highly redshifted X-ray emission from iron ejecta

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hitomi Collaboration; Aharonian, Felix; Akamatsu, Hiroki; Akimoto, Fumie; Allen, Steven W.; Angelini, Lorella; Audard, Marc; Awaki, Hisamitsu; Axelsson, Magnus; Bamba, Aya; Bautz, Marshall W.; Blandford, Roger; Brenneman, Laura W.; Brown, Gregory V.; Bulbul, Esra; Cackett, Edward M.; Chernyakova, Maria; Chiao, Meng P.; Coppi, Paolo S.; Costantini, Elisa; de Plaa, Jelle; de Vries, Cor P.; den Herder, Jan-Willem; Done, Chris; Dotani, Tadayasu; Ebisawa, Ken; Eckart, Megan E.; Enoto, Teruaki; Ezoe, Yuichiro; Fabian, Andrew C.; Ferrigno, Carlo; Foster, Adam R.; Fujimoto, Ryuichi; Fukazawa, Yasushi; Furuzawa, Akihiro; Galeazzi, Massimiliano; Gallo, Luigi C.; Gandhi, Poshak; Giustini, Margherita; Goldwurm, Andrea; Gu, Liyi; Guainazzi, Matteo; Haba, Yoshito; Hagino, Kouichi; Hamaguchi, Kenji; Harrus, Ilana M.; Hatsukade, Isamu; Hayashi, Katsuhiro; Hayashi, Takayuki; Hayashida, Kiyoshi; Hiraga, Junko S.; Hornschemeier, Ann; Hoshino, Akio; Hughes, John P.; Ichinohe, Yuto; Iizuka, Ryo; Inoue, Hajime; Inoue, Yoshiyuki; Ishida, Manabu; Ishikawa, Kumi; Ishisaki, Yoshitaka; Iwai, Masachika; Kaastra, Jelle; Kallman, Tim; Kamae, Tsuneyoshi; Kataoka, Jun; Katsuda, Satoru; Kawai, Nobuyuki; Kelley, Richard L.; Kilbourne, Caroline A.; Kitaguchi, Takao; Kitamoto, Shunji; Kitayama, Tetsu; Kohmura, Takayoshi; Kokubun, Motohide; Koyama, Katsuji; Koyama, Shu; Kretschmar, Peter; Krimm, Hans A.; Kubota, Aya; Kunieda, Hideyo; Laurent, Philippe; Lee, Shiu-Hang; Leutenegger, Maurice A.; Limousin, Olivier; Loewenstein, Michael; Long, Knox S.; Lumb, David; Madejski, Greg; Maeda, Yoshitomo; Maier, Daniel; Makishima, Kazuo; Markevitch, Maxim; Matsumoto, Hironori; Matsushita, Kyoko; McCammon, Dan; McNamara, Brian R.; Mehdipour, Missagh; Miller, Eric D.; Miller, Jon M.; Mineshige, Shin; Mitsuda, Kazuhisa; Mitsuishi, Ikuyuki; Miyazawa, Takuya; Mizuno, Tsunefumi; Mori, Hideyuki; Mori, Koji; Mukai, Koji; Murakami, Hiroshi; Mushotzky, Richard F.; Nakagawa, Takao; Nakajima, Hiroshi; Nakamori, Takeshi; Nakashima, Shinya; Nakazawa, Kazuhiro; Nobukawa, Kumiko K.; Nobukawa, Masayoshi; Noda, Hirofumi; Odaka, Hirokazu; Ohashi, Takaya; Ohno, Masanori; Okajima, Takashi; Ota, Naomi; Ozaki, Masanobu; Paerels, Frits; Paltani, Stéphane; Petre, Robert; Pinto, Ciro; Porter, Frederick S.; Pottschmidt, Katja; Reynolds, Christopher S.; Safi-Harb, Samar; Saito, Shinya; Sakai, Kazuhiro; Sasaki, Toru; Sato, Goro; Sato, Kosuke; Sato, Rie; Sato, Toshiki; Sawada, Makoto; Schartel, Norbert; Serlemtsos, Peter J.; Seta, Hiromi; Shidatsu, Megumi; Simionescu, Aurora; Smith, Randall K.; Soong, Yang; Stawarz, Łukasz; Sugawara, Yasuharu; Sugita, Satoshi; Szymkowiak, Andrew; Tajima, Hiroyasu; Takahashi, Hiromitsu; Takahashi, Tadayuki; Takeda, Shin'ichiro; Takei, Yoh; Tamagawa, Toru; Tamura, Takayuki; Tanaka, Takaaki; Tanaka, Yasuo; Tanaka, Yasuyuki T.; Tashiro, Makoto S.; Tawara, Yuzuru; Terada, Yukikatsu; Terashima, Yuichi; Tombesi, Francesco; Tomida, Hiroshi; Tsuboi, Yohko; Tsujimoto, Masahiro; Tsunemi, Hiroshi; Tsuru, Takeshi Go; Uchida, Hiroyuki; Uchiyama, Hideki; Uchiyama, Yasunobu; Ueda, Shutaro; Ueda, Yoshihiro; Uno, Shin'ichiro; Urry, C. Megan; Ursino, Eugenio; Watanabe, Shin; Werner, Norbert; Wilkins, Dan R.; Williams, Brian J.; Yamada, Shinya; Yamaguchi, Hiroya; Yamaoka, Kazutaka; Yamasaki, Noriko Y.; Yamauchi, Makoto; Yamauchi, Shigeo; Yaqoob, Tahir; Yatsu, Yoichi; Yonetoku, Daisuke; Zhuravleva, Irina; Zoghbi, Abderahmen

    2018-03-01

    We present Hitomi observations of N 132 D, a young, X-ray bright, O-rich core-collapse supernova remnant in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). Despite a very short observation of only 3.7 ks, the Soft X-ray Spectrometer (SXS) easily detects the line complexes of highly ionized S K and Fe K with 16-17 counts in each. The Fe feature is measured for the first time at high spectral resolution. Based on the plausible assumption that the Fe K emission is dominated by He-like ions, we find that the material responsible for this Fe emission is highly redshifted at ˜ 800 km s-1 compared to the local LMC interstellar medium (ISM), with a 90% credible interval of 50-1500 km s-1 if a weakly informative prior is placed on possible line broadening. This indicates (1) that the Fe emission arises from the supernova ejecta, and (2) that these ejecta are highly asymmetric, since no blueshifted component is found. The S K velocity is consistent with the local LMC ISM, and is likely from swept-up ISM material. These results are consistent with spatial mapping that shows the He-like Fe concentrated in the interior of the remnant and the S tracing the outer shell. The results also show that even with a very small number of counts, direct velocity measurements from Doppler-shifted lines detected in extended objects like supernova remnants are now possible. Thanks to the very low SXS background of ˜ 1 event per spectral resolution element per 100 ks, such results are obtainable during short pointed or slew observations with similar instruments. This highlights the power of high-spectral-resolution imaging observations, and demonstrates the new window that has been opened with Hitomi and will be greatly widened with future missions such as the X-ray Astronomy Recovery Mission (XARM) and Athena.

  12. Implications of multiple high-redshift galaxy clusters

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hoyle, Ben; Jimenez, Raul; Verde, Licia

    2011-01-01

    To date, 14 high-redshift (z>1.0) galaxy clusters with mass measurements have been observed, spectroscopically confirmed, and are reported in the literature. These objects should be exceedingly rare in the standard Λ cold dark matter (ΛCDM) model. We conservatively approximate the selection functions of these clusters' parent surveys and quantify the tension between the abundances of massive clusters as predicted by the standard ΛCDM model and the observed ones. We alleviate the tension, considering non-Gaussian primordial perturbations of the local type, characterized by the parameter f NL , and derive constraints on f NL arising from the mere existence of these clusters. At the 95% confidence level, f NL >467, with cosmological parameters fixed to their most likely WMAP5 values, or f NL > or approx. 123 (at 95% confidence) if we marginalize over prior WMAP5 parameters. In combination with f NL constraints from cosmic microwave background and halo bias, this determination implies a scale dependence of f NL at ≅3σ. Given the assumptions made in the analysis, we expect any future improvements to the modeling of the non-Gaussian mass function, survey volumes, or selection functions to increase the significance of f NL >0 found here. In order to reconcile these massive, high-z clusters with f NL =0, their masses would need to be systematically lowered by 1.5σ, or the σ 8 parameter should be ∼3σ higher than cosmic microwave background (and large-scale structure) constraints. The existence of these objects is a puzzle: it either represents a challenge to the ΛCDM paradigm or it is an indication that the mass estimates of clusters are dramatically more uncertain than we think.

  13. Cross-correlation redshift calibration without spectroscopic calibration samples in DES Science Verification Data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Davis, C.; Rozo, E.; Roodman, A.; Alarcon, A.; Cawthon, R.; Gatti, M.; Lin, H.; Miquel, R.; Rykoff, E. S.; Troxel, M. A.; Vielzeuf, P.; Abbott, T. M. C.; Abdalla, F. B.; Allam, S.; Annis, J.; Bechtol, K.; Benoit-Lévy, A.; Bertin, E.; Brooks, D.; Buckley-Geer, E.; Burke, D. L.; Carnero Rosell, A.; Carrasco Kind, M.; Carretero, J.; Castander, F. J.; Crocce, M.; Cunha, C. E.; D'Andrea, C. B.; da Costa, L. N.; Desai, S.; Diehl, H. T.; Doel, P.; Drlica-Wagner, A.; Fausti Neto, A.; Flaugher, B.; Fosalba, P.; Frieman, J.; García-Bellido, J.; Gaztanaga, E.; Gerdes, D. W.; Giannantonio, T.; Gruen, D.; Gruendl, R. A.; Gutierrez, G.; Honscheid, K.; Jain, B.; James, D. J.; Jeltema, T.; Krause, E.; Kuehn, K.; Kuhlmann, S.; Kuropatkin, N.; Lahav, O.; Li, T. S.; Lima, M.; March, M.; Marshall, J. L.; Martini, P.; Melchior, P.; Ogando, R. L. C.; Plazas, A. A.; Romer, A. K.; Sanchez, E.; Scarpine, V.; Schindler, R.; Schubnell, M.; Sevilla-Noarbe, I.; Smith, M.; Soares-Santos, M.; Sobreira, F.; Suchyta, E.; Swanson, M. E. C.; Tarle, G.; Thomas, D.; Vikram, V.; Walker, A. R.; Wechsler, R. H.

    2018-06-01

    Galaxy cross-correlations with high-fidelity redshift samples hold the potential to precisely calibrate systematic photometric redshift uncertainties arising from the unavailability of complete and representative training and validation samples of galaxies. However, application of this technique in the Dark Energy Survey (DES) is hampered by the relatively low number density, small area, and modest redshift overlap between photometric and spectroscopic samples. We propose instead using photometric catalogues with reliable photometric redshifts for photo-z calibration via cross-correlations. We verify the viability of our proposal using redMaPPer clusters from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) to successfully recover the redshift distribution of SDSS spectroscopic galaxies. We demonstrate how to combine photo-z with cross-correlation data to calibrate photometric redshift biases while marginalizing over possible clustering bias evolution in either the calibration or unknown photometric samples. We apply our method to DES Science Verification (DES SV) data in order to constrain the photometric redshift distribution of a galaxy sample selected for weak lensing studies, constraining the mean of the tomographic redshift distributions to a statistical uncertainty of Δz ˜ ±0.01. We forecast that our proposal can, in principle, control photometric redshift uncertainties in DES weak lensing experiments at a level near the intrinsic statistical noise of the experiment over the range of redshifts where redMaPPer clusters are available. Our results provide strong motivation to launch a programme to fully characterize the systematic errors from bias evolution and photo-z shapes in our calibration procedure.

  14. High-Redshift QSOs in the SWIRE Survey and the z~3 QSO Luminosity Function

    Science.gov (United States)

    Siana, Brian; Polletta, Maria del Carmen; Smith, Harding E.; Lonsdale, Carol J.; Gonzalez-Solares, Eduardo; Farrah, Duncan; Babbedge, Tom S. R.; Rowan-Robinson, Michael; Surace, Jason; Shupe, David; Fang, Fan; Franceschini, Alberto; Oliver, Seb

    2008-03-01

    We use a simple optical/infrared (IR) photometric selection of high-redshift QSOs that identifies a Lyman break in the optical photometry and requires a red IR color to distinguish QSOs from common interlopers. The search yields 100 z ~ 3 (U-dropout) QSO candidates with 19 dropout) sample suffers from both unreliability and incompleteness but present seven previously unidentified QSOs at 3.50 University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The Observatory was made possible by the generous financial support of the W. M. Keck Foundation.

  15. The cosmic transparency measured with Type Ia supernovae: implications for intergalactic dust

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goobar, Ariel; Dhawan, Suhail; Scolnic, Daniel

    2018-04-01

    Observations of high-redshift Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) are used to study the cosmic transparency at optical wavelengths. Assuming a flat ΛCDM cosmological model based on BAO and CMB results, redshift dependent deviations of SN Ia distances are used to constrain mechanisms that would dim light. The analysis is based on the most recent Pantheon SN compilation, for which there is a 0.03± 0.01 {(stat)} mag discrepancy in the distant supernova distance moduli relative to the ΛCDM model anchored by supernovae at z measurements can be modeled with a cosmic dust density Ω _IGM^dust = 8 \\cdot 10^{-5} (1+z)^{-1}, corresponding to an average attenuation of 2 . 10-5 mag Mpc-1 in V-band. Forthcoming SN Ia studies may provide a definitive measurement of the IGM dust properties, while still providing an unbiased estimate of cosmological parameters by introducing additional parameters in the global fits to the observations.

  16. Maximum gravitational redshift of white dwarfs

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shapiro, S.L.; Teukolsky, S.A.

    1976-01-01

    The stability of uniformly rotating, cold white dwarfs is examined in the framework of the Parametrized Post-Newtonian (PPN) formalism of Will and Nordtvedt. The maximum central density and gravitational redshift of a white dwarf are determined as functions of five of the nine PPN parameters (γ, β, zeta 2 , zeta 3 , and zeta 4 ), the total angular momentum J, and the composition of the star. General relativity predicts that the maximum redshifts is 571 km s -1 for nonrotating carbon and helium dwarfs, but is lower for stars composed of heavier nuclei. Uniform rotation can increase the maximum redshift to 647 km s -1 for carbon stars (the neutronization limit) and to 893 km s -1 for helium stars (the uniform rotation limit). The redshift distribution of a larger sample of white dwarfs may help determine the composition of their cores

  17. Redshift formulas and the Doppler–Fizeau effect

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pérez, José-Philippe

    2016-01-01

    In this paper, we show that redshifts, which appear in some pedagogical examples, can be expressed in terms of the Doppler–Fizeau effect. For this purpose, we use, as suggested by Weyl, the worldline elements of two physical events: the emission and the reception of a monochromatic wave. The redshift in special relativity and its Galilean approximation are derived in a simpler way than is usually done. In general relativity, the cosmological redshift can be obtained with the general Weyl formula in three important cases of gravitational fields, even though the gravitational redshift, due to bodies running away from each other, cannot be reduced to a simple kinematic effect. (paper)

  18. The Environments of High-Redshift Quasi-Stellar Objects

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Soyoung; Stiavelli, Massimo; Trenti, M.; Pavlovsky, C. M.; Djorgovski, S. G.; Scarlata, C.; Stern, D.; Mahabal, A.; Thompson, D.; Dickinson, M.; Panagia, N.; Meylan, G.

    2009-04-01

    We present a sample of i 775-dropout candidates identified in five Hubble Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) fields centered on Sloan Digital Sky Survey quasi-stellar objects (QSOs) at redshift z ~ 6. Our fields are as deep as the GOODS ACS images, which are used as a reference field sample. We find them to be overdense in two fields, underdense in two fields, and as dense as the average density of GOODS in one field. The two excess fields show significantly different color distributions from that of GOODS at the 99% confidence level, strengthening the idea that the excess objects are indeed associated with the QSO. The distribution of i 775-dropout counts in the five fields is broader than that derived from GOODS at the 80%-96% confidence level, depending on which selection criteria were adopted to identify i 775-dropouts; its width cannot be explained by cosmic variance alone. Thus, QSOs seem to affect their environments in complex ways. We suggest the picture where the highest redshift QSOs are located in very massive overdensities and are therefore surrounded by an overdensity of lower mass halos. Radiative feedback by the QSO can in some cases prevent halos from becoming galaxies, thereby generating in extreme cases an underdensity of galaxies. The presence of both enhancement and suppression is compatible with the expected differences between lines of sight at the end of reionization as the presence of residual diffuse neutral hydrogen would provide young galaxies with shielding from the radiative effects of the QSO. Based on observations with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, obtained at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities of Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS5-26555.

  19. Towards constraints on the epoch of reionization: A phenomenological approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Malloy, Matthew

    Based on observations of the early Universe, we know that shortly after the Big Bang, the Universe was composed almost entirely of neutral hydrogen and neutral helium. However, observations of nearby quasars suggest that the gas between galaxies today is neutral to less than one part in 104 . Thus, it must be the case that some process occurred that stripped the electrons from almost all atoms in the intergalactic medium. Understanding the timing and nature of this process, dubbed ''reionization'', is one of the great outstanding problems in astrophysics and cosmology today. In this thesis, we develop several methods for utilizing existing and future measurements in order to make progress toward this end. We begin by proposing two novel approaches for searching for signatures of underlying neutral hydrogen in the Lyalpha and Lybeta forest of distant quasars. We show that, if the Universe is >5% neutral at z ~ 5.5, then damping-wing absorption from neutral hydrogen and absorption from primordial deuterium should leave observable imprints in the Lyalpha and Lybeta forest, respectively. Furthermore, the presence of neutral islands should qualitatively alter the size distribution of absorbed regions. We continue by discussing the ability for the intergalactic medium to retain a thermal memory of the reionization process at redshifts z ~ 5, which in turn affects the small-scale structure in the Lyalpha forest. Motivated by this, we model the temperature of the intergalactic medium after reionization and develop a temperature measurement technique that should be able to distinguish between scenarios where reionization ends at z ~ 6 and at z ~ 10. Lastly, we turn our attention to 21-cm observations during reionization. We demonstrate that, while precise mapping of 21-cm emission from neutral hydrogen should be infeasible by first and second generation interferometers, it may be possible to make crude maps of the reionization process and identify individual ionized regions

  20. Are there really intergalactic hydrogen clouds in the Sculptor group

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Haynes, M.P.; Roberts, M.S.

    1979-01-01

    High-sensitivity 21 cm observations of the region of the Sculptor group of galaxies reveal at least 30 H I clouds distributed over only the southern sector of the group. These new data add two striking complications to the picture of the clouds as H I companions of Sculptor galaxies: first, a much wider spatial distribution of clouds in marked contrast with the clustering of clouds around NGC 55 and NGC 300 previously reported by Mathewson, Cleary, and Murray; and second, a cloud velocity distribution which does not match that of the galaxies.We cannot reconcile the spatial and velocity distributions of the H I clouds with those of the group or of any subgroup. We conclude that there are no intergalactic H I clouds of > or =10 8 M/sub sun/ and galactic dimensions within the Sculptor group. Of a number of explanations alternative to group membership, we favor the identification of the clouds as a component of the Magellanic Stream which is seen in projection. Observations reported here of other nearby groups, combined with those of Sculptor, rule out the existence of a significant population of discrete H I clouds having the above properties

  1. The redshift distribution of the TOUGH survey

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jakobsson, P.; Hjorth, J.; Malesani, D.

    2013-01-01

    of the star formation history of the universe, combined with an estimate of its likely metallicity dependence. This suggests that either star formation at high redshifts has been significantly underestimated, for example due to a dominant contribution from faint, undetected galaxies, or that GRB production...

  2. Metal flows of the circumgalactic medium, and the metal budget in galactic haloes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Muratov, Alexander L.; Kereš, Dušan; Faucher-Giguère, Claude-André; Hopkins, Philip F.; Ma, Xiangcheng; Anglés-Alcázar, Daniel; Chan, T. K.; Torrey, Paul; Hafen, Zachary H.; Quataert, Eliot; Murray, Norman

    2017-07-01

    We present an analysis of the flow of metals through the circumgalactic medium (CGM) in the Feedback in Realistic Environments (FIRE) simulations of galaxy formation, ranging from isolated dwarfs to L* galaxies. We find that nearly all metals produced in high-redshift galaxies are carried out in winds that reach 0.25Rvir. When measured at 0.25Rvir the metallicity of outflows is slightly higher than the interstellar medium (ISM) metallicity. Many metals thus reside in the CGM. Cooling and recycling from this reservoir determine the metal budget in the ISM. The outflowing metal flux decreases by a factor of ˜2-5 between 0.25Rvir and Rvir. Furthermore, outflow metallicity is typically lower at Rvir owing to dilution of the remaining outflow by metal-poor material swept up from the CGM. The inflow metallicity at Rvir is generally low, but outflow and inflow metallicities are similar in the inner halo. At low redshift, massive galaxies no longer generate outflows that reach the CGM, causing a divergence in CGM and ISM metallicity. Dwarf galaxies continue to generate outflows, although they preferentially retain metal ejecta. In all but the least massive galaxy considered, a majority of the metals are within the halo at z = 0. We measure the fraction of metals in CGM, ISM and stars, and quantify the thermal state of CGM metals in each halo. The total amount of metals in the low-redshift CGM of two simulated L* galaxies is consistent with estimates from the Cosmic Origin Spectrograph haloes survey, while for the other two it appears to be lower.

  3. A MISMATCH IN THE ULTRAVIOLET SPECTRA BETWEEN LOW-REDSHIFT AND INTERMEDIATE-REDSHIFT TYPE Ia SUPERNOVAE AS A POSSIBLE SYSTEMATIC UNCERTAINTY FOR SUPERNOVA COSMOLOGY

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Foley, Ryan J. [Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States); Filippenko, Alexei V. [Department of Astronomy, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-3411 (United States); Kessler, Richard; Frieman, Joshua A. [Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics, The University of Chicago, 5640 South Ellis Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637 (United States); Bassett, Bruce; Smith, Mathew [Department of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch 7701 (South Africa); Garnavich, Peter M. [Department of Physics, University of Notre Dame, 225 Nieuwland Science, Notre Dame, IN 46556-5670 (United States); Jha, Saurabh W. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rutgers University, 136 Frelinghuysen Road, Piscataway, NJ 08854 (United States); Konishi, Kohki [Institute for Cosmic Ray Research, University of Tokyo, 5-1-5, Kashiwanoha, Kashiwa, Chiba 277-8582 (Japan); Lampeitl, Hubert [Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation, University of Portsmouth, Mercantile House, Hampshire Terrace, Portsmouth PO1 2EG (United Kingdom); Riess, Adam G. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218 (United States); Sako, Masao [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pennsylvania, 209 South 33rd Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104 (United States); Schneider, Donald P. [Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, 525 Davey Laboratory, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802 (United States); Sollerman, Jesper, E-mail: rfoley@cfa.harvard.edu [Oskar Klein Centre, Department of Astronomy, Stockholm University, 106 91 Stockholm (Sweden)

    2012-05-15

    We present Keck high-quality rest-frame ultraviolet (UV) through optical spectra of 21 Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) in the redshift range 0.11 {<=} z {<=} 0.37 and a mean redshift of 0.22 that were discovered during the Sloan Digital Sky Survey-II (SDSS-II) SN Survey. Using the broadband photometry of the SDSS survey, we are able to reconstruct the SN host-galaxy spectral energy distributions (SEDs), allowing for a correction for the host-galaxy contamination in the SN Ia spectra. Comparison of composite spectra constructed from a subsample of 17 high-quality spectra to those created from a low-redshift sample with otherwise similar properties shows that the Keck/SDSS SNe Ia have, on average, extremely similar rest-frame optical spectra but show a UV flux excess. This observation is confirmed by comparing synthesized broadband colors of the individual spectra, showing a difference in mean colors at the 2.4{sigma}-4.4{sigma} level for various UV colors. We further see a slight difference in the UV spectral shape between SNe with low-mass and high-mass host galaxies. Additionally, we detect a relationship between the flux ratio at 2770 and 2900 A and peak luminosity that differs from that observed at low redshift. We find that changing the UV SED of an SN Ia within the observed dispersion can change the inferred distance moduli by {approx}0.1 mag. This effect only occurs when the data probe the rest-frame UV. We suggest that this discrepancy could be due to differences in the host-galaxy population of the two SN samples or to small-sample statistics.

  4. Switching power converters medium and high power

    CERN Document Server

    Neacsu, Dorin O

    2013-01-01

    An examination of all of the multidisciplinary aspects of medium- and high-power converter systems, including basic power electronics, digital control and hardware, sensors, analog preprocessing of signals, protection devices and fault management, and pulse-width-modulation (PWM) algorithms, Switching Power Converters: Medium and High Power, Second Edition discusses the actual use of industrial technology and its related subassemblies and components, covering facets of implementation otherwise overlooked by theoretical textbooks. The updated Second Edition contains many new figures, as well as

  5. The Segal chronogeometric redshift - a classical analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fairchild, E.E. Jr.; Washington Univ., St. Louis, Mo.

    1977-01-01

    An error is shown to exist in the Segal chronogeometric redshift theory. The redshift distance relation of z=tan 2 (d/2R) derived by Segal using quantum theory violates the classical correspondence limit. The corrected result derived using simple classical arguments is z=tan 2 (d/R). This result gives the same predictions for small redshift objects but differs for large redshift objects such as quasars. The difference is shown to be caused by inconsistencies in the quantum derivation. Correcting these makes the quantum result equal to the classical result as one would expect from the correspondence principle. The impact of the correction on the predictions of the theory is discussed. (orig.) [de

  6. Gravitational redshift from a binary system

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Steklain, Andre [Universidade Tecnologica Federal do Parana (UTFPR), PR (Brazil)

    2011-07-01

    Full text: In this work we study the gravitational redshift of a binary system in general relativity. We employ a mixed metric obtained from the matching of a 1PN metric with two perturbed Schwarzschild metrics, based on previous works [Alvi, Phys. Rev. D, 61, 124013 (2000)]. This metric is well known, and has been considered for several applications [Steklain et al, Phys. Lett. A, 373, 188, (2009)]. We consider a massless observer in a timelike geodesic of this metric measuring the redshift of the system. The observer concentrates the redshift measurements in one of the massive bodies and is influenced by the mass of the second body. We find that there is a substantial contribution of the second mass in some cases. We compare with experimental data obtained for real binary systems of white dwarfs [Vennes et al, Astroph. J., L37 (1991)]. We also discuss these results for more massive systems, and make some predictions for very massive systems, like black holes, although it extrapolates the limit of the 1PN approximation used. Is well known that the major contribution of the observed redshift is from the universe expansion, but these results indicate that the influence of the gravitational redshift may be underestimated at some systems. (author)

  7. The Kolmogorov-Smirnov test for three redshift distributions of long gamma-ray bursts in the Swift Era

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dong Yunming; Lu Tan

    2009-01-01

    We investigate redshift distributions of three long burst samples, with the first sample containing 131 long bursts with observed redshifts, the second including 220 long bursts with pseudo-redshifts calculated by the variability-luminosity relation, and the third including 1194 long bursts with pseudo-redshifts calculated by the lag-luminosity relation, respectively. In the redshift range 0-1 the Kolmogorov-Smirnov probability of the observed redshift distribution and that of the variability-luminosity relation is large. In the redshift ranges 1-2, 2-3, 3-6.3 and 0-37, the Kolmogorov-Smirnov probabilities of the redshift distribution from lag-luminosity relation and the observed redshift distribution are also large. For the GRBs, which appear both in the two pseudo-redshift burst samples, the KS probability of the pseudo-redshift distribution from the lag-luminosity relation and the observed reshift distribution is 0.447, which is very large. Based on these results, some conclusions are drawn: i) the V-L iso relation might be more believable than the τ-L iso relation in low redshift ranges and the τ-L iso relation might be more real than the V-Liso relation in high redshift ranges; ii) if we do not consider the redshift ranges, the τ-L iso relation might be more physical and intrinsical than the V-L i so relation. (research papers)

  8. A redshift determination of the host galaxy

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Urata, Y. [RIKEN, Saitama (Japan); Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo (Japan). Department of Physics; Yoshida, A. [Aoyama Garkuin Univ., Kanagawa (Japan). Department of Physics; Yamada, T. [National Astronomical Observatory, Tokyo (Japan)] (and others)

    2005-07-15

    Using the Suprime-Cam on the Subaru telescope, we carried out deep multi band (V, R, I, z') imaging for the host galaxy of GRB980329, which is one of well studied optically dark gamma- ray bursts. The host galaxy was detected clearly in all bands. Combining these measurements with published near-infrared data, we determined the photometric redshift of the galaxy as z = 3.56 (3.21-3.79 at 90 range). The implied V-band extinction is rather low, typically {approx} 1 mag. At z = 3.56, the isotropic 40-700 keV total energy of GRB980329 is calculated as (2.1 {+-} 0.4) x 10{sup 54} erg. Assuming that this GRB was emitted by a pair of jets with a total energy of 10{sup 51} ergs, their opening angle is calculated as {theta}{sub j} = 2.1. The present results disfavor the high-redshift hypothesis and the high extinction scenario of optically dark bursts.0.

  9. A redshift determination of the host galaxy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Urata, Y.

    2005-01-01

    Using the Suprime-Cam on the Subaru telescope, we carried out deep multi band (V, R, I, z') imaging for the host galaxy of GRB980329, which is one of well studied optically dark gamma- ray bursts. The host galaxy was detected clearly in all bands. Combining these measurements with published near-infrared data, we determined the photometric redshift of the galaxy as z = 3.56 (3.21-3.79 at 90 range). The implied V-band extinction is rather low, typically ∼ 1 mag. At z = 3.56, the isotropic 40-700 keV total energy of GRB980329 is calculated as (2.1 ± 0.4) x 10 54 erg. Assuming that this GRB was emitted by a pair of jets with a total energy of 10 51 ergs, their opening angle is calculated as θ j = 2.1. The present results disfavor the high-redshift hypothesis and the high extinction scenario of optically dark bursts

  10. Testing the accuracy of clustering redshifts with simulations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scottez, V.; Benoit-Lévy, A.; Coupon, J.; Ilbert, O.; Mellier, Y.

    2018-03-01

    We explore the accuracy of clustering-based redshift inference within the MICE2 simulation. This method uses the spatial clustering of galaxies between a spectroscopic reference sample and an unknown sample. This study give an estimate of the reachable accuracy of this method. First, we discuss the requirements for the number objects in the two samples, confirming that this method does not require a representative spectroscopic sample for calibration. In the context of next generation of cosmological surveys, we estimated that the density of the Quasi Stellar Objects in BOSS allows us to reach 0.2 per cent accuracy in the mean redshift. Secondly, we estimate individual redshifts for galaxies in the densest regions of colour space ( ˜ 30 per cent of the galaxies) without using the photometric redshifts procedure. The advantage of this procedure is threefold. It allows: (i) the use of cluster-zs for any field in astronomy, (ii) the possibility to combine photo-zs and cluster-zs to get an improved redshift estimation, (iii) the use of cluster-z to define tomographic bins for weak lensing. Finally, we explore this last option and build five cluster-z selected tomographic bins from redshift 0.2 to 1. We found a bias on the mean redshift estimate of 0.002 per bin. We conclude that cluster-z could be used as a primary redshift estimator by next generation of cosmological surveys.

  11. Dark Energy Survey Year 1 Results: Cross-Correlation Redshifts in the DES -- Calibration of the Weak Lensing Source Redshift Distributions

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Davis, C.; et al.

    2017-10-06

    We present the calibration of the Dark Energy Survey Year 1 (DES Y1) weak lensing source galaxy redshift distributions from clustering measurements. By cross-correlating the positions of source galaxies with luminous red galaxies selected by the redMaGiC algorithm we measure the redshift distributions of the source galaxies as placed into different tomographic bins. These measurements constrain any such shifts to an accuracy of $\\sim0.02$ and can be computed even when the clustering measurements do not span the full redshift range. The highest-redshift source bin is not constrained by the clustering measurements because of the minimal redshift overlap with the redMaGiC galaxies. We compare our constraints with those obtained from $\\texttt{COSMOS}$ 30-band photometry and find that our two very different methods produce consistent constraints.

  12. Dark-ages reionization and galaxy formation simulation-XI. Clustering and halo masses of high redshift galaxies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Park, Jaehong; Kim, Han-Seek; Liu, Chuanwu; Trenti, Michele; Duffy, Alan R.; Geil, Paul M.; Mutch, Simon J.; Poole, Gregory B.; Mesinger, Andrei; Wyithe, J. Stuart B.

    2017-12-01

    We investigate the clustering properties of Lyman-break galaxies (LBGs) at z ∼ 6 - 8. Using the semi-analytical model MERAXES constructed as part of the dark-ages reionization and galaxy-formation observables from numerical simulation (DRAGONS) project, we predict the angular correlation function (ACF) of LBGs at z ∼ 6 - 8. Overall, we find that the predicted ACFs are in good agreement with recent measurements at z ∼ 6 and z ∼ 7.2 from observations consisting of the Hubble eXtreme Deep Field, the Hubble Ultra Deep Field and cosmic sssembly near-infrared deep extragalactic legacy survey field. We confirm the dependence of clustering on luminosity, with more massive dark matter haloes hosting brighter galaxies, remains valid at high redshift. The predicted galaxy bias at fixed luminosity is found to increase with redshift, in agreement with observations. We find that LBGs of magnitude MAB(1600) < -19.4 at 6 ≲ z ≲ 8 reside in dark matter haloes of mean mass ∼1011.0-1011.5 M⊙, and this dark matter halo mass does not evolve significantly during reionisation.

  13. Cluster Mass Calibration at High Redshift: HST Weak Lensing Analysis of 13 Distant Galaxy Clusters from the South Pole Telescope Sunyaev-Zel’dovich Survey

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Schrabback, T.; Applegate, D.; Dietrich, J. P.; Hoekstra, H.; Bocquet, S.; Gonzalez, A. H.; der Linden, A. von; McDonald, M.; Morrison, C. B.; Raihan, S. F.; Allen, S. W.; Bayliss, M.; Benson, B. A.; Bleem, L. E.; Chiu, I.; Desai, S.; Foley, R. J.; de Haan, T.; High, F. W.; Hilbert, S.; Mantz, A. B.; Massey, R.; Mohr, J.; Reichardt, C. L.; Saro, A.; Simon, P.; Stern, C.; Stubbs, C. W.; Zenteno, A.

    2017-10-14

    We present an HST/Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) weak gravitational lensing analysis of 13 massive high-redshift (z(median) = 0.88) galaxy clusters discovered in the South Pole Telescope (SPT) Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Survey. This study is part of a larger campaign that aims to robustly calibrate mass-observable scaling relations over a wide range in redshift to enable improved cosmological constraints from the SPT cluster sample. We introduce new strategies to ensure that systematics in the lensing analysis do not degrade constraints on cluster scaling relations significantly. First, we efficiently remove cluster members from the source sample by selecting very blue galaxies in V - I colour. Our estimate of the source redshift distribution is based on Cosmic Assembly Near-infrared Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey (CANDELS) data, where we carefully mimic the source selection criteria of the cluster fields. We apply a statistical correction for systematic photometric redshift errors as derived from Hubble Ultra Deep Field data and verified through spatial cross-correlations. We account for the impact of lensing magnification on the source redshift distribution, finding that this is particularly relevant for shallower surveys. Finally, we account for biases in the mass modelling caused by miscentring and uncertainties in the concentration-mass relation using simulations. In combination with temperature estimates from Chandra we constrain the normalization of the mass-temperature scaling relation ln (E(z) M-500c/10(14)M(circle dot)) = A + 1.5ln (kT/7.2 keV) to A = 1.81(-0.14)(+0.24)(stat.)+/- 0.09(sys.), consistent with self-similar redshift evolution when compared to lower redshift samples. Additionally, the lensing data constrain the average concentration of the clusters to c(200c) = 5.6(-1.8)(+3.7).

  14. Cluster mass calibration at high redshift: HST weak lensing analysis of 13 distant galaxy clusters from the South Pole Telescope Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Survey

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schrabback, T.; Applegate, D.; Dietrich, J. P.; Hoekstra, H.; Bocquet, S.; Gonzalez, A. H.; von der Linden, A.; McDonald, M.; Morrison, C. B.; Raihan, S. F.; Allen, S. W.; Bayliss, M.; Benson, B. A.; Bleem, L. E.; Chiu, I.; Desai, S.; Foley, R. J.; de Haan, T.; High, F. W.; Hilbert, S.; Mantz, A. B.; Massey, R.; Mohr, J.; Reichardt, C. L.; Saro, A.; Simon, P.; Stern, C.; Stubbs, C. W.; Zenteno, A.

    2018-02-01

    We present an HST/Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) weak gravitational lensing analysis of 13 massive high-redshift (zmedian = 0.88) galaxy clusters discovered in the South Pole Telescope (SPT) Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Survey. This study is part of a larger campaign that aims to robustly calibrate mass-observable scaling relations over a wide range in redshift to enable improved cosmological constraints from the SPT cluster sample. We introduce new strategies to ensure that systematics in the lensing analysis do not degrade constraints on cluster scaling relations significantly. First, we efficiently remove cluster members from the source sample by selecting very blue galaxies in V - I colour. Our estimate of the source redshift distribution is based on Cosmic Assembly Near-infrared Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey (CANDELS) data, where we carefully mimic the source selection criteria of the cluster fields. We apply a statistical correction for systematic photometric redshift errors as derived from Hubble Ultra Deep Field data and verified through spatial cross-correlations. We account for the impact of lensing magnification on the source redshift distribution, finding that this is particularly relevant for shallower surveys. Finally, we account for biases in the mass modelling caused by miscentring and uncertainties in the concentration-mass relation using simulations. In combination with temperature estimates from Chandra we constrain the normalization of the mass-temperature scaling relation ln (E(z)M500c/1014 M⊙) = A + 1.5ln (kT/7.2 keV) to A=1.81^{+0.24}_{-0.14}(stat.) {± } 0.09(sys.), consistent with self-similar redshift evolution when compared to lower redshift samples. Additionally, the lensing data constrain the average concentration of the clusters to c_200c=5.6^{+3.7}_{-1.8}.

  15. How to falsify the GR+ΛCDM model with galaxy redshift surveys

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Acquaviva, Viviana; Gawiser, Eric

    2010-01-01

    A wide range of models describing modifications to general relativity have been proposed, but no fundamental parameter set exists to describe them. Similarly, no fundamental theory exists for dark energy to parametrize its potential deviation from a cosmological constant. This motivates a model-independent search for deviations from the concordance GR+ΛCDM cosmological model in large galaxy redshift surveys. We describe two model-independent tests of the growth of cosmological structure, in the form of quantities that must equal one if GR+ΛCDM is correct. The first, ε, was introduced previously as a scale-independent consistency check between the expansion history and structure growth. The second, υ, is introduced here as a test of scale-dependence in the linear evolution of matter density perturbations. We show that the ongoing and near-future galaxy redshift surveys WiggleZ, BOSS, and HETDEX will constrain these quantities at the 5-10% level, representing a stringent test of concordance cosmology at different redshifts. When redshift space distortions are used to probe the growth of cosmological structure, galaxies at higher redshift with lower bias are found to be most powerful in detecting the presence of deviations from the GR+ΛCDM model. However, because many dark energy or modified gravity models predict consistency with GR+ΛCDM at high redshift, it is desirable to apply this approach to surveys covering a wide range of redshifts and spatial scales.

  16. A CRITICAL ASSESSMENT OF PHOTOMETRIC REDSHIFT METHODS: A CANDELS INVESTIGATION

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dahlen, Tomas; Ferguson, Henry C.; Mobasher, Bahram; Faber, Sandra M.; Barro, Guillermo; Guo, Yicheng; Finkelstein, Steven L.; Finlator, Kristian; Fontana, Adriano; Gruetzbauch, Ruth; Johnson, Seth; Pforr, Janine; Dickinson, Mark E.; Salvato, Mara; Wuyts, Stijn; Wiklind, Tommy; Acquaviva, Viviana; Huang, Jiasheng; Huang, Kuang-Han; Newman, Jeffrey A.

    2013-01-01

    We present results from the Cosmic Assembly Near-infrared Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey (CANDELS) photometric redshift methods investigation. In this investigation, the results from 11 participants, each using a different combination of photometric redshift code, template spectral energy distributions (SEDs), and priors, are used to examine the properties of photometric redshifts applied to deep fields with broadband multi-wavelength coverage. The photometry used includes U-band through mid-infrared filters and was derived using the TFIT method. Comparing the results, we find that there is no particular code or set of template SEDs that results in significantly better photometric redshifts compared to others. However, we find that codes producing the lowest scatter and outlier fraction utilize a training sample to optimize photometric redshifts by adding zero-point offsets, template adjusting, or adding extra smoothing errors. These results therefore stress the importance of the training procedure. We find a strong dependence of the photometric redshift accuracy on the signal-to-noise ratio of the photometry. On the other hand, we find a weak dependence of the photometric redshift scatter with redshift and galaxy color. We find that most photometric redshift codes quote redshift errors (e.g., 68% confidence intervals) that are too small compared to that expected from the spectroscopic control sample. We find that all codes show a statistically significant bias in the photometric redshifts. However, the bias is in all cases smaller than the scatter; the latter therefore dominates the errors. Finally, we find that combining results from multiple codes significantly decreases the photometric redshift scatter and outlier fraction. We discuss different ways of combining data to produce accurate photometric redshifts and error estimates

  17. The ionizing photon production efficiency of compact z similar to 0.3 Lyman continuum leakers and comparison with high-redshift galaxies

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Schaerer, D.; Izotov, Y.I.; Verhamme, A.; Orlitová, Ivana; Thuan, T.X.; Worseck, G.; Guseva, N.G.

    2016-01-01

    Roč. 591, July (2016), L8/1-L8/4 ISSN 0004-6361 Institutional support: RVO:67985815 Keywords : galaxies * starburst * high-redshift Subject RIV: BN - Astronomy, Celestial Mechanics, Astrophysics Impact factor: 4.378, year: 2014

  18. Exploratory X-ray monitoring of luminous radio-quiet quasars at high redshift: Initial results

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Shemmer, Ohad; Stein, Matthew S. [Department of Physics, University of North Texas, Denton, TX 76203 (United States); Brandt, W. N.; Schneider, Donald P. [Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802 (United States); Paolillo, Maurizio [Dipartimento di Scienze Fisiche, Università Federico II di Napoli, via Cinthia 6, I-80126 Napoli (Italy); Kaspi, Shai [School of Physics and Astronomy and the Wise Observatory, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978 (Israel); Vignali, Cristian [Dipartimento di Astronomia, Università degli studi di Bologna, via Ranzani 1, I-40127 Bologna (Italy); Lira, Paulina [Departamento de Astronomia, Universidad de Chile, Camino del Observatorio 1515, Santiago (Chile); Gibson, Robert R., E-mail: ohad@unt.edu [Department of Astronomy, University of Washington, Box 351580, Seattle, WA 98195 (United States)

    2014-03-10

    We present initial results from an exploratory X-ray monitoring project of two groups of comparably luminous radio-quiet quasars (RQQs). The first consists of four sources at 4.10 ≤ z ≤ 4.35, monitored by Chandra, and the second is a comparison sample of three sources at 1.33 ≤ z ≤ 2.74, monitored by Swift. Together with archival X-ray data, the total rest-frame temporal baseline spans ∼2-4 yr and ∼5-13 yr for the first and second group, respectively. Six of these sources show significant X-ray variability over rest-frame timescales of ∼10{sup 2}-10{sup 3} days; three of these also show significant X-ray variability on rest-frame timescales of ∼1-10 days. The X-ray variability properties of our variable sources are similar to those exhibited by nearby and far less luminous active galactic nuclei (AGNs). While we do not directly detect a trend of increasing X-ray variability with redshift, we do confirm previous reports of luminous AGNs exhibiting X-ray variability above that expected from their luminosities, based on simplistic extrapolation from lower luminosity sources. This result may be attributed to luminous sources at the highest redshifts having relatively high accretion rates. Complementary UV-optical monitoring of our sources shows that variations in their optical-X-ray spectral energy distribution are dominated by the X-ray variations. We confirm previous reports of X-ray spectral variations in one of our sources, HS 1700+6416, but do not detect such variations in any of our other sources in spite of X-ray flux variations of up to a factor of ∼4. This project is designed to provide a basic assessment of the X-ray variability properties of RQQs at the highest accessible redshifts that will serve as a benchmark for more systematic monitoring of such sources with future X-ray missions.

  19. Measuring redshift-space distortions using photometric surveys

    OpenAIRE

    Ross, Ashley; Percival, Will; Crocce, M.; Cabre, A.; Gaztanaga, E.

    2011-01-01

    We outline how redshift-space distortions (RSD) can be measured from the angular correlation function w({\\theta}), of galaxies selected from photometric surveys. The natural degeneracy between RSD and galaxy bias can be minimized by comparing results from bins with top-hat galaxy selection in redshift, and bins based on the radial position of galaxy pair centres. This comparison can also be used to test the accuracy of the photometric redshifts. The presence of RSD will be clearly detectable ...

  20. Characterizing the Interstellar and Circumgalactic Medium in Star-forming Galaxies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Du, Xinnan; Shapley, Alice; Crystal Martin, Alison Coil, Charles Steidel, Tucker Jones, Daniel Stark, Allison Strom

    2018-01-01

    Rest-frame UV and optical spectroscopy provide valuable information on the physical properties of the neutral and ionized interstellar medium (ISM) in star-forming galaxies, including both the systemic interstellar component originating from HII regions, and the multi-phase outflowing component associated with star-formation feedback. My thesis focuses on both the systemic and outflowing ISM in star-forming galaxies at redshift z ~ 1-4. With an unprecedented sample at z~1 with the rest-frame near-UV coverage, we examined how the kinematics of the warm and cool phrases of gas, probed by the interstellar CIV and low-ionization features, respectively, relate to each other. The spectral properties of CIV strongly correlate with the current star-formation rate, indicating a distinct nature of highly-ionized outflowing gas being driven by massive star formation. Additionally, we used the same set of z~1 galaxies to study the properties of the systemic ISM in HII regions by analyzing the nebular CIII] emission. CIII] emission tends to be stronger in lower-mass, bluer, and fainter galaxies with lower metallicity, suggesting that the strong CIII] emitters at lower redshifts can be ideal analogs of young, bursty galaxies at z > 6, which are possibly responsible for reionizing the universe. We are currently investigating the redshift evolution of the neutral, circumgalactic gas in a sample of ~1100 Lyman Break Galaxies at z ~ 2-4. The negative correlation between Lya emission and low-ionization interstellar absorption line strengths appears to be universal across different redshifts, but the fine-structure line emitting regions are found to be more compact for higher-redshift galaxies. With the detailed observational constraints provided by the rest-UV and rest-optical spectroscopy, our study sheds light on how the interstellar and circumgalactic gas components and different phases of gas connect to each other, and therefore provides a comprehensive picture of the overall

  1. Cluster Mass Calibration at High Redshift: HST Weak Lensing Analysis of 13 Distant Galaxy Clusters from the South Pole Telescope Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Survey

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Schrabback, T.; et al.

    2016-11-11

    We present an HST/ACS weak gravitational lensing analysis of 13 massive high-redshift (z_median=0.88) galaxy clusters discovered in the South Pole Telescope (SPT) Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Survey. This study is part of a larger campaign that aims to robustly calibrate mass-observable scaling relations over a wide range in redshift to enable improved cosmological constraints from the SPT cluster sample. We introduce new strategies to ensure that systematics in the lensing analysis do not degrade constraints on cluster scaling relations significantly. First, we efficiently remove cluster members from the source sample by selecting very blue galaxies in V-I colour. Our estimate of the source redshift distribution is based on CANDELS data, where we carefully mimic the source selection criteria of the cluster fields. We apply a statistical correction for systematic photometric redshift errors as derived from Hubble Ultra Deep Field data and verified through spatial cross-correlations. We account for the impact of lensing magnification on the source redshift distribution, finding that this is particularly relevant for shallower surveys. Finally, we account for biases in the mass modelling caused by miscentring and uncertainties in the mass-concentration relation using simulations. In combination with temperature estimates from Chandra we constrain the normalisation of the mass-temperature scaling relation ln(E(z) M_500c/10^14 M_sun)=A+1.5 ln(kT/7.2keV) to A=1.81^{+0.24}_{-0.14}(stat.) +/- 0.09(sys.), consistent with self-similar redshift evolution when compared to lower redshift samples. Additionally, the lensing data constrain the average concentration of the clusters to c_200c=5.6^{+3.7}_{-1.8}.

  2. The long lives of giant clumps and the birth of outflows in gas-rich galaxies at high redshift

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bournaud, Frédéric; Renaud, Florent; Daddi, Emanuele; Duc, Pierre-Alain; Elbaz, David; Gabor, Jared M.; Juneau, Stéphanie; Kraljic, Katarina; Le Floch' , Emeric [CEA, IRFU/SAp, F-91191 Gif-Sur-Yvette (France); Perret, Valentin; Amram, Philippe; Epinat, Benoit [Aix Marseille Université, CNRS, LAM (Laboratoire d' Astrophysique de Marseille), F-13388 Marseille (France); Dekel, Avishai [Center for Astrophysics and Planetary Science, Racah Institute of Physics, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem 91904 (Israel); Elmegreen, Bruce G. [IBM Research Division, T.J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, NY 10598 (United States); Elmegreen, Debra M. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY 12604 (United States); Teyssier, Romain [Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of Zurich, CH-8057 Zurich (Switzerland)

    2014-01-01

    Star-forming disk galaxies at high redshift are often subject to violent disk instability, characterized by giant clumps whose fate is yet to be understood. The main question is whether the clumps disrupt within their dynamical timescale (≤50 Myr), like the molecular clouds in today's galaxies, or whether they survive stellar feedback for more than a disk orbital time (≈300 Myr) in which case they can migrate inward and help building the central bulge. We present 3.5-7 pc resolution adaptive mesh refinement simulations of high-redshift disks including photoionization, radiation pressure, and supernovae feedback. Our modeling of radiation pressure determines the mass loading and initial velocity of winds from basic physical principles. We find that the giant clumps produce steady outflow rates comparable to and sometimes somewhat larger than their star formation rate, with velocities largely sufficient to escape the galaxy. The clumps also lose mass, especially old stars, by tidal stripping, and the stellar populations contained in the clumps hence remain relatively young (≤200 Myr), as observed. The clumps survive gaseous outflows and stellar loss, because they are wandering in gas-rich turbulent disks from which they can reaccrete gas at high rates compensating for outflows and tidal stripping, overall keeping realistic and self-regulated gaseous and stellar masses. The outflow and accretion rates have specific timescales of a few 10{sup 8} yr, as opposed to rapid and repeated dispersion and reformation of clumps. Our simulations produce gaseous outflows with velocities, densities, and mass loading consistent with observations, and at the same time suggest that the giant clumps survive for hundreds of Myr and complete their migration to the center of high-redshift galaxies. These long-lived clumps are gas-dominated and contain a moderate mass fraction of stars; they drive inside-out disk evolution, thickening, spheroid growth, and fueling of the central

  3. Morpho-z: improving photometric redshifts with galaxy morphology

    Science.gov (United States)

    Soo, John Y. H.; Moraes, Bruno; Joachimi, Benjamin; Hartley, William; Lahav, Ofer; Charbonnier, Aldée; Makler, Martín; Pereira, Maria E. S.; Comparat, Johan; Erben, Thomas; Leauthaud, Alexie; Shan, Huanyuan; Van Waerbeke, Ludovic

    2018-04-01

    We conduct a comprehensive study of the effects of incorporating galaxy morphology information in photometric redshift estimation. Using machine learning methods, we assess the changes in the scatter and outlier fraction of photometric redshifts when galaxy size, ellipticity, Sérsic index, and surface brightness are included in training on galaxy samples from the SDSS and the CFHT Stripe-82 Survey (CS82). We show that by adding galaxy morphological parameters to full ugriz photometry, only mild improvements are obtained, while the gains are substantial in cases where fewer passbands are available. For instance, the combination of grz photometry and morphological parameters almost fully recovers the metrics of 5-band photometric redshifts. We demonstrate that with morphology it is possible to determine useful redshift distribution N(z) of galaxy samples without any colour information. We also find that the inclusion of quasar redshifts and associated object sizes in training improves the quality of photometric redshift catalogues, compensating for the lack of a good star-galaxy separator. We further show that morphological information can mitigate biases and scatter due to bad photometry. As an application, we derive both point estimates and posterior distributions of redshifts for the official CS82 catalogue, training on morphology and SDSS Stripe-82 ugriz bands when available. Our redshifts yield a 68th percentile error of 0.058(1 + z), and a outlier fraction of 5.2 per cent. We further include a deep extension trained on morphology and single i-band CS82 photometry.

  4. The COS-Halos survey: physical conditions and baryonic mass in the low-redshift circumgalactic medium

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Werk, Jessica K.; Prochaska, J. Xavier; Tejos, Nicolas; Tumlinson, Jason; Peeples, Molly S.; Fox, Andrew J.; Thom, Christopher; Bordoloi, Rongmon; Tripp, Todd M.; Katz, Neal; Lehner, Nicolas; O'Meara, John M.; Ford, Amanda Brady; Oppenheimer, Benjamin D.; Davé, Romeel; Weinberg, David H.

    2014-01-01

    We analyze the physical conditions of the cool, photoionized (T ∼10 4 K) circumgalactic medium (CGM) using the COS-Halos suite of gas column density measurements for 44 gaseous halos within 160 kpc of L ∼ L* galaxies at z ∼ 0.2. These data are well described by simple photoionization models, with the gas highly ionized (n H II /n H ≳ 99%) by the extragalactic ultraviolet background. Scaling by estimates for the virial radius, R vir , we show that the ionization state (tracked by the dimensionless ionization parameter, U) increases with distance from the host galaxy. The ionization parameters imply a decreasing volume density profile n H = (10 –4.2±0.25 )(R/R vir ) –0.8±0.3 . Our derived gas volume densities are several orders of magnitude lower than predictions from standard two-phase models with a cool medium in pressure equilibrium with a hot, coronal medium expected in virialized halos at this mass scale. Applying the ionization corrections to the H I column densities, we estimate a lower limit to the cool gas mass M CGM cool >6.5×10 10 M ☉ for the volume within R < R vir . Allowing for an additional warm-hot, O VI-traced phase, the CGM accounts for at least half of the baryons purported to be missing from dark matter halos at the 10 12 M ☉ scale.

  5. Gravitational redshift and asymmetric redshift-space distortions for stacked clusters

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cai, Yan-Chuan; Kaiser, Nick; Cole, Shaun; Frenk, Carlos

    2017-06-01

    We derive the expression for the observed redshift in the weak field limit in the observer's past light cone, including all relativistic terms up to second order in velocity. We then apply it to compute the cluster-galaxy cross-correlation functions (CGCF) using N-body simulations. The CGCF is asymmetric along the line of sight owing to the presence of the small second-order terms such as the gravitational redshift (GRedshift). We identify two systematics in the modelling of the GRedshift signal in stacked clusters. First, it is affected by the morphology of dark matter haloes and the large-scale cosmic-web. The non-spherical distribution of galaxies around the central halo and the presence of neighbouring clusters systematically reduce the GRedshift signal. This bias is approximately 20 per cent for Mmin ≃ 1014 M⊙ h-1, and is more than 50 per cent for haloes with Mmin ≃ 2 × 1013 M⊙ h-1 at r > 4 Mpc h-1. Secondly, the best-fitting GRedshift profiles as well as the profiles of all other relativistic terms are found to be significantly different in velocity space compared to their real space versions. We find that the relativistic Doppler redshift effect, like other second-order effects, is subdominant to the GRedshift signal. We discuss some subtleties relating to these effects in velocity space. We also find that the S/N of the GRedshift signal increases with decreasing halo mass.

  6. Galaxy Size Evolution at High Redshift and Surface Brightness Selection Effects: Constraints from the Hubble Ultra Deep Field

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bouwens, R. J.; Illingworth, G. D.; Blakeslee, J. P.; Broadhurst, T. J.; Franx, M.

    2004-08-01

    We use the exceptional depth of the Ultra Deep Field (UDF) and UDF-parallel Advanced Camera for Surveys fields to study the sizes of high-redshift (z~2-6) galaxies and address long-standing questions about possible biases in the cosmic star formation rate due to surface brightness dimming. Contrasting B-, V-, and i-dropout samples culled from the deeper data with those obtained from the shallower Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey fields, we demonstrate that the shallower data are essentially complete at bright magnitudes to z~0.4", >~3 kpc) low surface brightness galaxies are rare. A simple comparison of the half-light radii of the Hubble Deep Field-North + Hubble Deep Field-South U-dropouts with B-, V-, and i-dropouts from the UDF shows that the sizes follow a (1+z)-1.05+/-0.21 scaling toward high redshift. A more rigorous measurement compares different scalings of our U-dropout sample with the mean profiles for a set of intermediate-magnitude (26.0dropouts from the UDF. The best fit is found with a (1+z)-0.94+0.19-0.25 size scaling (for fixed luminosity). This result is then verified by repeating this experiment with different size measures, low-redshift samples, and magnitude ranges. Very similar scalings are found for all comparisons. A robust measurement of size evolution is thereby demonstrated for galaxies from z~6 to 2.5 using data from the UDF. Based on observations made with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS5-26555.

  7. Big Data in the SHELA Field: Investigating Galaxy Quenching at High Redshifts

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stevans, Matthew L.; Finkelstein, Steven L.; Wold, Isak; Kawinwanichakij, Lalitwadee; Sherman, Sydney; Gebhardt, Karl; Jogee, Shardha; Papovich, Casey J.; Ciardullo, Robin; Gronwall, Caryl; Gawiser, Eric J.; Acquaviva, Viviana; Casey, Caitlin; Florez, Jonathan; HETDEX Team

    2017-06-01

    We present a measurement of the z ~ 4 Lyman break galaxy (LBG) rest-frame UV luminosity function to investigate the onset of quenching in the early universe. The bright-end of the galaxy luminosity function typically shows an exponential decline far steeper than that of the underlying halo mass function. This is typically attributed to negative feedback from past active galactic nuclei (AGN) activity as well as dust attenuation. Constraining the abundance of bright galaxies at early times (z > 3) can provide a key insight into the mechanisms regulating star formation in galaxies. However, existing studies suffer from low number statistics and/or the inability to robustly remove stellar and AGN contaminants. In this study we take advantage of the unprecedentedly large (24 deg^2) Spitzer/HETDEX Exploratory Large Area (SHELA) field and its deep multi-wavelength photometry, which includes DECam ugriz, NEWFIRM K-band, Spitzer/IRAC, Herschel/SPIRE, and X-ray from XMM-Newton and Chandra. With SHELA’s deep imaging over a large area we are uniquely positioned to study statistically significant samples of massive galaxies at high redshifts (z > 3) when the first massive galaxies began quenching. We select our sample using photometric redshifts from the EAZY software package (Brammer et al. 2008) based on the optical and far-infrared imaging. We directly identify and remove stellar contaminants and AGN with IRAC colors and X-ray detections, respectively. By pinning down the exact shape of the bright-end of the z ~ 4 LBG luminosity function, we provide the deepest probe yet into the baryonic physics dominating star formation and quenching in the early universe.

  8. Maximum Redshift of Gravitational Wave Merger Events

    Science.gov (United States)

    Koushiappas, Savvas M.; Loeb, Abraham

    2017-12-01

    Future generations of gravitational wave detectors will have the sensitivity to detect gravitational wave events at redshifts far beyond any detectable electromagnetic sources. We show that if the observed event rate is greater than one event per year at redshifts z ≥40 , then the probability distribution of primordial density fluctuations must be significantly non-Gaussian or the events originate from primordial black holes. The nature of the excess events can be determined from the redshift distribution of the merger rate.

  9. Redshift measurement of Fermi blazars for the Cherenkov telescope array

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pita, S.; Goldoni, P.; Boisson, C.; Cotter, G.; Lefaucheur, J.; Lenain, J.-P.; Lindfors, E.; Williams, D. A.

    2017-01-01

    Blazars are active galactic nuclei, and the most numerous High Energy (HE) and Very High Energy (VHE) γ-ray emitters. Their optical emission is often dominated by non-thermal, and, in the case of BL Lacs, featureless continuum radiation. This makes the determination of their redshift extremely difficult. Indeed, as of today only about 50% of γ-ray blazars have a measured spectroscopic redshift. The knowledge of redshift is fundamental because it allows the precise modeling of the VHE emission and also of its interaction with the extragalactic background light (EBL). The beginning of the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) operations in the near future will allow the detection of several hundreds of new blazars. Using the Fermi catalogue of sources above 50 GeV (2FHL), we performed simulations which indicate that a significant fraction of the 2FHL blazars detectable by CTA will not have a measured redshift. As a matter of fact, the organization of observing campaigns to measure the redshift of these blazars has been recognized as a necessary support for the AGN Key Science Project of CTA. We are planning such an observing campaign. In order to optimize our chances of success, we will perform preliminary deep imaging observations aimed at detecting or setting upper limits to the host galaxy. We will then take spectra of the candidates with the brightest host galaxies. Taking advantage of the recent success of an X-shooter GTO observing campaign, these observations will be different with respect to previous ones due to the use of higher resolution spectrographs and of 8 meter class telescopes. We are starting to submit proposals for these observations. In this paper we briefly describe how candidates are selected and the corresponding observation program.

  10. Signal Processing for a Lunar Array: Minimizing Power Consumption

    Science.gov (United States)

    D'Addario, Larry; Simmons, Samuel

    2011-01-01

    Motivation for the study is: (1) Lunar Radio Array for low frequency, high redshift Dark Ages/Epoch of Reionization observations (z =6-50, f=30-200 MHz) (2) High precision cosmological measurements of 21 cm H I line fluctuations (3) Probe universe before first star formation and provide information about the Intergalactic Medium and evolution of large scale structures (5) Does the current cosmological model accurately describe the Universe before reionization? Lunar Radio Array is for (1) Radio interferometer based on the far side of the moon (1a) Necessary for precision measurements, (1b) Shielding from earth-based and solar RFI (12) No permanent ionosphere, (2) Minimum collecting area of approximately 1 square km and brightness sensitivity 10 mK (3)Several technologies must be developed before deployment The power needed to process signals from a large array of nonsteerable elements is not prohibitive, even for the Moon, and even in current technology. Two different concepts have been proposed: (1) Dark Ages Radio Interferometer (DALI) (2)( Lunar Array for Radio Cosmology (LARC)

  11. Peculiar morphology of the high-redshift radio galaxies 3C 13 and 3C 256 in subarcsecond seeing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Le Fevre, O.; Hammer, F.; Nottale, L.; Mazure, A.; Christian, C.

    1988-01-01

    High-spatial-resolution imaging is presented for two radio galaxies from the 3C catalog, 3C 13 and 3C 256 with redshifts of 1.351 and 1.819, respectively. The excellent image quality obtained at CFHT, 0.6-arcsec FWHM for 3C 13 and 0.7-arcsec FWHM for 3C 256 in the R band, over long integration times, made it possible to resolve these distant galaxies into complex structures. As suggested by Le Fevre et al. (1987) for another source (the gravitational lens candidate 3C 324) an interpretation in terms of gravitational amplification by foreground galaxies or clusters of galaxies is proposed. 3C 13 appears to be the most serious candidate, since a foreground galaxy, with an absolute luminosity M(R) = 23.3 and a redshift z = 0.477, is only 3.9 in from the extended radio galaxy. 18 references

  12. Redshift differences of galaxies in nearby groups

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harrison, E. R.

    1975-01-01

    It is reported that galaxies in nearby groups exhibit anomalous nonvelocity redshifts. In this discussion, (1) four classes of nearby groups of galacies are analyzed, and no significant nonvelocity redshift effect is found; and (2) it is pointed out that transverse velocities (i.e., velocities transverse to the line of sight of the main galaxy, or center of mass) contribute components to the redshift measurements of companion galaxies. The redshifts of galaxies in nearby groups of appreciable angular size are considerably affected by these velocity projection effects. The transverse velocity contributions average out in rich, isotropic groups, and also in large samples of irregular groups of low membership, as in the four classes referred to in (1), but can introduce apparent discrepancies in small samples (as studied by Arp) of nearby groups of low membership.

  13. FeII/MgII Emission Line Ratio in High Redshift Quasars

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Dietrich, M.; Hamann, F.; Appenzeller, I.

    2003-01-01

    the evolution of the FeII/MgII ratio over a wider range in cosmic time, we measured this ratio for composite quasar spectra which cover a redshift range of 0 4 quasars must have started already at an epoch corresponding to z_f = 6 to 9, when the age of the universe was ~0.5 Gyr (H_o = 72 km/s/Mpc, Omega_M = 0...

  14. THE AGE SPREAD OF QUIESCENT GALAXIES WITH THE NEWFIRM MEDIUM-BAND SURVEY: IDENTIFICATION OF THE OLDEST GALAXIES OUT TO z ∼ 2

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Whitaker, Katherine E.; Van Dokkum, Pieter G.; Brammer, Gabriel; Bezanson, Rachel; Lee, Kyoung-Soo; Muzzin, Adam; Wake, David A.; Kriek, Mariska; Franx, Marijn; Quadri, Ryan F.; Labbe, Ivo; Marchesini, Danilo; Illingworth, Garth D.; Rudnick, Gregory

    2010-01-01

    With a complete, mass-selected sample of quiescent galaxies from the NEWFIRM Medium-Band Survey, we study the stellar populations of the oldest and most massive galaxies (>10 11 M sun ) to high redshift. The sample includes 570 quiescent galaxies selected based on their extinction-corrected U - V colors out to z = 2.2, with accurate photometric redshifts, σ z /(1 + z) ∼ 2%, and rest-frame colors, σ U-V ∼ 0.06 mag. We measure an increase in the intrinsic scatter of the rest-frame U - V colors of quiescent galaxies with redshift. This scatter in color arises from the spread in ages of the quiescent galaxies, where we see both relatively quiescent red, old galaxies and quiescent blue, younger galaxies toward higher redshift. The trends between color and age are consistent with the observed composite rest-frame spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of these galaxies. The composite SEDs of the reddest and bluest quiescent galaxies are fundamentally different, with remarkably well-defined 4000 A and Balmer breaks, respectively. Some of the quiescent galaxies may be up to four times older than the average age and up to the age of the universe, if the assumption of solar metallicity is correct. By matching the scatter predicted by models that include growth of the red sequence by the transformation of blue galaxies to the observed intrinsic scatter, the data indicate that most early-type galaxies formed their stars at high redshift with a burst of star formation prior to migrating to the red sequence. The observed U - V color evolution with redshift is weaker than passive evolution predicts; possible mechanisms to slow the color evolution include increasing amounts of dust in quiescent galaxies toward higher redshift, red mergers at z ∼< 1, and a frosting of relatively young stars from star formation at later times.

  15. Sky Mining - Application to Photomorphic Redshift Estimation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nayak, Pragyansmita

    severity every day, alternative method "Photometric redshift" has been studied in the past. It uses the brightness of the object viewed through various standard filters, each of which lets through a relatively broad spectrum of colors. However, these methods are bound by the degeneracy problem (objects with different color profiles have the same redshift) which leads to low predictive accuracy. As part of our study, we are looking beyond color attributes to identify other measured attributes as degeneracy resolvers as well as generate estimators that are highly accurate; termed as "Photomorphic redshift" estimators. The present study investigates the photometric information of the objects such as color and magnitude (= observed flux) and morphology attributes such as shape, size, orientation and concentration in the different wavelengths. The specific type of magnitude used in this study are the PSF, Fiber and Petrosian magnitude. The morphology attributes are the ratio of Fiber to Petrosian magnitude, concentration index and Petrosian radius. All these attributes are in the five bands ugriz of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). Machine learning techniques based on Naive Bayes (NB), Bayesian Network (BN) and Generalized Linear Model (GLM) are researched to better understand their applicability, advantages and resulting predictive performance in terms of efficiency and accuracy. Note: The SDSS Data Release (DR) 10 data was used in the executed experiments (total of 700,777 galaxies with forty-five attributes associated with each galaxy). The significant findings of the present work are as follows: 1. Magnitude and morphology attributes have been found to be successful degeneracy resolvers. 2. Magnitude and morphology attributes have been found to be better redshift estimators than color attributes alone. 3. Naive Bayes, Bayesian Network and GLM have been found to be viable redshift estimation methods. Attribute selection is an important factor in computational performance

  16. Molecular gas in dusty high-redshift galaxies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sharon, Chelsea Electra

    2013-12-01

    We present high-resolution observations of carbon monoxide (CO) emission lines for three high-redshift galaxies in order to determine their molecular gas and star formation properties. These galaxies (SMM J14011+0252, SMM J00266+1708, and SDSS J0901+1814) have large infrared luminosities, which imply high dust enshrouded star formation rates and substantial molecular gas masses. We observed these sources using the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope, the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array, the Plateau de Bure Interferometer, and the Submillimeter Array in order to obtain measurements of multiple CO spectral lines, allowing us to determine the physical conditions of the molecular gas. Our high resolution and multi-line CO mapping of SMM J00266+1708 reveals that it is a pair of merging galaxies, whose two components have different gas excitation conditions and different gas kinematics. For SMM J14011+0252 (J14011), we find a near-unity CO(3--2)/CO(1--0) intensity ratio, consistent with a single phase (i.e., a single temperature and density) of molecular gas and different from the average population value for dusty galaxies selected at submillimeter wavelengths. Our radiative transfer modeling (using the large velocity gradient approximation) indicates that converting the CO line luminosity to molecular gas mass requires a Galactic (disk-like) scale factor rather than the typical conversion factor assumed for starbursts. Despite this choice of conversion factor, J14011 falls in the same region of star formation rate surface density and gas mass surface density (the Schmidt-Kennicutt relation) as other starburst galaxies. SDSS J0901+1814 (J0901) was initially selected as a star-forming galaxy at ultraviolet wavelengths, but also has a large infrared luminosity. We use the magnification provided by the strong gravitational lensing affecting this system to examine the spatial variation of the CO excitation within J0901. We find that the CO(3--2)/CO(1--0) line ratio is

  17. A PHOTOMETRIC REDSHIFT OF z ∼ 9.4 FOR GRB 090429B

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cucchiara, A.; Fox, D. B.; Wu, X. F.; Toma, K.; Levan, A. J.; Tanvir, N. R.; Rowlinson, A.; Ukwatta, T. N.; Berger, E.; Kruehler, T.; Greiner, J.; Olivares, F. E.; Yoldas, A. Kuepcue; Amati, L.; Sakamoto, T.; Roth, K.; Stephens, A.; Fritz, Alexander; Fynbo, J. P. U.; Hjorth, J.

    2011-01-01

    Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) serve as powerful probes of the early universe, with their luminous afterglows revealing the locations and physical properties of star-forming galaxies at the highest redshifts, and potentially locating first-generation (Population III) stars. Since GRB afterglows have intrinsically very simple spectra, they allow robust redshifts from low signal-to-noise spectroscopy, or photometry. Here we present a photometric redshift of z ∼ 9.4 for the Swift detected GRB 090429B based on deep observations with Gemini-North, the Very Large Telescope, and the GRB Optical and Near-infrared Detector. Assuming a Small Magellanic Cloud dust law (which has been found in a majority of GRB sight lines), the 90% likelihood range for the redshift is 9.06 7. The non-detection of the host galaxy to deep limits (Y(AB) ∼ 28, which would correspond roughly to 0.001L* at z = 1) in our late-time optical and infrared observations with the Hubble Space Telescope strongly supports the extreme-redshift origin of GRB 090429B, since we would expect to have detected any low-z galaxy, even if it were highly dusty. Finally, the energetics of GRB 090429B are comparable to those of other GRBs and suggest that its progenitor is not greatly different from those of lower redshift bursts.

  18. The Swift Gamma-Ray Burst Host Galaxy Legacy Survey. I. Sample Selection and Redshift Distribution

    Science.gov (United States)

    Perley, D. A.; Kruhler, T.; Schulze, S.; Postigo, A. De Ugarte; Hjorth, J.; Berger, E.; Cenko, S. B.; Chary, R.; Cucchiara, A.; Ellis, R.; hide

    2016-01-01

    We introduce the Swift Gamma-Ray Burst Host Galaxy Legacy Survey (SHOALS), a multi-observatory high redshift galaxy survey targeting the largest unbiased sample of long-duration gamma-ray burst (GRB) hosts yet assembled (119 in total). We describe the motivations of the survey and the development of our selection criteria, including an assessment of the impact of various observability metrics on the success rate of afterglow-based redshift measurement. We briefly outline our host galaxy observational program, consisting of deep Spitzer/IRAC imaging of every field supplemented by similarly deep, multicolor optical/near-IR photometry, plus spectroscopy of events without preexisting redshifts. Our optimized selection cuts combined with host galaxy follow-up have so far enabled redshift measurements for 110 targets (92%) and placed upper limits on all but one of the remainder. About 20% of GRBs in the sample are heavily dust obscured, and at most 2% originate from z > 5.5. Using this sample, we estimate the redshift-dependent GRB rate density, showing it to peak at z approx. 2.5 and fall by at least an order of magnitude toward low (z = 0) redshift, while declining more gradually toward high (z approx. 7) redshift. This behavior is consistent with a progenitor whose formation efficiency varies modestly over cosmic history. Our survey will permit the most detailed examination to date of the connection between the GRB host population and general star-forming galaxies, directly measure evolution in the host population over cosmic time and discern its causes, and provide new constraints on the fraction of cosmic star formation occurring in undetectable galaxies at all redshifts.

  19. THE SPITZER HIGH-REDSHIFT RADIO GALAXY SURVEY

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    De Breuck, Carlos; Galametz, Audrey; Vernet, Joel; Seymour, Nick; Stern, Daniel; Eisenhardt, P. R. M.; Willner, S. P.; Fazio, G. G.; Lacy, Mark; Rettura, Alessandro; Rocca-Volmerange, Brigitte

    2010-01-01

    We present results from a comprehensive imaging survey of 70 radio galaxies at redshifts 1 3 μ m /S 1.6 μ m versus S 5 μ m /S 3 μ m criterion, we identify 42 sources where the rest-frame 1.6 μm emission from the stellar population can be measured. For these radio galaxies, the median stellar mass is high, 2 x 10 11 M sun , and remarkably constant within the range 1 3, there is tentative evidence for a factor of two decrease in stellar mass. This suggests that radio galaxies have assembled the bulk of their stellar mass by z ∼ 3, but confirmation by more detailed decomposition of stellar and active galactic nucleus (AGN) emission is needed. The rest-frame 500 MHz radio luminosities are only marginally correlated with stellar mass but are strongly correlated with the rest-frame 5 μm hot dust luminosity. This suggests that the radio galaxies have a large range of Eddington ratios. We also present new Very Large Array 4.86 and 8.46 GHz imaging of 14 radio galaxies and find that radio core dominance-an indicator of jet orientation-is strongly correlated with hot dust luminosity. While all of our targets were selected as narrow-lined, type 2 AGNs, this result can be understood in the context of orientation-dependent models if there is a continuous distribution of orientations from obscured type 2 to unobscured type 1 AGNs rather than a clear dichotomy. Finally, four radio galaxies have nearby (<6'') companions whose mid-IR colors are suggestive of their being AGNs. This may indicate an association between radio galaxy activity and major mergers.

  20. A Moderate Redshift Supernova Search Program

    Science.gov (United States)

    Adams, M. T.; Wheeler, J. C.; Ward, M.; Wren, W. R.; Schmidt, B. P.

    1995-12-01

    We report on a recently initiated supernova (SN) search program using the McDonald Observatory 0.76m telescope and Prime Focus Camera (PFC). This SN search program takes advantage of the PFC's 42.6 x 42.6 arcmin FOV to survey moderate redshift Abell clusters in single Kron-Cousins R-band images. Our scientific goal is to discover and provide quality BVRI photometric follow-up, to R \\ +21, for a significant SNe sample at 0.03 group (Perlmutter et al 1995, ApJ, 440, L41), and the High Redshift SN Search Team (Schmidt et al 1995, Aiguiblava NATO ASI Proceedings). The McDonald SN search program includes a sample of the Abell clusters used by Lauer and Postman (1994, ApJ, 425, 418) to analyze Local Group motion. SNe discovered in these clusters contribute to the resolution of the Local Group motion controversy. We present an overview of the McDonald Observatory supernova search program, and discuss recent results.

  1. MAGIICAT II. GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE Mg II ABSORBING CIRCUMGALACTIC MEDIUM

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Nielsen, Nikole M.; Churchill, Christopher W. [New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM 88003 (United States); Kacprzak, Glenn G., E-mail: nnielsen@nmsu.edu, E-mail: cwc@nmsu.edu, E-mail: gkacprzak@astro.swin.edu.au [Swinburne University of Technology, Victoria 3122 (Australia)

    2013-10-20

    We examine the Mg II absorbing circumgalactic medium (CGM) for the 182 intermediate redshift (0.072 ≤ z ≤ 1.120) galaxies in the 'Mg II Absorber-Galaxy Catalog' (MAGIICAT). We parameterize the anti-correlation between equivalent width, W{sub r} (2796), and impact parameter, D, with a log-linear fit, and show that a power law poorly describes the data. We find that higher luminosity galaxies have larger W{sub r} (2796) at larger D (4.3σ). The covering fractions, f{sub c} , decrease with increasing D and W{sub r} (2796) detection threshold. Higher luminosity galaxies have larger f{sub c} ; no absorption is detected in lower luminosity galaxies beyond 100 kpc. Bluer and redder galaxies have similar f{sub c} for D < 100 kpc, but for D > 100 kpc, bluer galaxies have larger f{sub c} , as do higher redshift galaxies. The 'absorption radius', R(L) = R{sub *}(L/L*){sup β}, which we examine for four different W{sub r} (2796) detection thresholds, is more luminosity sensitive to the B-band than the K-band, more sensitive for redder galaxies than for bluer galaxies, and does not evolve with redshift for the K-band, but becomes more luminosity sensitive toward lower redshift for the B-band. These trends clearly indicate a more extended Mg II absorbing CGM around higher luminosity, bluer, and higher redshift galaxies. Several of our findings are in conflict with other works. We address these conflicts and discuss the implications of our results for the low-ionization, intermediate redshift CGM.

  2. INTERSTELLAR SCINTILLATION AND THE RADIO COUNTERPART OF THE FAST RADIO BURST FRB 150418

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Akiyama, Kazunori; Johnson, Michael D.

    2016-01-01

    Keane et al. have recently reported the discovery of a new fast radio burst (FRB), FRB 150418, with a promising radio counterpart at 5.5 and 7.5 GHz—a rapidly decaying source, falling from 200–300 μ Jy to 100 μ Jy on timescales of ∼6 days. This transient source may be associated with an elliptical galaxy at redshift z = 0.492, providing the first firm spectroscopic redshift for an FRB and the ability to estimate the density of baryons in the intergalactic medium via the combination of known redshift and radio dispersion of the FRB. An alternative explanation, first suggested by Williams and Berger, is that the identified counterpart may instead be a compact active galactic nucleus (AGN). The putative counterpart’s variation may then instead be extrinsic, caused by refractive scintillation in the ionized interstellar medium of the Milky Way, which would invalidate the association with FRB 150418. We examine this latter explanation in detail and show that the reported observations are consistent with scintillating radio emission from the core of a radio-loud AGN having a brightness temperature T _b ≳ 10"9 K. Using numerical simulations of the expected scattering for the line of sight to FRB 150418, we provide example images and light curves of such an AGN at 5.5 and 7.5 GHz. These results can be compared with continued radio monitoring to conclusively determine the importance of scintillation for the observed radio variability, and they show that scintillation is a critical consideration for continued searches for FRB counterparts at radio wavelengths.

  3. LYα FOREST TOMOGRAPHY FROM BACKGROUND GALAXIES: THE FIRST MEGAPARSEC-RESOLUTION LARGE-SCALE STRUCTURE MAP AT z > 2

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lee, Khee-Gan; Hennawi, Joseph F.; Eilers, Anna-Christina [Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, Königstuhl 17, D-69117 Heidelberg (Germany); Stark, Casey; White, Martin [Department of Astronomy, University of California at Berkeley, B-20 Hearst Field Annex 3411, Berkeley, CA 94720 (United States); Prochaska, J. Xavier [Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of California, 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95064 (United States); Schlegel, David J. [University of California Observatories, Lick Observatory, 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95064 (United States); Arinyo-i-Prats, Andreu [Institut de Ciències del Cosmos, Universitat de Barcelona (IEEC-UB), Martí Franquès 1, E-08028 Barcelona (Spain); Suzuki, Nao [Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (IPMU), The University of Tokyo, Kashiwano-ha 5-1-5, Kashiwa-shi, Chiba (Japan); Croft, Rupert A. C. [Department of Physics, Carnegie Mellon University, 5000 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213 (United States); Caputi, Karina I. [Kapteyn Astronomical Institute, University of Groningen, P.O. Box 800, 9700-AV Groningen (Netherlands); Cassata, Paolo [Instituto de Fisica y Astronomia, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Valparaiso, Av. Gran Bretana 1111, Casilla 5030, Valparaiso (Chile); Ilbert, Olivier; Le Brun, Vincent; Le Fèvre, Olivier [Aix Marseille Université, CNRS, LAM (Laboratoire d' Astrophysique de Marseille) UMR 7326, F-13388 Marseille (France); Garilli, Bianca [INAF-IASF, Via Bassini 15, I-20133, Milano (Italy); Koekemoer, Anton M. [Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218 (United States); Maccagni, Dario [INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Bologna, Via Ranzani,1, I-40127 Bologna (Italy); Nugent, Peter, E-mail: lee@mpia.de [Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 1 Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, CA 94720 (United States); and others

    2014-11-01

    We present the first observations of foreground Lyα forest absorption from high-redshift galaxies, targeting 24 star-forming galaxies (SFGs) with z ∼ 2.3-2.8 within a 5' × 14' region of the COSMOS field. The transverse sightline separation is ∼2 h {sup –1} Mpc comoving, allowing us to create a tomographic reconstruction of the three-dimensional (3D) Lyα forest absorption field over the redshift range 2.20 ≤ z ≤ 2.45. The resulting map covers 6 h {sup –1} Mpc × 14 h {sup –1} Mpc in the transverse plane and 230 h {sup –1} Mpc along the line of sight with a spatial resolution of ≈3.5 h {sup –1} Mpc, and is the first high-fidelity map of a large-scale structure on ∼Mpc scales at z > 2. Our map reveals significant structures with ≳ 10 h {sup –1} Mpc extent, including several spanning the entire transverse breadth, providing qualitative evidence for the filamentary structures predicted to exist in the high-redshift cosmic web. Simulated reconstructions with the same sightline sampling, spectral resolution, and signal-to-noise ratio recover the salient structures present in the underlying 3D absorption fields. Using data from other surveys, we identified 18 galaxies with known redshifts coeval with our map volume, enabling a direct comparison with our tomographic map. This shows that galaxies preferentially occupy high-density regions, in qualitative agreement with the same comparison applied to simulations. Our results establish the feasibility of the CLAMATO survey, which aims to obtain Lyα forest spectra for ∼1000 SFGs over ∼1 deg{sup 2} of the COSMOS field, in order to map out the intergalactic medium large-scale structure at (z) ∼ 2.3 over a large volume (100 h {sup –1} Mpc){sup 3}.

  4. A Subaru galaxy redshift survey: WFMOS survey

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Takada, M

    2008-01-01

    A planned galaxy redshift survey with the Subaru 8.2m telescope, the WFMOS survey, offers a unique opportunity for probing detailed properties of large-scale structure formation in the expanding universe by measuring clustering strength of galaxy distribution as a function of distance scale and redshift. In particular, the precise measurement of the galaxy power spectrum, combined with the cosmic microwave background experiments, allows us to obtain stringent constraints on or even determine absolute mass scales of the Big-Bang relic neutrinos as the neutrinos imprint characteristic scale- and redshift-dependent modifications onto the galaxy power spectrum shape. Here we describe the basic concept of how the galaxy clustering measurement can be used to explore the neutrino masses, with particular emphasis on advantages of the WFMOS survey over the existing low-redshift surveys such as SDSS

  5. Photometric redshift estimation via deep learning. Generalized and pre-classification-less, image based, fully probabilistic redshifts

    Science.gov (United States)

    D'Isanto, A.; Polsterer, K. L.

    2018-01-01

    Context. The need to analyze the available large synoptic multi-band surveys drives the development of new data-analysis methods. Photometric redshift estimation is one field of application where such new methods improved the results, substantially. Up to now, the vast majority of applied redshift estimation methods have utilized photometric features. Aims: We aim to develop a method to derive probabilistic photometric redshift directly from multi-band imaging data, rendering pre-classification of objects and feature extraction obsolete. Methods: A modified version of a deep convolutional network was combined with a mixture density network. The estimates are expressed as Gaussian mixture models representing the probability density functions (PDFs) in the redshift space. In addition to the traditional scores, the continuous ranked probability score (CRPS) and the probability integral transform (PIT) were applied as performance criteria. We have adopted a feature based random forest and a plain mixture density network to compare performances on experiments with data from SDSS (DR9). Results: We show that the proposed method is able to predict redshift PDFs independently from the type of source, for example galaxies, quasars or stars. Thereby the prediction performance is better than both presented reference methods and is comparable to results from the literature. Conclusions: The presented method is extremely general and allows us to solve of any kind of probabilistic regression problems based on imaging data, for example estimating metallicity or star formation rate of galaxies. This kind of methodology is tremendously important for the next generation of surveys.

  6. The COS-Halos survey: physical conditions and baryonic mass in the low-redshift circumgalactic medium

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Werk, Jessica K.; Prochaska, J. Xavier; Tejos, Nicolas [UCO/Lick Observatory, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA (United States); Tumlinson, Jason; Peeples, Molly S.; Fox, Andrew J.; Thom, Christopher; Bordoloi, Rongmon [Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD (United States); Tripp, Todd M.; Katz, Neal [Department of Astronomy, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA (United States); Lehner, Nicolas [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Notre Dame, South Bend, IN (United States); O' Meara, John M. [Department of Chemistry and Physics, Saint Michael' s College, Colchester, VT (United States); Ford, Amanda Brady [Astronomy Department, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721 (United States); Oppenheimer, Benjamin D. [Leiden Observatory, Leiden University, NL-2300 RA Leiden (Netherlands); Davé, Romeel [University of the Western Cape, Bellville, Cape Town 7535 (South Africa); Weinberg, David H., E-mail: jwerk@ucolick.org [Department of Astronomy, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH (United States)

    2014-09-01

    We analyze the physical conditions of the cool, photoionized (T ∼10{sup 4} K) circumgalactic medium (CGM) using the COS-Halos suite of gas column density measurements for 44 gaseous halos within 160 kpc of L ∼ L* galaxies at z ∼ 0.2. These data are well described by simple photoionization models, with the gas highly ionized (n {sub H} {sub II}/n {sub H} ≳ 99%) by the extragalactic ultraviolet background. Scaling by estimates for the virial radius, R {sub vir}, we show that the ionization state (tracked by the dimensionless ionization parameter, U) increases with distance from the host galaxy. The ionization parameters imply a decreasing volume density profile n {sub H} = (10{sup –4.2±0.25})(R/R {sub vir}){sup –0.8±0.3}. Our derived gas volume densities are several orders of magnitude lower than predictions from standard two-phase models with a cool medium in pressure equilibrium with a hot, coronal medium expected in virialized halos at this mass scale. Applying the ionization corrections to the H I column densities, we estimate a lower limit to the cool gas mass M{sub CGM}{sup cool}>6.5×10{sup 10} M {sub ☉} for the volume within R < R {sub vir}. Allowing for an additional warm-hot, O VI-traced phase, the CGM accounts for at least half of the baryons purported to be missing from dark matter halos at the 10{sup 12} M {sub ☉} scale.

  7. On the periodicity in the distribution of quasar redshifts

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kjaergaard, P.

    1978-01-01

    The periodicity in the distribution of quasar redshifts is explained in terms of selection effects. Special attention is drawn to a selection effect caused by the redshift dependent influence of the strong emission lines on the limiting magnitude for detecting quasars. This is especially important since the number of quasars increases with a large factor per magnitude. The limiting magnitude effect applies both to spectroscopic and to UV-excess surveys. It is shown that the redshift distribution of quasars selected by a combination of UV-excess information and agreement between radio and optical position is intermediate between the redshift distribution of the two groups of quasars selected by one of the two criteria. It is also shown that the distribution of redshifts for UV-excess selected quasars is very similar to the variation of the ultrsviolet excess as a function of redshift. This evidence indicates that strong selection effects are in play. (Auth.)

  8. SPITZER 70/160 μm OBSERVATIONS OF HIGH-REDSHIFT ULIRGs AND HyLIRGs IN THE BOOeTES FIELD

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tyler, Krystal D.; Floc'h, Emeric Le; Rieke, George H.; Papovich, Casey; Blaylock, Myra; Dey, Arjun; Jannuzi, Buell T.; Armus, Lee; Desai, Vandana; Brand, Kate; Borys, Colin; Dole, Herve; Brown, Michael J. I.; Higdon, Sarah J. U.; Higdon, James L.; Charmandaris, Vassilis; Ashby, Matthew L. N.; Smith, Howard A.

    2009-01-01

    We present new 70 and 160 μm observations of a sample of extremely red (R - [24] ∼> 15 mag), mid-infrared bright, high-redshift (1.7 ∼ bol ∼ 4 x 10 12 L sun to ∼3 x 10 13 L sun (ULIRGs/hyper-luminous IR galaxies (HyLIRGs)), representing the first robust constraints on L bol for this class of object.

  9. LOW-METALLICITY STAR FORMATION IN HIGH-REDSHIFT GALAXIES AT z ∼ 8

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Taniguchi, Y.; Shioya, Y.; Trump, J. R.

    2010-01-01

    Based on the recent very deep near-infrared imaging of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field with WFC3 on the Hubble Space Telescope, five groups published the most probable samples of galaxies at z ∼ 8, selected by the so-called dropout method or photometric redshift; e.g., Y 105 -dropouts (Y 105 - J 125 > 0.8). These studies are highly useful for investigating both the early star formation history of galaxies and the sources of cosmic re-ionization. In order to better understand these issues, we carefully examine whether there are low-z interlopers in the samples of z ∼ 8 galaxy candidates. We focus on the strong emission-line galaxies at z ∼ 2 in this paper. Such galaxies may be selected as Y 105 -dropouts since the [O III] λ5007 emission line is redshifted into the J 125 band. We have found that the contamination from such low-z interlopers is negligibly small. Therefore, all objects found by the five groups are free from this type of contamination. However, it remains difficult to extract real z ∼ 8 galaxies because all the sources are very faint and the different groups have found different candidates. With this in mind, we construct a robust sample of eight galaxies at z ∼ 8 from the objects found by the five groups: each of these eight objects has been selected by at least two groups. Using this sample, we discuss their UV continuum slope. We also discuss the escape fraction of ionizing photons adopting various metallicities. Our analysis suggests that massive stars forming in low-metallicity gas (Z ∼ 5 x 10 -4 Z sun ) can be responsible for the completion of cosmic re-ionization if the escape fraction of the ionizing continuum from galaxies is as large as 0.5, and this is consistent with the observed blue UV continua.

  10. The Hyperluminous Infrared Quasar 3C 318 and Its Implications for Interpreting Sub-MM Detections of High-Redshift Radio Galaxies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Willott, Chris J.; Rawlings, Steve; Jarvis, Matt J.

    1999-01-01

    We present near-infrared spectroscopy and imaging of the compact steep-spectrum radio source 3C 318 which shows it to be a quasar at redshift z = 1.574 (the z = 0.752 value previously reported is incorrect). 3C 318 is an IRAS, ISO and SCUBA source so its new redshift makes it the most intrinsically luminous far-infrared (FIR) source in the 3C catalogue (there is no evidence of strong gravitational lensing effects). Its bolometric luminosity greatly exceeds the 10(exp 13) solar luminosity level above which an object is said to be hyperluminous. Its spectral energy distribution (SED) requires that the quasar heats the dust responsible for the FIR flux, as is believed to be the case in other hyperluminous galaxies, and contributes (at the greater than 10% level) to the heating of the CIA dust responsible for the sub-mm emission. We cannot determine whether a starburst makes an important contribution to the heating of the coolest dust, so evidence for a high star-formation rate is circumstantial being based on the high dust, and hence gas, C-1 mass required by its sub-mm detection. We show that the current sub-mm and FIR data available for the highest-redshift radio galaxies are consistent with SEDs similar to that of 3C 318. This indicates that at least some of this population may be detected in the sub-mm because of dust heated by the quasar nucleus, and that interpreting sub-mm detection as evidence for very high (approx. less than 1000 solar mass/yr) star-formation rates may not always be valid. We show that the 3C318 quasar is slightly reddened (A(sub v) approx. = 0.5), the most likely cause of which is SMC-type dust in the host galaxy. If very distant radio galaxies are reddened in a similar way then we show that only slightly greater amounts of dust could obscure the quasars in these sources. We speculate that the low fraction of quasars amongst the very high redshift (z approx. greater than 3) objects in low-frequency radio-selected samples is the result of

  11. HERSCHEL EXTREME LENSING LINE OBSERVATIONS: [C ii] VARIATIONS IN GALAXIES AT REDSHIFTS z = 1–3

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Malhotra, Sangeeta; Rhoads, James E.; Yang, Huan [School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287 (United States); Finkelstein, K.; Finkelstein, Steven [University of Texas, Austin, TX 78712 (United States); Carilli, Chris [National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Socorro, NM (United States); Combes, Françoise [Observatoire de Paris, LERMA, CNRS, 61 Avenue de l’Observatoire, F-75014 Paris (France); Dassas, Karine; Guillard, Pierre; Nesvadba, Nicole [Institut d’Astrophysique Spatiale, Centre Universitaire d’Orsay (France); Frye, Brenda [Steward Observatory, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ (United States); Gerin, Maryvonne [LERMA,24 rue Lhomond, F-75231 Paris Cedex 05 (France); Rigby, Jane [NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD (United States); Shin, Min-Su [Oxford University, Oxford, OX1 3PA (United Kingdom); Spaans, Marco [Kapteyn Astronomical Institute, University of Groningen, Groningen (Netherlands); Strauss, Michael A. [Department of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University, Peyton Hall, Princeton, NJ 08544 (United States); Papovich, Casey, E-mail: malhotra@asu.edu [George P. and Cynthia W. Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and Astronomy, Department of Physics, Texas A and M University, College Station, TX 77843 (United States)

    2017-01-20

    We observed the [C ii] line in 15 lensed galaxies at redshifts 1 < z < 3 using HIFI on the Herschel Space Observatory and detected 14/15 galaxies at 3 σ or better. High magnifications enable even modestly luminous galaxies to be detected in [C ii] with Herschel . The [C ii] luminosity in this sample ranges from 8 × 10{sup 7} L {sub ⊙} to 3.7 × 10{sup 9} L {sub ⊙} (after correcting for magnification), confirming that [C ii] is a strong tracer of the ISM at high redshifts. The ratio of the [C ii] line to the total far-infrared (FIR) luminosity serves as a measure of the ratio of gas to dust cooling and thus the efficiency of the grain photoelectric heating process. It varies between 3.3% and 0.09%. We compare the [C ii]/FIR ratio to that of galaxies at z = 0 and at high redshifts and find that they follow similar trends. The [C ii]/FIR ratio is lower for galaxies with higher dust temperatures. This is best explained if increased UV intensity leads to higher FIR luminosity and dust temperatures, but gas heating does not rise due to lower photoelectric heating efficiency. The [C ii]/FIR ratio shows weaker correlation with FIR luminosity. At low redshifts highly luminous galaxies tend to have warm dust, so the effects of dust temperature and luminosity are degenerate. Luminous galaxies at high redshifts show a range of dust temperatures, showing that [C ii]/FIR correlates most strongly with dust temperature. The [C ii] to mid-IR ratio for the HELLO sample is similar to the values seen for low-redshift galaxies, indicating that small grains and PAHs dominate the heating in the neutral ISM, although some of the high [CII]/FIR ratios may be due to turbulent heating.

  12. HERSCHEL EXTREME LENSING LINE OBSERVATIONS: [C ii] VARIATIONS IN GALAXIES AT REDSHIFTS z = 1–3

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Malhotra, Sangeeta; Rhoads, James E.; Yang, Huan; Finkelstein, K.; Finkelstein, Steven; Carilli, Chris; Combes, Françoise; Dassas, Karine; Guillard, Pierre; Nesvadba, Nicole; Frye, Brenda; Gerin, Maryvonne; Rigby, Jane; Shin, Min-Su; Spaans, Marco; Strauss, Michael A.; Papovich, Casey

    2017-01-01

    We observed the [C ii] line in 15 lensed galaxies at redshifts 1 < z < 3 using HIFI on the Herschel Space Observatory and detected 14/15 galaxies at 3 σ or better. High magnifications enable even modestly luminous galaxies to be detected in [C ii] with Herschel . The [C ii] luminosity in this sample ranges from 8 × 10 7 L ⊙ to 3.7 × 10 9 L ⊙ (after correcting for magnification), confirming that [C ii] is a strong tracer of the ISM at high redshifts. The ratio of the [C ii] line to the total far-infrared (FIR) luminosity serves as a measure of the ratio of gas to dust cooling and thus the efficiency of the grain photoelectric heating process. It varies between 3.3% and 0.09%. We compare the [C ii]/FIR ratio to that of galaxies at z = 0 and at high redshifts and find that they follow similar trends. The [C ii]/FIR ratio is lower for galaxies with higher dust temperatures. This is best explained if increased UV intensity leads to higher FIR luminosity and dust temperatures, but gas heating does not rise due to lower photoelectric heating efficiency. The [C ii]/FIR ratio shows weaker correlation with FIR luminosity. At low redshifts highly luminous galaxies tend to have warm dust, so the effects of dust temperature and luminosity are degenerate. Luminous galaxies at high redshifts show a range of dust temperatures, showing that [C ii]/FIR correlates most strongly with dust temperature. The [C ii] to mid-IR ratio for the HELLO sample is similar to the values seen for low-redshift galaxies, indicating that small grains and PAHs dominate the heating in the neutral ISM, although some of the high [CII]/FIR ratios may be due to turbulent heating.

  13. Properties of z ~ 3-6 Lyman break galaxies. II. Impact of nebular emission at high redshift

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Barros, S.; Schaerer, D.; Stark, D. P.

    2014-03-01

    Context. To gain insight on the mass assembly and place constraints on the star formation history (SFH) of Lyman break galaxies (LBGs), it is important to accurately determine their properties. Aims: We estimate how nebular emission and different SFHs affect parameter estimation of LBGs. Methods: We present a homogeneous, detailed analysis of the spectral energy distribution (SED) of ~1700 LBGs from the GOODS-MUSIC catalogue with deep multi-wavelength photometry from the U band to 8 μm to determine stellar mass, age, dust attenuation, and star formation rate. Using our SED fitting tool, which takes into account nebular emission, we explore a wide parameter space. We also explore a set of different star formation histories. Results: Nebular emission is found to significantly affect the determination of the physical parameters for the majority of z ~ 3-6 LBGs. We identify two populations of galaxies by determining the importance of the contribution of emission lines to broadband fluxes. We find that ~65% of LBGs show detectable signs of emission lines, whereas ~35% show weak or no emission lines. This distribution is found over the entire redshift range. We interpret these groups as actively star-forming and more quiescent LBGs, respectively. We find that it is necessary to considerer SED fits with very young ages (mass, higher dust attenuation, higher star formation rate, and a large scatter in the SFR-M⋆ relation. Our analysis yields a trend of increasing specific star formation rate with redshift, as predicted by recent galaxy evolution models. Conclusions: The physical parameters of approximately two thirds of high redshift galaxies are significantly modified when we account for nebular emission. The SED models, which include nebular emission shed new light on the properties of LBGs with numerous important implications. Appendix A is available in electronic form at http://www.aanda.org

  14. The redshift number density evolution of Mg II absorption systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chen Zhi-Fu

    2013-01-01

    We make use of the recent large sample of 17 042 Mg II absorption systems from Quider et al. to analyze the evolution of the redshift number density. Regardless of the strength of the absorption line, we find that the evolution of the redshift number density can be clearly distinguished into three different phases. In the intermediate redshift epoch (0.6 ≲ z ≲ 1.6), the evolution of the redshift number density is consistent with the non-evolution curve, however, the non-evolution curve over-predicts the values of the redshift number density in the early (z ≲ 0.6) and late (z ≳ 1.6) epochs. Based on the invariant cross-section of the absorber, the lack of evolution in the redshift number density compared to the non-evolution curve implies the galaxy number density does not evolve during the middle epoch. The flat evolution of the redshift number density tends to correspond to a shallow evolution in the galaxy merger rate during the late epoch, and the steep decrease of the redshift number density might be ascribed to the small mass of halos during the early epoch.

  15. Intergalactic Leadership: Practical Tips for Leading Where No One Has Gone Before

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Peg A Lonnquist

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available Most of the transformational, inclusive, partnership leadership literature, while brilliant and inspirational, does not provide day-to-day ideas for practitioners. Drawing on several key leadership theories and theorists (Kouzes and Posner’s five core behaviors of successful leaders, the Athena Model based on research on women leaders, Centered Leadership from the McKinsey Project, the Research-Productivity and Engagement Model, Burn’s and Bass’ Transformational Leadership Theory, Riane Eisler’s partnership leadership, multicultural leadership theorist Juana Bordas, and feminist leadership theorists, the author describes how she has translated and implemented day-to-day leadership practices which she calls Intergalactic Leadership.

  16. On Some Statistical Properties of GRBs with Measured Redshifts Having Peaks in Optical Light Curves

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Grigorii Beskin

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available We studied the subset of optical light curves of gamma-ray bursts with measured redshifts and well-sampled R band data that have clearly detected peaks. Among 43 such events, 11 are promptoptical peaks (P, coincident with gamma-ray activity, 22 are purely afterglows (A, and 10 more carrythe signatures of an underlying activity (A(U. We studied pair correlations of their gamma-ray andoptical parameters, e.g. total energetics, peak optical luminosities, and durations. The main outcomeof our study is the detection of source frame correlations between both optical peak luminosity and total energy and the redshift for classes A and A(U, and the absence of such a correlation for class Pevents. This result seems to provide evidence of the cosmological evolution of a medium around the burst defining class A and A(U energetics, and the absence of cosmological evolution of the internal properties of GRB engines. We also discuss some other prominent correlations.

  17. Redshift sensitivity of the Kaiser effect

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Simpson, Fergus

    2010-01-01

    We explore potential strategies for testing general relativity via the coherent motions of galaxies. Our position at z=0 provides the reference point for distance measures in cosmology. By contrast, the cosmic microwave background at z≅1100 acts as the point of reference for the growth of a large-scale structure. As a result, we find there is a lack of synergy between growth and distance measures. We show that, when measuring the gravitational growth index γ using redshift-space distortions, typically 80% of the signal corresponds to the local growth rate at the galaxy bin location, while the remaining fraction is determined by its behavior at higher redshifts. In order to clarify whether modified gravity may be responsible for the dark energy phenomenon, the aim is to search for a modification to the growth of structure. One might expect the magnitude of this deviation to be commensurate with the apparent dark energy density Ω Λ (z). This provides an incentive to study redshift-space distortions at as low a redshift as is practical. Specifically, we find the region around z=0.5 offers the optimal balance of available volume and signal strength.

  18. Spatial distribution of the gamma-ray bursts at very high redshift

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mészáros, Attila

    2018-05-01

    The author - with his collaborators - already in years 1995-96 have shown - purely from the analyses of the observations - that the gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) can be till redshift 20. Since that time several other statistical studies of the spatial distribution of GRBs were provided. Remarkable conclusions concerning the star-formation rate and the validity of the cosmological principle were obtained about the regions of the cosmic dawn. In this contribution these efforts are surveyed.

  19. The cosmic baryon cycle and galaxy mass assembly in the FIRE simulations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Anglés-Alcázar, Daniel; Faucher-Giguère, Claude-André; Kereš, Dušan; Hopkins, Philip F.; Quataert, Eliot; Murray, Norman

    2017-10-01

    We use cosmological simulations from the FIRE (Feedback In Realistic Environments) project to study the baryon cycle and galaxy mass assembly for central galaxies in the halo mass range Mhalo ˜ 1010-1013 M⊙. By tracing cosmic inflows, galactic outflows, gas recycling and merger histories, we quantify the contribution of physically distinct sources of material to galaxy growth. We show that in situ star formation fuelled by fresh accretion dominates the early growth of galaxies of all masses, while the re-accretion of gas previously ejected in galactic winds often dominates the gas supply for a large portion of every galaxy's evolution. Externally processed material contributes increasingly to the growth of central galaxies at lower redshifts. This includes stars formed ex situ and gas delivered by mergers, as well as smooth intergalactic transfer of gas from other galaxies, an important but previously underappreciated growth mode. By z = 0, wind transfer, I.e. the exchange of gas between galaxies via winds, can dominate gas accretion on to ˜L* galaxies over fresh accretion and standard wind recycling. Galaxies of all masses re-accrete ≳50 per cent of the gas ejected in winds and recurrent recycling is common. The total mass deposited in the intergalactic medium per unit stellar mass formed increases in lower mass galaxies. Re-accretion of wind ejecta occurs over a broad range of time-scales, with median recycling times (˜100-350 Myr) shorter than previously found. Wind recycling typically occurs at the scale radius of the halo, independent of halo mass and redshift, suggesting a characteristic recycling zone around galaxies that scales with the size of the inner halo and the galaxy's stellar component.

  20. The host galaxy of a fast radio burst.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Keane, E F; Johnston, S; Bhandari, S; Barr, E; Bhat, N D R; Burgay, M; Caleb, M; Flynn, C; Jameson, A; Kramer, M; Petroff, E; Possenti, A; van Straten, W; Bailes, M; Burke-Spolaor, S; Eatough, R P; Stappers, B W; Totani, T; Honma, M; Furusawa, H; Hattori, T; Morokuma, T; Niino, Y; Sugai, H; Terai, T; Tominaga, N; Yamasaki, S; Yasuda, N; Allen, R; Cooke, J; Jencson, J; Kasliwal, M M; Kaplan, D L; Tingay, S J; Williams, A; Wayth, R; Chandra, P; Perrodin, D; Berezina, M; Mickaliger, M; Bassa, C

    2016-02-25

    In recent years, millisecond-duration radio signals originating in distant galaxies appear to have been discovered in the so-called fast radio bursts. These signals are dispersed according to a precise physical law and this dispersion is a key observable quantity, which, in tandem with a redshift measurement, can be used for fundamental physical investigations. Every fast radio burst has a dispersion measurement, but none before now have had a redshift measurement, because of the difficulty in pinpointing their celestial coordinates. Here we report the discovery of a fast radio burst and the identification of a fading radio transient lasting ~6 days after the event, which we use to identify the host galaxy; we measure the galaxy's redshift to be z = 0.492 ± 0.008. The dispersion measure and redshift, in combination, provide a direct measurement of the cosmic density of ionized baryons in the intergalactic medium of ΩIGM = 4.9 ± 1.3 per cent, in agreement with the expectation from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe, and including all of the so-called 'missing baryons'. The ~6-day radio transient is largely consistent with the radio afterglow of a short γ-ray burst, and its existence and timescale do not support progenitor models such as giant pulses from pulsars, and supernovae. This contrasts with the interpretation of another recently discovered fast radio burst, suggesting that there are at least two classes of bursts.

  1. Collimation of extragalactic jets: evidence from hotspots

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Banhatti, D.G.

    1984-01-01

    A linear relation with slope near unity is found between the logarithms of the hotspot size perpendicular to the source major axis and the distance from the core for 14 compact and/ or intense hotspots selected from a sample of 31 quasars having the largest angular sizes at various redshifts, as observed at 4.87 GHz with sub-arcsec resolution. A slope significantly less than 1 implies that the jet feeding the hotspot is laterally confined by the intergalactic medium, whereas a slope of 1 does not distinguish between a laterally confined jet and a free jet. The relation is found to have a slope near 1 implying a 0deg.1 jet confined within a cone of half-angle 15deg to 20deg or a 1deg-wide free jet. (author)

  2. Morphological Evolution in High-Redshift Radio Galaxies and the Formation of Giant Elliptical Galaxies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Breugel, W.J. van; Stanford, S.A.; Spinrad, H.; Stern, D.; Graham, J.R.

    1998-01-01

    We present deep near-infrared images of high-redshift radio galaxies (HzRGs) obtained with the near-infrared camera (NIRC) on the Keck I telescope. In most cases, the near-IR data sample rest wavelengths that are free of contamination from strong emission lines and at λ rest > 4000 Angstrom, where older stellar populations, if present, might dominate the observed flux. At z > 3, the rest-frame optical morphologies generally have faint, large-scale (∼50 kpc) emission surrounding multiple, ∼10 kpc components. The brightest of these components are often aligned with the radio structures. These morphologies change dramatically at 2 rest ) ∼ -20 to -22] of the individual components in the z > 3 HzRGs are similar to the total sizes and luminosities of normal radio-quiet star forming galaxies at z = 3 - 4. For objects where such data are available, our observations show that the line-free, near-IR colors of the z > 3 galaxies are very blue, consistent with models in which recent star formation dominates the observed light. Direct spectroscopic evidence for massive star formation in one of the z > 3 HzRGs exists (4C 41.17). Our results suggest that the z > 3 HzRGs evolve into much more massive systems than the radio-quiet galaxies and that they are qualitatively consistent with models in which massive galaxies form in hierarchical fashion through the merging of smaller star-forming systems. The presence of relatively luminous subcomponents along the radio axes of the z > 3 galaxies suggests a causal connection with the AGN. We compare the radio and near-IR sizes as a function of redshift and suggest that this parameter may be a measure of the degree to which the radio sources have induced star formation in the parent objects. We also discuss the Hubble diagram of radio galaxies, the possibility of a radio power dependence in the K-z relation, and its implications for radio galaxy formation. Finally, we present for the first time in published format basic radio and

  3. THE REDSHIFT DISTRIBUTION OF INTERVENING WEAK Mg II QUASAR ABSORBERS AND A CURIOUS DEPENDENCE ON QUASAR LUMINOSITY

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Evans, Jessica L.; Churchill, Christopher W.; Nielsen, Nikole M.; Klimek, Elizabeth S. [New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM 88003 (United States); Murphy, Michael T. [Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, Melbourne, VIC 3122 (Australia)

    2013-05-01

    We have identified 469 Mg II {lambda}{lambda}2796, 2803 doublet systems having W{sub r} {>=} 0.02 A in 252 Keck/High Resolution Echelle Spectrometer and UVES/Very Large Telescope quasar spectra over the redshift range 0.1 < z < 2.6. Using the largest sample yet of 188 weak Mg II systems (0.02 A {<=}W{sub r} < 0.3 A), we calculate their absorber redshift path density, dN/dz. We find clear evidence of evolution, with dN/dz peaking at z {approx} 1.2, and that the product of the absorber number density and cross section decreases linearly with increasing redshift; weak Mg II absorbers seem to vanish above z {approx_equal} 2.7. If the absorbers are ionized by the UV background, we estimate number densities of 10{sup 6}-10{sup 9} Mpc{sup -3} for spherical geometries and 10{sup 2}-10{sup 5} Mpc{sup -3} for more sheetlike geometries. We also find that dN/dz toward intrinsically faint versus bright quasars differs significantly for weak and strong (W{sub r} {>=} 1.0 A) absorbers. For weak absorption, dN/dz toward bright quasars is {approx}25% higher than toward faint quasars (10{sigma} at low redshift, 0.4 {<=} z {<=} 1.4, and 4{sigma} at high redshift, 1.4 < z {<=} 2.34). For strong absorption the trend reverses, with dN/dz toward faint quasars being {approx}20% higher than toward bright quasars (also 10{sigma} at low redshift and 4{sigma} at high redshift). We explore scenarios in which beam size is proportional to quasar luminosity and varies with absorber and quasar redshifts. These do not explain dN/dz's dependence on quasar luminosity.

  4. Redshift-space distortions from vector perturbations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bonvin, Camille; Durrer, Ruth; Khosravi, Nima; Kunz, Martin; Sawicki, Ignacy

    2018-02-01

    We compute a general expression for the contribution of vector perturbations to the redshift space distortion of galaxy surveys. We show that they contribute to the same multipoles of the correlation function as scalar perturbations and should thus in principle be taken into account in data analysis. We derive constraints for next-generation surveys on the amplitude of two sources of vector perturbations, namely non-linear clustering and topological defects. While topological defects leave a very small imprint on redshift space distortions, we show that the multipoles of the correlation function are sensitive to vorticity induced by non-linear clustering. Therefore future redshift surveys such as DESI or the SKA should be capable of measuring such vector modes, especially with the hexadecapole which appears to be the most sensitive to the presence of vorticity.

  5. IDENTIFICATIONS AND PHOTOMETRIC REDSHIFTS OF THE 2 Ms CHANDRA DEEP FIELD-SOUTH SOURCES

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Luo, B.; Brandt, W. N.; Xue, Y. Q.; Rafferty, D. A.; Schneider, D. P.; Brusa, M.; Alexander, D. M.; Lehmer, B. D.; Bauer, F. E.; Comastri, A.; Koekemoer, A.; Mainieri, V.; Silverman, J. D.; Vignali, C.

    2010-01-01

    We present reliable multiwavelength identifications and high-quality photometric redshifts for the 462 X-ray sources in the ∼2 Ms Chandra Deep Field-South (CDF-S) survey. Source identifications are carried out using deep optical-to-radio multiwavelength catalogs, and are then combined to create lists of primary and secondary counterparts for the X-ray sources. We identified reliable counterparts for 442 (95.7%) of the X-ray sources, with an expected false-match probability of ∼ 6.2%; we also selected four additional likely counterparts. The majority of the other 16 X-ray sources appear to be off-nuclear sources, sources associated with galaxy groups and clusters, high-redshift active galactic nuclei (AGNs), or spurious X-ray sources. A likelihood-ratio method is used for source matching, which effectively reduces the false-match probability at faint magnitudes compared to a simple error-circle matching method. We construct a master photometric catalog for the identified X-ray sources including up to 42 bands of UV-to-infrared data, and then calculate their photometric redshifts (photo-z's). High accuracy in the derived photo-z's is accomplished owing to (1) the up-to-date photometric data covering the full spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of the X-ray sources, (2) more accurate photometric data as a result of source deblending for ∼10% of the sources in the infrared bands and a few percent in the optical and near-infrared bands, (3) a set of 265 galaxy, AGN, and galaxy/AGN hybrid templates carefully constructed to best represent all possible SEDs, (4) the Zurich Extragalactic Bayesian Redshift Analyzer used to derive the photo-z's, which corrects the SED templates to best represent the SEDs of real sources at different redshifts and thus improves the photo-z quality. The reliability of the photo-z's is evaluated using the subsample of 220 sources with secure spectroscopic redshifts. We achieve an accuracy of |Δz|/(1 + z) ∼ 1% and an outlier [with |

  6. First Detections of the [NII] 122 Micrometer Line at High Redshift: Demonstrating the Utility of the Line for Studying Galaxies in the Early Universe

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ferkinhoff, Carl; Brisbin, Drew; Nikola, Thomas; Parshley, Stephen C.; Stacey, Gordon J.; Phillips, Thomas G.; Falgarone, Edith; Benford, Dominic J.; Staguhn, Johannes G.; Tucker, Carol E.

    2011-01-01

    We report the first detections of the [NIl] 122 {\\mu} m line from a high redshift galaxy. The line was strongly (> 6{\\sigma}) detected from SMMJ02399-0136, and HI413+ 117 (the Cloverleaf QSO) using the Redshift(z) and Early Universe Spectrometer (ZEUS) on the CSO. The lines from both sources are quite bright with line-to-FIR continuum luminosity ratios that are approx.7.0x10(exp -4) (Cloverleaf) and 2.1x10(exp -3) (SMMJ02399). With ratios 2-10 times larger than the average value for nearby galaxies, neither source exhibits the line-to-continuum deficits seen in nearby sources. The line strengths also indicate large ionized gas fractions, approx.8 to 17% of the molecular gas mass. The [OIII]/[NII] line ratio is very sensitive to the effective temperature of ionizing stars and the ionization parameter for emission arising in the narrow-line region (NLR) of an AGN. Using our previous detection of the [01II] 88 {\\mu}m line, the [OIII]/ [NIl] line ratio for SMMJ02399-0136 indicates the dominant source of the line emission is either stellar HII regions ionized by 09.5 stars, or the NLR of the AGN with ionization parameter 10g(U) = -3.3 to -4.0. A composite system, where 30 to 50% of the FIR lines arise in the NLR also matches the data. The Cloverleaf is best modeled by a superposition of approx.200 M82like starbursts accounting for all of the FIR emission and 43% of the [NIl] line. The remainder may come from the NLR. This work demonstrates the utility of the [NIl] and [OIII] lines in constraining properties of the ionized medium.

  7. High-redshift post-reionization cosmology with 21cm intensity mapping

    Science.gov (United States)

    Obuljen, Andrej; Castorina, Emanuele; Villaescusa-Navarro, Francisco; Viel, Matteo

    2018-05-01

    We investigate the possibility of performing cosmological studies in the redshift range 2.5place on the growth rate, the BAO distance scale parameters, the sum of the neutrino masses and the number of relativistic degrees of freedom at decoupling, N eff. We point out that quantities that depend on the amplitude of the 21cm power spectrum, like fσ8, are completely degenerate with ΩHI and bHI, and propose several strategies to independently constrain them through cross-correlations with other probes. Assuming 5% priors on ΩHI and bHI, kmax=0.2 h Mpc‑1 and the primary beam wedge, we find that a HIRAX extension can constrain, within bins of Δ z=0.1: 1) the value of fσ8 at simeq4%, 2) the value of DA and H at simeq1%. In combination with data from Euclid-like galaxy surveys and CMB S4, the sum of the neutrino masses can be constrained with an error equal to 23 meV (1σ), while Neff can be constrained within 0.02 (1σ). We derive similar constraints for the extensions of the other instruments. We study in detail the dependence of our results on the instrument, amplitude of the HI bias, the foreground wedge coverage, the nonlinear scale used in the analysis, uncertainties in the theoretical modeling and the priors on bHI and Ω HI. We conclude that 21cm intensity mapping surveys operating in this redshift range can provide extremely competitive constraints on key cosmological parameters.

  8. UV Continuum Slope and Dust Obscuration from z ~ 6 to z ~ 2: The Star Formation Rate Density at High Redshift

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bouwens, R. J.; Illingworth, G. D.; Franx, M.; Chary, R.-R.; Meurer, G. R.; Conselice, C. J.; Ford, H.; Giavalisco, M.; van Dokkum, P.

    2009-11-01

    We provide a systematic measurement of the rest-frame UV continuum slope β over a wide range in redshift (z ~ 2-6) and rest-frame UV luminosity (0.1 L* z = 3 to 2 L* z = 3) to improve estimates of the star formation rate (SFR) density at high redshift. We utilize the deep optical and infrared data (Advanced Camera for Surveys/NICMOS) over the Chandra Deep Field-South and Hubble Deep Field-North Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey fields, as well as the UDF for our primary UBVi "dropout" Lyman Break Galaxy sample. We also use strong lensing clusters to identify a population of very low luminosity, high-redshift dropout galaxies. We correct the observed distributions for both selection biases and photometric scatter. We find that the UV-continuum slope of the most luminous galaxies is substantially redder at z ~ 2-4 than it is at z ~ 5-6 (from ~-2.4 at z ~ 6 to ~-1.5 at z ~ 2). Lower luminosity galaxies are also found to be bluer than higher luminosity galaxies at z ~ 2.5 and z ~ 4. We do not find a large number of galaxies with β's as red as -1 in our dropout selections at z ~ 4, and particularly at z gsim 5, even though such sources could be readily selected from our data (and also from Balmer Break Galaxy searches at z ~ 4). This suggests that star-forming galaxies at z gsim 5 almost universally have very blue UV-continuum slopes, and that there are not likely to be a substantial number of dust-obscured galaxies at z gsim 5 that are missed in "dropout" searches. Using the same relation between UV-continuum slope and dust extinction as has been found to be appropriate at both z ~ 0 and z ~ 2, we estimate the average dust extinction of galaxies as a function of redshift and UV luminosity in a consistent way. As expected, we find that the estimated dust extinction increases substantially with cosmic time for the most UV luminous galaxies, but remains small (lsim2 times) at all times for lower luminosity galaxies. Because these same lower luminosity galaxies

  9. SARAS 2 Constraints on Global 21 cm Signals from the Epoch of Reionization

    Science.gov (United States)

    Singh, Saurabh; Subrahmanyan, Ravi; Udaya Shankar, N.; Sathyanarayana Rao, Mayuri; Fialkov, Anastasia; Cohen, Aviad; Barkana, Rennan; Girish, B. S.; Raghunathan, A.; Somashekar, R.; Srivani, K. S.

    2018-05-01

    Spectral distortions in the cosmic microwave background over the 40–200 MHz band are imprinted by neutral hydrogen in the intergalactic medium prior to the end of reionization. This signal, produced in the redshift range z = 6–34 at the rest-frame wavelength of 21 cm, has not been detected yet; and a poor understanding of high-redshift astrophysics results in a large uncertainty in the expected spectrum. The SARAS 2 radiometer was purposely designed to detect the sky-averaged 21 cm signal. The instrument, deployed at the Timbaktu Collective (Southern India) in 2017 April–June, collected 63 hr of science data, which were examined for the presence of the cosmological 21 cm signal. In our previous work, the first-light data from the SARAS 2 radiometer were analyzed with Bayesian likelihood-ratio tests using 264 plausible astrophysical scenarios. In this paper we reexamine the data using an improved analysis based on the frequentist approach and forward-modeling. We show that SARAS 2 data reject 20 models, out of which 15 are rejected at a significance >5σ. All the rejected models share the scenario of inefficient heating of the primordial gas by the first population of X-ray sources, along with rapid reionization. Joint Astronomy Program, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560012, India.

  10. Measuring our Universe from Galaxy Redshift Surveys.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lahav, Ofer; Suto, Yasushi

    2004-01-01

    Galaxy redshift surveys have achieved significant progress over the last couple of decades. Those surveys tell us in the most straightforward way what our local Universe looks like. While the galaxy distribution traces the bright side of the Universe, detailed quantitative analyses of the data have even revealed the dark side of the Universe dominated by non-baryonic dark matter as well as more mysterious dark energy (or Einstein's cosmological constant). We describe several methodologies of using galaxy redshift surveys as cosmological probes, and then summarize the recent results from the existing surveys. Finally we present our views on the future of redshift surveys in the era of precision cosmology.

  11. The Evolution of Normal Galaxy X-Ray Emission Through Cosmic History: Constraints from the 6 MS Chandra Deep Field-South

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lehmer, B. D.; Basu-Zych, A. R.; Mineo, S.; Brandt, W. N.; Eurfrasio, R. T.; Fragos, T.; Hornschemeier, A. E.; Lou, B.; Xue, Y. Q.; Bauer, F. E.; hide

    2016-01-01

    We present measurements of the evolution of normal-galaxy X-ray emission from z (is) approx. 0-7 using local galaxies and galaxy samples in the approx. 6 Ms Chandra Deep Field-South (CDF-S) survey. The majority of the CDF-S galaxies are observed at rest-frame energies above 2 keV, where the emission is expected to be dominated by X-ray binary (XRB) populations; however, hot gas is expected to provide small contributions to the observed-frame (is) less than 1 keV emission at z (is) less than 1. We show that a single scaling relation between X-ray luminosity (L(sub x)) and star-formation rate (SFR) literature, is insufficient for characterizing the average X-ray emission at all redshifts. We establish that scaling relations involving not only SFR, but also stellar mass and redshift, provide significantly improved characterizations of the average X-ray emission from normal galaxy populations at z (is) approx. 0-7. We further provide the first empirical constraints on the redshift evolution of X-ray emission from both low-mass XRB (LMXB) and high-mass XRB (HMXB) populations and their scalings with stellar mass and SFR, respectively. We find L2 -10 keV(LMXB)/stellar mass alpha (1+z)(sub 2-3) and L2 -10 keV(HMXB)/SFR alpha (1+z), and show that these relations are consistent with XRB population-synthesis model predictions, which attribute the increase in LMXB and HMXB scaling relations with redshift as being due to declining host galaxy stellar ages and metallicities, respectively. We discuss how emission from XRBs could provide an important source of heating to the intergalactic medium in the early universe, exceeding that of active galactic nuclei.

  12. Jetted tidal disruptions of stars as a flag of intermediate mass black holes at high redshifts

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fialkov, Anastasia; Loeb, Abraham

    2017-11-01

    Tidal disruption events (TDEs) of stars by single or binary supermassive black holes (SMBHs) brighten galactic nuclei and reveal a population of otherwise dormant black holes. Adopting event rates from the literature, we aim to establish general trends in the redshift evolution of the TDE number counts and their observable signals. We pay particular attention to (I) jetted TDEs whose luminosity is boosted by relativistic beaming and (II) TDEs around binary black holes. We show that the brightest (jetted) TDEs are expected to be produced by massive black hole binaries if the occupancy of intermediate mass black holes (IMBHs) in low-mass galaxies is high. The same binary population will also provide gravitational wave sources for the evolved Laser Interferometer Space Antenna. In addition, we find that the shape of the X-ray luminosity function of TDEs strongly depends on the occupancy of IMBHs and could be used to constrain scenarios of SMBH formation. Finally, we make predictions for the expected number of TDEs observed by future X-ray telescopes finding that a 50 times more sensitive instrument than the Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) on board the Swift satellite is expected to trigger ˜10 times more events than BAT, while 6-20 TDEs are expected in each deep field observed by a telescope 50 times more sensitive than the Chandra X-ray Observatory if the occupation fraction of IMBHs is high. Because of their long decay times, high-redshift TDEs can be mistaken for fixed point sources in deep field surveys and targeted observations of the same deep field with year-long intervals could reveal TDEs.

  13. GOODS-HERSCHEL MEASUREMENTS OF THE DUST ATTENUATION OF TYPICAL STAR-FORMING GALAXIES AT HIGH REDSHIFT: OBSERVATIONS OF ULTRAVIOLET-SELECTED GALAXIES AT z {approx} 2

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Reddy, N.; Dickinson, M.; Kartaltepe, J. [National Optical Astronomy Observatory, 950 N Cherry Ave, Tucson, AZ 85719 (United States); Elbaz, D.; Daddi, E.; Magdis, G.; Aussel, H.; Dannerbauer, H.; Dasyra, K.; Hwang, H. S. [Laboratoire AIM-Paris-Saclay, CEA/DSM/Irfu-CNRS-Universite Paris Diderot, CE-Saclay, F-91191, Gif-sur-Yvette (France); Morrison, G. [Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI 96822 (United States); Giavalisco, M. [Astronomy Department, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Amherst, MA 01003 (United States); Ivison, R. [UK Astronomy Technology Centre, Science and Technology Facilities Council, Royal Observatory, Blackford Hill, Edinburgh EH9 3HJ (United Kingdom); Papovich, C. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Texas A and M University, College Station, TX 77845 (United States); Scott, D. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1 (Canada); Buat, V.; Burgarella, D. [Laboratoire d' Astrophysique de Marseille, OAMP, Universite Aix-Marseille, CNRS, 38 Rue Frederic Joliot-Curie, 13388 Marseille Cedex 13 (France); Charmandaris, V. [Department of Physics and Institute of Theoretical and Computational Physics, University of Crete, GR-71003, Heraklion (Greece); Murphy, E. [Spitzer Science Center, MC 314-6, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States); Altieri, B. [Herschel Science Centre, European Space Astronomy Centre, Villanueva de la Canada, 28691 Madrid (Spain); and others

    2012-01-10

    We take advantage of the sensitivity and resolution of the Herschel Space Observatory at 100 and 160 {mu}m to directly image the thermal dust emission and investigate the infrared luminosities (L{sub IR}) and dust obscuration of typical star-forming (L*) galaxies at high redshift. Our sample consists of 146 UV-selected galaxies with spectroscopic redshifts 1.5 {<=} z{sub spec} < 2.6 in the GOODS-North field. Supplemented with deep Very Large Array and Spitzer imaging, we construct median stacks at the positions of these galaxies at 24, 100, and 160 {mu}m, and 1.4 GHz. The comparison between these stacked fluxes and a variety of dust templates and calibrations implies that typical star-forming galaxies with UV luminosities L{sub UV} {approx}> 10{sup 10} L{sub Sun} at z {approx} 2 are luminous infrared galaxies with a median L{sub IR} = (2.2 {+-} 0.3) Multiplication-Sign 10{sup 11} L{sub Sun }. Their median ratio of L{sub IR} to rest-frame 8 {mu}m luminosity (L{sub 8}) is L{sub IR}/L{sub 8} = 8.9 {+-} 1.3 and is Almost-Equal-To 80% larger than that found for most star-forming galaxies at z {approx}< 2. This apparent redshift evolution in the L{sub IR}/L{sub 8} ratio may be tied to the trend of larger infrared luminosity surface density for z {approx}> 2 galaxies relative to those at lower redshift. Typical galaxies at 1.5 {<=} z < 2.6 have a median dust obscuration L{sub IR}/L{sub UV} = 7.1 {+-} 1.1, which corresponds to a dust correction factor, required to recover the bolometric star formation rate (SFR) from the unobscured UV SFR, of 5.2 {+-} 0.6. This result is similar to that inferred from previous investigations of the UV, H{alpha}, 24 {mu}m, radio, and X-ray properties of the same galaxies studied here. Stacking in bins of UV slope ({beta}) implies that L* galaxies with redder spectral slopes are also dustier and that the correlation between {beta} and dustiness is similar to that found for local starburst galaxies. Hence, the rest-frame {approx_equal} 30 and

  14. The effect of morphological type on the spectral redshift of Perseus supercluster galaxies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Giraud, Edmond

    1982-01-01

    The relation between the spectral redshift of galaxies belonging to the Perseus supercluster and their morphological type on the basis of the complete sample given by Gregory et coll. is studied. It is shown that in the central core the Sb and Scd galaxies have a very significant redshift excess and that the Sbc and Sc galaxies have the same highly significant excess as a complete (for m [fr

  15. Globular clusters in high-redshift dwarf galaxies: a case study from the Local Group

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zick, Tom O.; Weisz, Daniel R.; Boylan-Kolchin, Michael

    2018-06-01

    We present the reconstructed evolution of rest-frame ultraviolet (UV) luminosities of the most massive Milky Way dwarf spheroidal satellite galaxy, Fornax, and its five globular clusters (GCs) across redshift, based on analysis of the stellar fossil record and stellar population synthesis modelling. We find that (1) Fornax's (proto-)GCs can generate 10-100 times more UV flux than the field population, despite comprising 3. (3) GC formation can introduce order-of-magnitude errors in abundance matching. We also find that some compact HFF objects are consistent with the reconstructed properties of Fornax's GCs at the same redshifts (e.g. surface brightness, star formation rate), suggesting we may have already detected proto-GCs in the early Universe. Finally, we discuss the prospects for improving the connections between local GCs and proto-GCs detected in the early Universe.

  16. Galaxy clusters in the SDSS Stripe 82 based on photometric redshifts

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Durret, F.; Adami, C.; Bertin, E.; Hao, J.; Márquez, I.

    2015-01-01

    Based on a recent photometric redshift galaxy catalogue, we have searched for galaxy clusters in the Stripe ~82 region of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey by applying the Adami & MAzure Cluster FInder (AMACFI). Extensive tests were made to fine-tune the AMACFI parameters and make the cluster detection as reliable as possible. The same method was applied to the Millennium simulation to estimate our detection efficiency and the approximate masses of the detected clusters. Considering all the cluster galaxies (i.e. within a 1 Mpc radius of the cluster to which they belong and with a photoz differing by less than 0.05 from that of the cluster), we stacked clusters in various redshift bins to derive colour-magnitude diagrams and galaxy luminosity functions (GLFs). For each galaxy with absolute magnitude brighter than -19.0 in the r band, we computed the disk and spheroid components by applying SExtractor, and by stacking clusters we determined how the disk-to-spheroid flux ratio varies with cluster redshift and mass. We also detected 3663 clusters in the redshift range 0.15< z<0.70, with estimated mean masses between 10"1"3 and a few 10"1"4 solar masses. Furthermore, by stacking the cluster galaxies in various redshift bins, we find a clear red sequence in the (g'-r') versus r' colour-magnitude diagrams, and the GLFs are typical of clusters, though with a possible contamination from field galaxies. The morphological analysis of the cluster galaxies shows that the fraction of late-type to early-type galaxies shows an increase with redshift (particularly in high mass clusters) and a decrease with detection level, i.e. cluster mass. From the properties of the cluster galaxies, the majority of the candidate clusters detected here seem to be real clusters with typical cluster properties.

  17. EXTREMELY STRONG CARBON-MONOXIDE EMISSION FROM THE CLOVERLEAF QUASAR AT A REDSHIFT OF 2.5

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    BARVAINIS, R; TACCONI, L; ANTONUCCI, R; ALLOIN, D; COLEMAN, P

    1994-01-01

    GALAXIES at high redshift are very faint and difficult to study at optical and near-infrared wavelengths, but detection of far-infrared emission(1) and molecular gas(2,3) in a galaxy at redshift z approximate to 2.3 has suggested that their early evolution may be investigated by these means instead.

  18. Clustering redshifts: a new window through the Universe

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Scottez, Vivien L.

    2015-01-01

    The main goals of this thesis are to validate, consolidate and develop a new method to measure the redshift distribution of a sample of galaxies. Where current methods - spectroscopic and photometric redshifts - rely on the study of the spectral energy distribution of extragalactic sources, the approach presented here is based on the clustering properties of galaxies. Indeed clustering of galaxies caused by gravity gives them a particular spatial - and angular - distribution. In this clustering redshift approach, we use this particular property between a galaxies sample of unknown redshifts and a galaxies sample of reference to reconstruct the redshift distribution of the unknown population. Thus, possible systematics in this approach should be independent of those existing in other methods. This new method responds to a real need from the scientific community in the context of large dark imaging experiments such as the Euclid mission of the European Space Agency (ESA). After introducing the general scientific context and having highlighted the crucial role of distance measurements in astronomy, I present the statistical tools generally used to study the large scale structure of the Universe as well as their modification to infer redshift distributions. After validating this approach on a particular type of extragalactic objects, I generalized its application to all types of galaxies. Then, I explored the precision and some systematic effects by conducting an ideal case study. Thus, I performed a real case study. I also pushed further this analysis and found that the reference sample used in the measurement does not need to have the same limiting magnitude than the population of unknown redshift. This property is a great advantage for the use of this approach in the context of large imaging dark energy experiments like the Euclid space mission. Finally, I summarize my main results and present some of my future projects. (author)

  19. Measuring our Universe from Galaxy Redshift Surveys

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lahav Ofer

    2004-07-01

    Full Text Available Galaxy redshift surveys have achieved significant progress over the last couple of decades. Those surveys tell us in the most straightforward way what our local Universe looks like. While the galaxy distribution traces the bright side of the Universe, detailed quantitative analyses of the data have even revealed the dark side of the Universe dominated by non-baryonic dark matter as well as more mysterious dark energy (or Einstein's cosmological constant. We describe several methodologies of using galaxy redshift surveys as cosmological probes, and then summarize the recent results from the existing surveys. Finally we present our views on the future of redshift surveys in the era of precision cosmology.

  20. Photometric redshifts of galaxies from SDSS and 2MASS

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wang Tao; Gu Qiusheng; Huang Jiasheng

    2009-01-01

    In order to find the physical parameters which determine the accuracy of photometric redshifts, we compare the spectroscopic and photometric redshifts (photo-z's) for a large sample of ∼ 80000 SDSS-2MASS galaxies. Photo-z's in this paper are estimated by using the artificial neural network photometric redshift method (ANNz). For a subset of ∼40000 randomly selected galaxies, we find that the photometric redshift recovers the spectroscopic redshift distribution very well with rms of 0.016. Our main results are as follows: (1) Using magnitudes directly as input parameters produces more accurate photo-z's than using colors; (2) The inclusion of 2MASS (J, H, K s ) bands does not improve photo-z's significantly, which indicates that near infrared data might not be important for the low-redshift sample; (3) Adding the concentration index (essentially the steepness of the galaxy brightness profile) as an extra input can improve the photo-z's estimation up to ∼ 10 percent; (4) Dividing the sample into early- and late-type galaxies by using the concentration index, normal and abnormal galaxies by using the emission line flux ratios, and red and blue galaxies by using color index (g - r), we can improve the accuracy of photo-z's significantly; (5) Our analysis shows that the outliers (where there is a big difference between the spectroscopic and photometric redshifts) are mainly correlated with galaxy types, e.g., most outliers are late-type (blue) galaxies.

  1. Efficacy of high iodine concentration contrast medium with saline pushing in hepatic CT in patients with chronic liver disease. Comparison of high doses-standard contrast medium concentration

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Matoba, Munetaka; Kondo, Tamaki; Nishikawa, Takahiro; Kuginuki, Yasuaki; Yokota, Hajime; Higashi, Kotaro; Tonami, Hisao

    2006-01-01

    The aim of this study was to compare the enhancement of liver parenchyama with high iodine concentration contrast medium with saline pushing to that with high doses standard iodine concentration in hepatic CT in patients with chronic liver disease. There was no statistically significant difference regarding to the enhancement of liver parenchyama between the 370 mgI/ml of contrast medium with saline pushing and high doses standard iodine concentration contrast medium. (author)

  2. GOODS-HERSCHEL: IMPACT OF ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI AND STAR FORMATION ACTIVITY ON INFRARED SPECTRAL ENERGY DISTRIBUTIONS AT HIGH REDSHIFT

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kirkpatrick, Allison; Pope, Alexandra [Department of Astronomy, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01002 (United States); Alexander, David M. [Department of Physics, Durham University, Durham DH1 3LE (United Kingdom); Charmandaris, Vassilis [Department of Physics and Institute of Theoretical and Computational Physics, University of Crete, GR-71003, Heraklion (Greece); Daddi, Emmanuele; Elbaz, David; Gabor, Jared; Mullaney, James; Pannella, Maurilio; Aussel, Herve; Bournaud, Frederic; Dasyra, Kalliopi [Laboratoire AIM, CEA/DSM-CNRS-Universite Paris Diderot, Irfu/SAp, Orme des Merisiers, F-91191 Gif-sur-Yvette (France); Dickinson, Mark [National Optical Astronomy Observatory, 950 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85719 (United States); Hwang, Ho Seong [Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States); Ivison, Rob [UK Astronomy Technology Centre, Royal Observatory, Blackford Hill, Edinburgh, EH9 3HJ (United Kingdom); Scott, Douglas [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of British Columbia, 6224 Agricultural Road, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1 (Canada); Altieri, Bruno; Coia, Daniela [Herschel Science Centre, European Space Astronomy Centre, Villanueva de la Canada, E-28691 Madrid (Spain); Buat, Veronique [Laboratoire d' Astrophysique de Marseille (LAM), Universite d' Aix-Marseille, CNRS, UMR7326, 38 rue F. Joliot-Curie, F-13388 Marseille Cedex 13 (France); Dannerbauer, Helmut, E-mail: kirkpatr@astro.umass.edu [Institut fuer Astrophysik, Universitaet Wien, Tuerkenschanzstrasse 17, A-1180 Wien (Austria); and others

    2012-11-10

    We explore the effects of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) and star formation activity on the infrared (0.3-1000 {mu}m) spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of luminous infrared galaxies from z = 0.5 to 4.0. We have compiled a large sample of 151 galaxies selected at 24 {mu}m (S {sub 24} {approx}> 100 {mu}Jy) in the GOODS-N and ECDFS fields for which we have deep Spitzer IRS spectroscopy, allowing us to decompose the mid-IR spectrum into contributions from star formation and AGN activity. A significant portion ({approx}25%) of our sample is dominated by an AGN (>50% of the mid-IR luminosity) in the mid-IR. Based on the mid-IR classification, we divide our full sample into four sub-samples: z {approx} 1 star-forming (SF) sources, z {approx} 2 SF sources, AGNs with clear 9.7 {mu}m silicate absorption, and AGNs with featureless mid-IR spectra. From our large spectroscopic sample and wealth of multi-wavelength data, including deep Herschel imaging at 100, 160, 250, 350, and 500 {mu}m, we use 95 galaxies with complete spectral coverage to create a composite SED for each sub-sample. We then fit a two-temperature component modified blackbody to the SEDs. We find that the IR SEDs have similar cold dust temperatures, regardless of the mid-IR power source, but display a marked difference in the warmer dust temperatures. We calculate the average effective temperature of the dust in each sub-sample and find a significant ({approx}20 K) difference between the SF and AGN systems. We compare our composite SEDs to local templates and find that local templates do not accurately reproduce the mid-IR features and dust temperatures of our high-redshift systems. High-redshift IR luminous galaxies contain significantly more cool dust than their local counterparts. We find that a full suite of photometry spanning the IR peak is necessary to accurately account for the dominant dust temperature components in high-redshift IR luminous galaxies.

  3. High-harmonic generation in a dense medium

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Strelkov, V.V.; Platonenko, V.T.; Becker, A.

    2005-01-01

    The high-harmonic generation in a plasma or gas under conditions when the single-atom response is affected by neighboring ions or atoms of the medium is studied theoretically. We solve numerically the three-dimensional Schroedinger equation for a single-electron atom in the combined fields of the neighboring particles and the laser, and average the results over different random positions of the particles using the Monte Carlo method. Harmonic spectra are calculated for different medium densities and laser intensities. We observe a change of the harmonic properties due to a random variation of the harmonic phase induced by the field of the medium, when the medium density exceeds a certain transition density. The transition density is found to depend on the harmonic order, but it is almost independent of the fundamental intensity. It also differs for the two (shorter and longer) quantum paths. The latter effect leads for ionic densities in the transition regime to a narrowing of the harmonic lines and a shortening of the attosecond pulses generated using a group of harmonics

  4. zBEAMS: a unified solution for supernova cosmology with redshift uncertainties

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Roberts, Ethan; Lochner, Michelle; Bassett, Bruce A.; Lablanche, Pierre-Yves; Agarwal, Shankar; Fonseca, José

    2017-01-01

    Supernova cosmology without spectra will be an important component of future surveys such as LSST. This lack of supernova spectra results in uncertainty in the redshifts which, if ignored, leads to significantly biased estimates of cosmological parameters. Here we present a hierarchical Bayesian formalism— zBEAMS—that addresses this problem by marginalising over the unknown or uncertain supernova redshifts to produce unbiased cosmological estimates that are competitive with supernova data with spectroscopically confirmed redshifts. zBEAMS provides a unified treatment of both photometric redshifts and host galaxy misidentification (occurring due to chance galaxy alignments or faint hosts), effectively correcting the inevitable contamination in the Hubble diagram. Like its predecessor BEAMS, our formalism also takes care of non-Ia supernova contamination by marginalising over the unknown supernova type. We illustrate this technique with simulations of supernovae with photometric redshifts and host galaxy misidentification. A novel feature of the photometric redshift case is the important role played by the redshift distribution of the supernovae.

  5. zBEAMS: a unified solution for supernova cosmology with redshift uncertainties

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Roberts, Ethan; Lochner, Michelle; Bassett, Bruce A.; Lablanche, Pierre-Yves; Agarwal, Shankar [African Institute for Mathematical Sciences, 6 Melrose Road, Muizenberg, 7945, Cape Town (South Africa); Fonseca, José, E-mail: rbreth001@myuct.ac.za, E-mail: michelle@aims.ac.za, E-mail: jfonseca@uwc.ac.za, E-mail: bruce.a.bassett@gmail.com, E-mail: plablanche@aims.ac.za, E-mail: agarwalshankar@aims.ac.za [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of the Western Cape, Cape Town 7535 (South Africa)

    2017-10-01

    Supernova cosmology without spectra will be an important component of future surveys such as LSST. This lack of supernova spectra results in uncertainty in the redshifts which, if ignored, leads to significantly biased estimates of cosmological parameters. Here we present a hierarchical Bayesian formalism— zBEAMS—that addresses this problem by marginalising over the unknown or uncertain supernova redshifts to produce unbiased cosmological estimates that are competitive with supernova data with spectroscopically confirmed redshifts. zBEAMS provides a unified treatment of both photometric redshifts and host galaxy misidentification (occurring due to chance galaxy alignments or faint hosts), effectively correcting the inevitable contamination in the Hubble diagram. Like its predecessor BEAMS, our formalism also takes care of non-Ia supernova contamination by marginalising over the unknown supernova type. We illustrate this technique with simulations of supernovae with photometric redshifts and host galaxy misidentification. A novel feature of the photometric redshift case is the important role played by the redshift distribution of the supernovae.

  6. WHAT IS THE REDSHIFT OF THE GAMMA-RAY BL LAC SOURCE S4 0954+65?

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Landoni, M. [INAF—Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica, Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera, Via E. Bianchi 46, I-23807 Merate (Italy); Falomo, R. [INAF—Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica, Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, Vicolo dell’Osservatorio 5, I-35122 Padova (Italy); Treves, A. [Universita’ degli Studi dell’Insubria, Via Valleggio 11, I-22100 (Italy); Scarpa, R.; Payá, D. Reverte, E-mail: marco.landoni@brera.inaf.it [Instituto de Astrofsica de Canarias, C/O Via Lactea, s/n E38205—La Laguna (Tenerife) (Spain)

    2015-12-15

    High signal-to-noise ratio spectroscopic observations of the BL Lac object S4 0954+65 at the alleged redshift z = 0.367 are presented. This source was detected at gamma frequencies by the MAGIC (TeV) and FERMI (GeV) telescopes during a remarkable outburst that occurred in 2015 February, making the determination of its distance particularly relevant for our understanding of the properties of the extragalactic background light. Contrary to previous reports on the redshift, we found that the optical spectrum is featureless at an equivalent width limit of ∼0.1 Å. A critical analysis of the existing observations indicates that the redshift is still unknown. Based on the new data we estimate a lower limit to the redshift at z ≥ 0.45.

  7. Identifications and Photometric Redshifts of the 2 Ms Chandra Deep Field-South Sources

    Science.gov (United States)

    Luo, B.; Brandt, W. N.; Xue, Y. Q.; Brusa, M.; Alexander, D. M.; Bauer, F. E.; Comastri, A.; Koekemoer, A.; Lehmer, B. D.; Mainieri, V.; Rafferty, D. A.; Schneider, D. P.; Silverman, J. D.; Vignali, C.

    2010-04-01

    We present reliable multiwavelength identifications and high-quality photometric redshifts for the 462 X-ray sources in the ≈2 Ms Chandra Deep Field-South (CDF-S) survey. Source identifications are carried out using deep optical-to-radio multiwavelength catalogs, and are then combined to create lists of primary and secondary counterparts for the X-ray sources. We identified reliable counterparts for 442 (95.7%) of the X-ray sources, with an expected false-match probability of ≈ 6.2%; we also selected four additional likely counterparts. The majority of the other 16 X-ray sources appear to be off-nuclear sources, sources associated with galaxy groups and clusters, high-redshift active galactic nuclei (AGNs), or spurious X-ray sources. A likelihood-ratio method is used for source matching, which effectively reduces the false-match probability at faint magnitudes compared to a simple error-circle matching method. We construct a master photometric catalog for the identified X-ray sources including up to 42 bands of UV-to-infrared data, and then calculate their photometric redshifts (photo-z's). High accuracy in the derived photo-z's is accomplished owing to (1) the up-to-date photometric data covering the full spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of the X-ray sources, (2) more accurate photometric data as a result of source deblending for ≈10% of the sources in the infrared bands and a few percent in the optical and near-infrared bands, (3) a set of 265 galaxy, AGN, and galaxy/AGN hybrid templates carefully constructed to best represent all possible SEDs, (4) the Zurich Extragalactic Bayesian Redshift Analyzer used to derive the photo-z's, which corrects the SED templates to best represent the SEDs of real sources at different redshifts and thus improves the photo-z quality. The reliability of the photo-z's is evaluated using the subsample of 220 sources with secure spectroscopic redshifts. We achieve an accuracy of |Δz|/(1 + z) ≈ 1% and an outlier [with |

  8. New redshifts of bright galaxies. III

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    de Vaucouleurs, G.; de Vaucouleurs, A.; Nieto, J.

    1979-01-01

    Redshifts of 196 bright galaxies, and 2 QSO's are derived from 246 spectrograms obtained from 1972 to 1977 with the Galaxy meter's two-state image tube grism spectrograph attached at the Cassegrain focus of the McDonald Observatory Struve reflector. The reciprocal dispersion in 335 A/mm at Hα and the wavelength range lambdalambda 4500--8000 A. The galaxy redshifts are in the range -28 -1 , but few exceed 5,000 km s -1 . The internal mean errors of the weighted mean velocities range from 22 to 140 km s -1 . Comparisons with other systems of redshifts, particularly the RC2, 21-cm and Sandage systems, indicate a mean systematic error of -35 +- 16 km s -1 , but it is probably variable with V. The external mean error is sigma*=90 km s -1 for velocities V -1 having a mean weight =4.0

  9. A New Diagnostic Diagram of Ionization Sources for High-redshift Emission Line Galaxies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Kai; Hao, Lei

    2018-04-01

    We propose a new diagram, the kinematics–excitation (KEx) diagram, which uses the [O III] λ5007/Hβ line ratio and the [O III] λ5007 emission line width (σ [O III]) to diagnose the ionization source and physical properties of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) and star-forming galaxies (SFGs). The KEx diagram is a suitable tool to classify emission line galaxies at intermediate redshift because it uses only the [O III] λ5007 and Hβ emission lines. We use the main galaxy sample of SDSS DR7 and the Baldwin‑Phillips‑Terlevich (BPT) diagnostic to calibrate the diagram at low redshift. The diagram can be divided into three regions: the KEx-AGN region, which consists mainly of pure AGNs, the KEx-composite region, which is dominated by composite galaxies, and the KEx-SFG region, which contains mostly SFGs. LINERs strongly overlap with the composite and AGN regions. AGNs are separated from SFGs in this diagram mainly because they preferentially reside in luminous and massive galaxies and have higher [O III]/Hβ than SFGs. The separation between AGNs and SFGs is even cleaner thanks to the additional 0.15/0.12 dex offset in σ [O III] at fixed luminosity/stellar mass. We apply the KEx diagram to 7866 galaxies at 0.3 Survey, and compare it to an independent X-ray classification scheme using Chandra observations. X-ray AGNs are mostly located in the KEx-AGN region, while X-ray SFGs are mostly located in the KEx-SFG region. Almost all Type 1 AGNs lie in the KEx-AGN region. These tests support the reliability of this classification diagram for emission line galaxies at intermediate redshift. At z ∼ 2, the demarcation line between SFGs and AGNs is shifted by ∼0.3 dex toward higher values of σ [O III] due to evolution effects.

  10. First Detections of the [N II] 122 micron Line at High Redshift: Demonstrating the Utility of the Line for Studying Galaxies in the Early Universe

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ferkinhoff, Carl; Brisbin, Drew; Nikola, Thomas; Parshley, Stephen C.; Stacey, Gordon J.; Phillips, Thomas G.; Falgarone, Edith; Benford, Dominic J.; Staguhn, Johannes G.; Tucker, Carol E.

    2011-01-01

    We report the first detections of the [N II] 122 micron line from a high-redshift galaxy. The line was strongly (>6(sigma)) detected from SMMJ02399-0136, and H1413 + 117 (the Cloverleaf QSO) using the Redshift (zeta) and Early Universe Spectrometer on the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory. The lines from both sources are quite bright with line to far-infrared (FIR) continuum luminosity ratios that are approx.7.0 x 10(exp -4) (Cloverleaf) and 2.1 x 10(exo -3) (SMMJ02399). With ratios 2-10 times larger than the average value for nearby galaxies, neither source exhibits the line to continuum deficits seen in nearby sources. The line strengths also indicate large ionized gas fractions, approx.8%-17% of the molecUlar gas mass. The [O III]/[N II] line ratio is very sensitive to the effective temperature of ionizing stars and the ionization parameter for emission arising in the narrow-line region (NLR) of an active galactic nucleus (AGN). Using Our previous detection of the [O III] 88 micron line, the [O III]/[N II]line ratio for SMMJ02399-0136 indicates that the dominant source of the line emission is either stellar H II regions ionized by O9.5 stars, or the NLR of the AGN with ionization parameter log(U) = -3.3 to -4.0. A composite system, where 30%-50% of the FIR lines arise in the NLR also matches the data. The Cloverleaf is best modeled by a superposition of approx.200 M82-like starbursts accounting for all of the FIR emission and 43% of the [N II]line. The remainder may come from the NLR. This war!< demonstrates the utility of the [N II] and [O III] lines in constraining properties of the ionized medium.

  11. Using quasars as standard clocks for measuring cosmological redshift.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dai, De-Chang; Starkman, Glenn D; Stojkovic, Branislav; Stojkovic, Dejan; Weltman, Amanda

    2012-06-08

    We report hitherto unnoticed patterns in quasar light curves. We characterize segments of the quasar's light curves with the slopes of the straight lines fit through them. These slopes appear to be directly related to the quasars' redshifts. Alternatively, using only global shifts in time and flux, we are able to find significant overlaps between the light curves of different pairs of quasars by fitting the ratio of their redshifts. We are then able to reliably determine the redshift of one quasar from another. This implies that one can use quasars as standard clocks, as we explicitly demonstrate by constructing two independent methods of finding the redshift of a quasar from its light curve.

  12. RX J1759.4+6638: An x-ray selected quasars at a redshift of 4.320

    Science.gov (United States)

    Henry, J. P.; Gioia, I. M.; Boehringer, H.; Bower, R. G.; Briel, U. G.; Hasinger, G. H.; Aragon-Salamanca, A.; Castander, F. J.; Ellis, R. S.; Huchra, J. P.

    1994-01-01

    We report the discovery of an x-ray selected Quasi-Stellar Objects (QSO) at a redshift of 4.320 +/- 0.005. This is the most distant x-ray selected object known, and it is the eighth most distant QSO known. The properties of this QSO are very similar to other QSOs at redshifts greater than 4. The x-ray discovery of this object, and that of high redshift clusters of galaxies, shows that present x-ray surveys are reaching depths competitive with other methods.

  13. The need for accurate redshifts in supernova cosmology

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Calcino, Josh; Davis, Tamara, E-mail: j.calcino@uq.edu.au, E-mail: tamarad@physics.uq.edu.au [The School of Mathematics and Physics, University of Queensland, Cooper Road, Brisbane (Australia)

    2017-01-01

    Recent papers have shown that a small systematic redshift shift (Δ z ∼ 10{sup −5}) in measurements of type Ia supernovae can cause a significant bias (∼1%) in the recovery of cosmological parameters. Such a redshift shift could be caused, for example, by a gravitational redshift due to the density of our local environment. The sensitivity of supernova data to redshift shifts means supernovae make excellent probes of inhomogeneities. We therefore invert the analysis, and try to diagnose the nature of our local gravitational environment by fitting for Δ z as an extra free parameter alongside the usual cosmological parameters. Using the Joint Light-curve SN Ia dataset we find the best fit includes a systematic redshift shift of Δ z = (2.6{sup +2.7}{sub −2.8}) × 10{sup −4}. This is a larger shift than would be expected due to gravitational redshifts in a standard Λ-Cold Dark Matter universe (though still consistent with zero), and would correspond to a monopole Doppler shift of about 100 km s{sup −1} moving away from the Milky-Way. However, since most supernova measurements are made to a redshift precision of no better than 10{sup −3}, it is possible that a systematic error smaller than the statistical error remains in the data and is responsible for the shift; or that it is an insignificant statistical fluctuation. We find that when Δ z is included as a free parameter while fitting to the JLA SN Ia data, the constraints on the matter density shifts to Ω {sub m} = 0.313{sup +0.042}{sub −0.040}, bringing it into better agreement with the CMB cosmological parameter constraints from Planck. A positive Δ z ∼ 2.6×10{sup −4} would also cause us to overestimate the supernova measurement of Hubble's constant by Δ H {sub 0} ∼ 1 kms{sup −1}Mpc{sup −1}. However this overestimation should diminish as one increases the low-redshift cutoff, and this is not seen in the most recent data.

  14. A perturbative approach to the redshift space correlation function: beyond the Standard Model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bose, Benjamin; Koyama, Kazuya

    2017-08-01

    We extend our previous redshift space power spectrum code to the redshift space correlation function. Here we focus on the Gaussian Streaming Model (GSM). Again, the code accommodates a wide range of modified gravity and dark energy models. For the non-linear real space correlation function used in the GSM we use the Fourier transform of the RegPT 1-loop matter power spectrum. We compare predictions of the GSM for a Vainshtein screened and Chameleon screened model as well as GR. These predictions are compared to the Fourier transform of the Taruya, Nishimichi and Saito (TNS) redshift space power spectrum model which is fit to N-body data. We find very good agreement between the Fourier transform of the TNS model and the GSM predictions, with <= 6% deviations in the first two correlation function multipoles for all models for redshift space separations in 50Mpch <= s <= 180Mpc/h. Excellent agreement is found in the differences between the modified gravity and GR multipole predictions for both approaches to the redshift space correlation function, highlighting their matched ability in picking up deviations from GR. We elucidate the timeliness of such non-standard templates at the dawn of stage-IV surveys and discuss necessary preparations and extensions needed for upcoming high quality data.

  15. The light up and early evolution of high redshift Supermassive Black Holes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Comastri, Andrea; Brusa, Marcella; Aird, James; Lanzuisi, Giorgio

    2016-07-01

    The known AGN population at z > 6 is made by luminous optical QSO hosting Supermassive Black Holes (M > 10 ^{9}solar masses), likely to represent the tip of the iceberg of the luminosity and mass function. According to theoretical models for structure formation, Massive Black Holes (M _{BH} 10^{4-7} solar masses) are predicted to be abundant in the early Universe (z > 6). The majority of these lower luminosity objects are expected to be obscured and severely underepresented in current optical near-infrared surveys. The detection of such a population would provide unique constraints on the Massive Black Holes formation mechanism and subsequent growth and is within the capabilities of deep and large area ATHENA surveys. After a summary of the state of the art of present deep XMM and Chandra surveys, at z >3-6 also mentioning the expectations for the forthcoming eROSITA all sky survey; I will present the observational strategy of future multi-cone ATHENA Wide Field Imager (WFI) surveys and the expected breakthroughs in the determination of the luminosity function and its evolution at high (> 4) and very high (>6) redshifts.

  16. Luminosity and Redshift dependence of quasar spectral properties

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Daniel E. Vanden Berk et al.

    2004-03-09

    Using a large sample of quasar spectra from the SDSS, we examine the composite spectral trends of quasars as functions of both redshift and luminosity, independently of one another. Aside from the well known Baldwin effect (BE)--the decrease of line equivalent width with luminosity--the average spectral properties are remarkably similar. Host galaxy contamination and the BE are the primary causes for apparent changes in the average spectral slope of the quasars. The BE is detected for most emission lines, including the Balmer lines, but with several exceptions including NV1240A. Emission line shifts of several lines are associated with the BE. The BE is mainly a function of luminosity, but also partly a function of redshift in that line equivalent widths become stronger with redshift. Some of the complex iron features change with redshift, particularly near the small blue bump region.

  17. THE CIRCUMGALACTIC MEDIUM OF SUBMILLIMETER GALAXIES. I. FIRST RESULTS FROM A RADIO-IDENTIFIED SAMPLE

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fu, Hai; Mutel, R.; Isbell, J.; Lang, C.; McGinnis, D. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242 (United States); Hennawi, J. F. [Max-Planck-Institut fur Astronomie, Heidelberg (Germany); Prochaska, J. X. [Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, UCO/Lick Observatory, University of California, 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95064 (United States); Casey, C. [Department of Astronomy, the University of Texas at Austin, 2515 Speedway Blvd, Stop C1400, Austin, TX 78712 (United States); Cooray, A. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697 (United States); Kereš, D. [Department of Physics, Center for Astrophysics and Space Sciences, University of California at San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093 (United States); Zhang, Z.-Y.; Michałowski, M. J. [Institute for Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, Royal Observatory, Blackford Hill, Edinburgh EH9 3HJ (United Kingdom); Clements, D. [Astrophysics Group, Imperial College London, Blackett Laboratory, Prince Consort Road, London SW7 2AZ (United Kingdom); Mooley, K. [Oxford Centre For Astrophysical Surveys, Denys Wilkinson Building, Keble Road, Oxford OX1 3RH (United States); Perley, D. [Dark Cosmology Centre, Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Juliane Maries Vej 30, DK-2100 København Ø (Denmark); Stockton, A. [Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii, 2680 Woodlawn Drive, Honolulu, HI 96822 (United States); Thompson, D. [Large Binocular Telescope Observatory, University of Arizona, 933 N. Cherry Ave, Tucson, AZ 85721 (United States)

    2016-11-20

    We present the first results from an ongoing survey to characterize the circumgalactic medium (CGM) of massive high-redshift galaxies detected as submillimeter galaxies (SMGs). We constructed a parent sample of 163 SMG–QSO pairs with separations less than ∼36″ by cross-matching far-infrared-selected galaxies from Herschel with spectroscopically confirmed QSOs. The Herschel sources were selected to match the properties of the SMGs. We determined the sub-arcsecond positions of six Herschel sources with the Very Large Array and obtained secure redshift identification for three of those with near-infrared spectroscopy. The QSO sightlines probe transverse proper distances of 112, 157, and 198 kpc at foreground redshifts of 2.043, 2.515, and 2.184, respectively, which are comparable to the virial radius of the ∼10{sup 13} M {sub ⊙} halos expected to host SMGs. High-quality absorption-line spectroscopy of the QSOs reveals systematically strong H i Ly α absorption around all three SMGs, with rest-frame equivalent widths of ∼2–3 Å. However, none of the three absorbers exhibit compelling evidence for optically thick H i gas or metal absorption, in contrast to the dominance of strong neutral absorbers in the CGM of luminous z ∼ 2 QSOs. The low covering factor of optically thick H i gas around SMGs tentatively indicates that SMGs may not have as prominent cool gas reservoirs in their halos as the coeval QSOs and that they may inhabit less massive halos than previously thought.

  18. The Complete Calibration of the Color–Redshift Relation (C3R2) Survey: Survey Overview and Data Release 1

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Masters, Daniel C. [Infrared Processing and Analysis Center, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States); Stern, Daniel K.; Rhodes, Jason D. [Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109 (United States); Cohen, Judith G. [California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States); Capak, Peter L. [Spitzer Science Center, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States); Castander, Francisco J. [Institut de Ciències de lEspai (ICE, IEEC/CSIC), E-08193 Bellaterra (Barcelona) (Spain); Paltani, Stéphane [Department of Astronomy, University of Geneva, Ch. dEcogia 16, 1290 Versoix (Switzerland)

    2017-06-01

    A key goal of the Stage IV dark energy experiments Euclid , LSST, and WFIRST is to measure the growth of structure with cosmic time from weak lensing analysis over large regions of the sky. Weak lensing cosmology will be challenging: in addition to highly accurate galaxy shape measurements, statistically robust and accurate photometric redshift (photo- z ) estimates for billions of faint galaxies will be needed in order to reconstruct the three-dimensional matter distribution. Here we present an overview of and initial results from the Complete Calibration of the Color–Redshift Relation (C3R2) survey, which is designed specifically to calibrate the empirical galaxy color–redshift relation to the Euclid depth. These redshifts will also be important for the calibrations of LSST and WFIRST . The C3R2 survey is obtaining multiplexed observations with Keck (DEIMOS, LRIS, and MOSFIRE), the Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC; OSIRIS), and the Very Large Telescope (VLT; FORS2 and KMOS) of a targeted sample of galaxies that are most important for the redshift calibration. We focus spectroscopic efforts on undersampled regions of galaxy color space identified in previous work in order to minimize the number of spectroscopic redshifts needed to map the color–redshift relation to the required accuracy. We present the C3R2 survey strategy and initial results, including the 1283 high-confidence redshifts obtained in the 2016A semester and released as Data Release 1.

  19. The Complete Calibration of the Color–Redshift Relation (C3R2) Survey: Survey Overview and Data Release 1

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Masters, Daniel C.; Stern, Daniel K.; Rhodes, Jason D.; Cohen, Judith G.; Capak, Peter L.; Castander, Francisco J.; Paltani, Stéphane

    2017-01-01

    A key goal of the Stage IV dark energy experiments Euclid , LSST, and WFIRST is to measure the growth of structure with cosmic time from weak lensing analysis over large regions of the sky. Weak lensing cosmology will be challenging: in addition to highly accurate galaxy shape measurements, statistically robust and accurate photometric redshift (photo- z ) estimates for billions of faint galaxies will be needed in order to reconstruct the three-dimensional matter distribution. Here we present an overview of and initial results from the Complete Calibration of the Color–Redshift Relation (C3R2) survey, which is designed specifically to calibrate the empirical galaxy color–redshift relation to the Euclid depth. These redshifts will also be important for the calibrations of LSST and WFIRST . The C3R2 survey is obtaining multiplexed observations with Keck (DEIMOS, LRIS, and MOSFIRE), the Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC; OSIRIS), and the Very Large Telescope (VLT; FORS2 and KMOS) of a targeted sample of galaxies that are most important for the redshift calibration. We focus spectroscopic efforts on undersampled regions of galaxy color space identified in previous work in order to minimize the number of spectroscopic redshifts needed to map the color–redshift relation to the required accuracy. We present the C3R2 survey strategy and initial results, including the 1283 high-confidence redshifts obtained in the 2016A semester and released as Data Release 1.

  20. INTERSTELLAR SCINTILLATION AND THE RADIO COUNTERPART OF THE FAST RADIO BURST FRB 150418

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Akiyama, Kazunori [Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Haystack Observatory, Route 40, Westford, MA 01886 (United States); Johnson, Michael D., E-mail: kazu@haystack.mit.edu [Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States)

    2016-06-10

    Keane et al. have recently reported the discovery of a new fast radio burst (FRB), FRB 150418, with a promising radio counterpart at 5.5 and 7.5 GHz—a rapidly decaying source, falling from 200–300 μ Jy to 100 μ Jy on timescales of ∼6 days. This transient source may be associated with an elliptical galaxy at redshift z = 0.492, providing the first firm spectroscopic redshift for an FRB and the ability to estimate the density of baryons in the intergalactic medium via the combination of known redshift and radio dispersion of the FRB. An alternative explanation, first suggested by Williams and Berger, is that the identified counterpart may instead be a compact active galactic nucleus (AGN). The putative counterpart’s variation may then instead be extrinsic, caused by refractive scintillation in the ionized interstellar medium of the Milky Way, which would invalidate the association with FRB 150418. We examine this latter explanation in detail and show that the reported observations are consistent with scintillating radio emission from the core of a radio-loud AGN having a brightness temperature T {sub b} ≳ 10{sup 9} K. Using numerical simulations of the expected scattering for the line of sight to FRB 150418, we provide example images and light curves of such an AGN at 5.5 and 7.5 GHz. These results can be compared with continued radio monitoring to conclusively determine the importance of scintillation for the observed radio variability, and they show that scintillation is a critical consideration for continued searches for FRB counterparts at radio wavelengths.

  1. Transverse and Longitudinal proximity effect

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jalan, Pryianka; Chand, Hum; Srianand, Raghunathan

    2018-04-01

    With close pairs (˜1.5arcmin) of quasars (QSOs), absorption in the spectra of a background quasar in the vicinity of a foreground quasar can be used to study the environment of the latter quasar at kpc-Mpc scales. For this we used a sample of 205 quasar pairs from the Sloan Digital Sky-Survey Data Release 12 (SDSS DR12) in the redshift range of 2.5 to 3.5 by studying their H I Ly-α absorption. We study the environment of QSOs both in the longitudinal as well as in the transverse direction by carrying out a statistical comparison of the Ly-α absorption lines in the quasar vicinity to that of the absorption lines caused by the inter-galactic medium (IGM). This comparison was done with IGM, matched in absorption redshift and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) to that of the proximity region. In contrast to the measurements along the line-of-sight, the regions transverse to the quasars exhibit enhanced H I Ly-α absorption. This discrepancy can either be interpreted as due to an anisotropic emission from the quasars or as a consequence of their finite lifetime.

  2. A small-scale dynamo in feedback-dominated galaxies - III. Cosmological simulations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rieder, Michael; Teyssier, Romain

    2017-12-01

    Magnetic fields are widely observed in the Universe in virtually all astrophysical objects, from individual stars to entire galaxies, even in the intergalactic medium, but their specific genesis has long been debated. Due to the development of more realistic models of galaxy formation, viable scenarios are emerging to explain cosmic magnetism, thanks to both deeper observations and more efficient and accurate computer simulations. We present here a new cosmological high-resolution zoom-in magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulation, using the adaptive mesh refinement technique, of a dwarf galaxy with an initially weak and uniform magnetic seed field that is amplified by a small-scale dynamo (SSD) driven by supernova-induced turbulence. As first structures form from the gravitational collapse of small density fluctuations, the frozen-in magnetic field separates from the cosmic expansion and grows through compression. In a second step, star formation sets in and establishes a strong galactic fountain, self-regulated by supernova explosions. Inside the galaxy, the interstellar medium becomes highly turbulent, dominated by strong supersonic shocks, as demonstrated by the spectral analysis of the gas kinetic energy. In this turbulent environment, the magnetic field is quickly amplified via a SSD process and is finally carried out into the circumgalactic medium by a galactic wind. This realistic cosmological simulation explains how initially weak magnetic seed fields can be amplified quickly in early, feedback-dominated galaxies, and predicts, as a consequence of the SSD process, that high-redshift magnetic fields are likely to be dominated by their small-scale components.

  3. A large neutral fraction of cosmic hydrogen a billion years after the Big Bang.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wyithe, J Stuart B; Loeb, Abraham

    2004-02-26

    The fraction of ionized hydrogen left over from the Big Bang provides evidence for the time of formation of the first stars and quasar black holes in the early Universe; such objects provide the high-energy photons necessary to ionize hydrogen. Spectra of the two most distant known quasars show nearly complete absorption of photons with wavelengths shorter than the Lyman alpha transition of neutral hydrogen, indicating that hydrogen in the intergalactic medium (IGM) had not been completely ionized at a redshift of z approximately 6.3, about one billion years after the Big Bang. Here we show that the IGM surrounding these quasars had a neutral hydrogen fraction of tens of per cent before the quasar activity started, much higher than the previous lower limits of approximately 0.1 per cent. Our results, when combined with the recent inference of a large cumulative optical depth to electron scattering after cosmological recombination therefore suggest the presence of a second peak in the mean ionization history of the Universe.

  4. Metallicity gradient of the thick disc progenitor at high redshift

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kawata, Daisuke; Allende Prieto, Carlos; Brook, Chris B.; Casagrande, Luca; Ciucă, Ioana; Gibson, Brad K.; Grand, Robert J. J.; Hayden, Michael R.; Hunt, Jason A. S.

    2018-01-01

    We have developed a novel Markov Chain Monte Carlo chemical 'painting' technique to explore possible radial and vertical metallicity gradients for the thick disc progenitor. In our analysis, we match an N-body simulation to the data from the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment survey. We assume that the thick disc has a constant scaleheight and has completed its formation at an early epoch, after which time radial mixing of its stars has taken place. Under these assumptions, we find that the initial radial metallicity gradient of the thick disc progenitor should not be negative, but either flat or even positive, to explain the current negative vertical metallicity gradient of the thick disc. Our study suggests that the thick disc was built-up in an inside-out and upside-down fashion, and older, smaller and thicker populations are more metal poor. In this case, star-forming discs at different epochs of the thick disc formation are allowed to have different radial metallicity gradients, including a negative one, which helps to explain a variety of slopes observed in high-redshift disc galaxies. This scenario helps to explain the positive slope of the metallicity-rotation velocity relation observed for the Galactic thick disc. On the other hand, radial mixing flattens the slope of an existing gradient.

  5. ArborZ: PHOTOMETRIC REDSHIFTS USING BOOSTED DECISION TREES

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gerdes, David W.; Sypniewski, Adam J.; McKay, Timothy A.; Hao, Jiangang; Weis, Matthew R.; Wechsler, Risa H.; Busha, Michael T.

    2010-01-01

    Precision photometric redshifts will be essential for extracting cosmological parameters from the next generation of wide-area imaging surveys. In this paper, we introduce a photometric redshift algorithm, ArborZ, based on the machine-learning technique of boosted decision trees. We study the algorithm using galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and from mock catalogs intended to simulate both the SDSS and the upcoming Dark Energy Survey. We show that it improves upon the performance of existing algorithms. Moreover, the method naturally leads to the reconstruction of a full probability density function (PDF) for the photometric redshift of each galaxy, not merely a single 'best estimate' and error, and also provides a photo-z quality figure of merit for each galaxy that can be used to reject outliers. We show that the stacked PDFs yield a more accurate reconstruction of the redshift distribution N(z). We discuss limitations of the current algorithm and ideas for future work.

  6. Cosmic Metal Production and the Contribution of QSO Absorption Systems to the Ionizing Background

    Science.gov (United States)

    Madau, Piero; Shull, J. Michael

    1996-01-01

    The recent discovery by Cowie et al. (1995) and Tytler et al. (1995) of metals in the Ly alpha clouds shows that the intergalactic medium (IGM) at high redshift is contaminated by the products of stars and suggests that ionizing photons from massive star formation may be a significant contributor to the UV background radiation at early epochs. We assess the validity of the stellar photoionization hypothesis. Based on recent computations of metal yields and 0-star Lyman continuum (Lyc) fluxes, we find that 0.2 percent of the rest-mass energy of the metals produced is radiated as Lyc. By modeling the transfer of ionizing radiation through the IGM and the rate of chemical enrichment, we demonstrate that the background intensity of photons at 1 ryd that accompanies the production of metals in the Ly alpha forest clouds may be significant, approaching 0.5 x 10(exp -21) ergs cm squared s(-1) Hz(-1) sr(-1) at z approximately equals 3 if the Lyc escape fraction is greater than of equal to 0.25. Together with quasars, massive stars could then, in principle, provide the hydrogen and helium Lyc photons required to ionize the universe at high redshifts. We propose that observations of the He2 Gunn-Peterson effect and of the metal ionization states of the Ly alpha forest and Lyman-limit absorbers should show the signature of a stellar spectrum. We also note that the stellar photoionization model fails if a large fraction of the UV radiation emitted from stars cannot escape into the IGM, as suggested by the recent Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope observations by Leitherer et al. (1995) of low-redshift starburst galaxies, or if most of the metals observed at z is approximately 3 were produced at much earlier epochs.

  7. Probing reionization with the cross-power spectrum of 21 cm and near-infrared radiation backgrounds

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mao, Xiao-Chun, E-mail: xcmao@bao.ac.cn [National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100012 (China)

    2014-08-01

    The cross-correlation between the 21 cm emission from the high-redshift intergalactic medium and the near-infrared (NIR) background light from high-redshift galaxies promises to be a powerful probe of cosmic reionization. In this paper, we investigate the cross-power spectrum during the epoch of reionization. We employ an improved halo approach to derive the distribution of the density field and consider two stellar populations in the star formation model: metal-free stars and metal-poor stars. The reionization history is further generated to be consistent with the electron-scattering optical depth from cosmic microwave background measurements. Then, the intensity of the NIR background is estimated by collecting emission from stars in first-light galaxies. On large scales, we find that the 21 cm and NIR radiation backgrounds are positively correlated during the very early stages of reionization. However, these two radiation backgrounds quickly become anti-correlated as reionization proceeds. The maximum absolute value of the cross-power spectrum is |Δ{sub 21,NIR}{sup 2}|∼10{sup −4} mK nW m{sup –2} sr{sup –1}, reached at ℓ ∼ 1000 when the mean fraction of ionized hydrogen is x-bar{sub i}∼0.9. We find that Square Kilometer Array can measure the 21 cm-NIR cross-power spectrum in conjunction with mild extensions to the existing CIBER survey, provided that the integration time independently adds up to 1000 and 1 hr for 21 cm and NIR observations, and that the sky coverage fraction of the CIBER survey is extended from 4 × 10{sup –4} to 0.1. Measuring the cross-correlation signal as a function of redshift provides valuable information on reionization and helps confirm the origin of the 'missing' NIR background.

  8. Designing Successful Next-Generation Instruments to Detect the Epoch of Reionization

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thyagarajan, Nithyanandan; Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array (HERA) team, Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) team

    2018-01-01

    The Epoch of Reionization (EoR) signifies a period of intense evolution of the Inter-Galactic Medium (IGM) in the early Universe caused by the first generations of stars and galaxies, wherein they turned the neutral IGM to be completely ionized by redshift ≥ 6. This important epoch is poorly explored to date. Measurement of redshifted 21 cm line from neutral Hydrogen during the EoR is promising to provide the most direct constraints of this epoch. Ongoing experiments to detect redshifted 21 cm power spectrum during reionization, including the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA), Precision Array for Probing the Epoch of Reionization (PAPER), and the Low Frequency Array (LOFAR), appear to be severely affected by bright foregrounds and unaccounted instrumental systematics. For example, the spectral structure introduced by wide-field effects, aperture shapes and angular power patterns of the antennas, electrical and geometrical reflections in the antennas and electrical paths, and antenna position errors can be major limiting factors. These mimic the 21 cm signal and severely degrade the instrument performance. It is imperative for the next-generation of experiments to eliminate these systematics at their source via robust instrument design. I will discuss a generic framework to set cosmologically motivated antenna performance specifications and design strategies using the Precision Radio Interferometry Simulator (PRISim) -- a high-precision tool that I have developed for simulations of foregrounds and the instrument transfer function intended primarily for 21 cm EoR studies, but also broadly applicable to interferometer-based intensity mapping experiments. The Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array (HERA), designed in-part based on this framework, is expected to detect the 21 cm signal with high significance. I will present this framework and the simulations, and their potential for designing upcoming radio instruments such as HERA and the Square Kilometre Array (SKA).

  9. THE SLOAN DIGITAL SKY SURVEY REVERBERATION MAPPING PROJECT: BIASES IN z  > 1.46 REDSHIFTS DUE TO QUASAR DIVERSITY

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Denney, K. D.; Peterson, B. M. [Department of Astronomy, The Ohio State University, 140 West 18th Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210 (United States); Horne, Keith [SUPA Physics and Astronomy, University of St. Andrews, St. Andrews KY16 9SS (United Kingdom); Brandt, W. N.; Grier, C. J.; Trump, J. R. [Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, 525 Davey Lab, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802 (United States); Ho, Luis C. [Kavli Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Peking University, Beijing 100871 (China); Ge, J., E-mail: denney@astronomy.ohio-state.edu [Astronomy Department University of Florida 211 Bryant Space Science Center P.O. Box 112055 Gainesville, FL 32611-2055 (United States)

    2016-12-10

    We use the coadded spectra of 32 epochs of Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Reverberation Mapping Project observations of 482 quasars with z  > 1.46 to highlight systematic biases in the SDSS- and Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS)-pipeline redshifts due to the natural diversity of quasar properties. We investigate the characteristics of this bias by comparing the BOSS-pipeline redshifts to an estimate from the centroid of He ii λ 1640. He ii has a low equivalent width but is often well-defined in high-S/N spectra, does not suffer from self-absorption, and has a narrow component which, when present (the case for about half of our sources), produces a redshift estimate that, on average, is consistent with that determined from [O ii] to within the He ii and [O ii] centroid measurement uncertainties. The large redshift differences of ∼1000 km s{sup −1}, on average, between the BOSS-pipeline and He ii-centroid redshifts, suggest there are significant biases in a portion of BOSS quasar redshift measurements. Adopting the He ii-based redshifts shows that C iv does not exhibit a ubiquitous blueshift for all quasars, given the precision probed by our measurements. Instead, we find a distribution of C iv-centroid blueshifts across our sample, with a dynamic range that (i) is wider than that previously reported for this line, and (ii) spans C iv centroids from those consistent with the systemic redshift to those with significant blueshifts of thousands of kilometers per second. These results have significant implications for measurement and use of high-redshift quasar properties and redshifts, and studies based thereon.

  10. THE SLOAN DIGITAL SKY SURVEY REVERBERATION MAPPING PROJECT: BIASES IN z  > 1.46 REDSHIFTS DUE TO QUASAR DIVERSITY

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Denney, K. D.; Peterson, B. M.; Horne, Keith; Brandt, W. N.; Grier, C. J.; Trump, J. R.; Ho, Luis C.; Ge, J.

    2016-01-01

    We use the coadded spectra of 32 epochs of Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Reverberation Mapping Project observations of 482 quasars with z  > 1.46 to highlight systematic biases in the SDSS- and Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS)-pipeline redshifts due to the natural diversity of quasar properties. We investigate the characteristics of this bias by comparing the BOSS-pipeline redshifts to an estimate from the centroid of He ii λ 1640. He ii has a low equivalent width but is often well-defined in high-S/N spectra, does not suffer from self-absorption, and has a narrow component which, when present (the case for about half of our sources), produces a redshift estimate that, on average, is consistent with that determined from [O ii] to within the He ii and [O ii] centroid measurement uncertainties. The large redshift differences of ∼1000 km s −1 , on average, between the BOSS-pipeline and He ii-centroid redshifts, suggest there are significant biases in a portion of BOSS quasar redshift measurements. Adopting the He ii-based redshifts shows that C iv does not exhibit a ubiquitous blueshift for all quasars, given the precision probed by our measurements. Instead, we find a distribution of C iv-centroid blueshifts across our sample, with a dynamic range that (i) is wider than that previously reported for this line, and (ii) spans C iv centroids from those consistent with the systemic redshift to those with significant blueshifts of thousands of kilometers per second. These results have significant implications for measurement and use of high-redshift quasar properties and redshifts, and studies based thereon.

  11. EVOLUTION OF GALAXY LUMINOSITY FUNCTION USING PHOTOMETRIC REDSHIFTS

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ramos, B. H. F.; Pellegrini, P. S.; Da Costa, L. N.; Maia, M. A. G.; Ogando, R. L. C.; De Simoni, F.; Benoist, C.; Makler, M.; Mesquita, A. A.

    2011-01-01

    We examine the impact of using photometric redshifts for studying the evolution of both the global galaxy luminosity function (LF) and that for different galaxy types. To this end, we compare the LFs obtained using photometric redshifts from the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Legacy Survey (CFHTLS) D1 field with those from the spectroscopic survey VIMOS VLT Deep Survey (VVDS) comprising ∼4800 galaxies. We find that for z ≤ 2.0, in the interval of magnitudes considered by this survey, the LFs obtained using photometric and spectroscopic redshifts show a remarkable agreement. This good agreement led us to use all four Deep fields of the CFHTLS comprising ∼386,000 galaxies to compute the LF of the combined fields and directly estimate the error in the parameters based on the field-to-field variation. We find that the characteristic absolute magnitude M* of Schechter fits fades by ∼0.7 mag from z ∼ 1.8 to z ∼ 0.3, while the characteristic density φ* increases by a factor of ∼4 in the same redshift interval. We use the galaxy classification provided by the template fitting program used to compute photometric redshifts and split the sample into galaxy types. We find that these Schechter parameters evolve differently for each galaxy type, an indication that their evolution is a combination of several effects: galaxy merging, star formation quenching, and mass assembly. All these results are compatible with those obtained by different spectroscopic surveys such as VVDS, DEEP2, and zCosmos, which reinforces the fact that photometric redshifts can be used to study galaxy evolution, at least for the redshift bins adopted so far. This is of great interest since future very large imaging surveys containing hundreds of millions of galaxies will allow us to obtain important precise measurements to constrain the evolution of the LF and to explore the dependence of this evolution on morphology and/or color helping constrain the mechanisms of galaxy evolution.

  12. Uncertain Photometric Redshifts with Deep Learning Methods

    Science.gov (United States)

    D'Isanto, A.

    2017-06-01

    The need for accurate photometric redshifts estimation is a topic that has fundamental importance in Astronomy, due to the necessity of efficiently obtaining redshift information without the need of spectroscopic analysis. We propose a method for determining accurate multi-modal photo-z probability density functions (PDFs) using Mixture Density Networks (MDN) and Deep Convolutional Networks (DCN). A comparison with a Random Forest (RF) is performed.

  13. Simulating the detection and classification of high-redshift supernovae with HARMONI on the ELT

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bounissou, S.; Thatte, N.; Zieleniewski, S.; Houghton, R. C. W.; Tecza, M.; Hook, I.; Neichel, B.; Fusco, T.

    2018-02-01

    We present detailed simulations of integral field spectroscopic observations of a supernova in a host galaxy at z ˜ 3, as observed by the HARMONI spectrograph on the Extremely Large Telescope, asssisted by laser tomographic adaptive optics. The goal of the simulations, using the HSIM simulation tool, is to determine whether HARMONI can discern the supernova Type from spectral features in the supernova spectrum. We find that in a 3 hour observation, covering the near-infrared H and K bands, at a spectral resolving power of ˜3000, and using the 20×20 mas spaxel scale, we can classify supernova Type Ia and their redshift robustly up to 80 days past maximum light (20 days in the supernova rest frame). We show that HARMONI will provide spectra at z ˜ 3 that are of comparable (or better) quality to the best spectra we can currently obtain at z ˜ 1, thus allowing studies of cosmic expansion rates to be pushed to substantially higher redshifts.

  14. CHARACTERIZING AND PROPAGATING MODELING UNCERTAINTIES IN PHOTOMETRICALLY DERIVED REDSHIFT DISTRIBUTIONS

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Abrahamse, Augusta; Knox, Lloyd; Schmidt, Samuel; Thorman, Paul; Anthony Tyson, J.; Zhan Hu

    2011-01-01

    The uncertainty in the redshift distributions of galaxies has a significant potential impact on the cosmological parameter values inferred from multi-band imaging surveys. The accuracy of the photometric redshifts measured in these surveys depends not only on the quality of the flux data, but also on a number of modeling assumptions that enter into both the training set and spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting methods of photometric redshift estimation. In this work we focus on the latter, considering two types of modeling uncertainties: uncertainties in the SED template set and uncertainties in the magnitude and type priors used in a Bayesian photometric redshift estimation method. We find that SED template selection effects dominate over magnitude prior errors. We introduce a method for parameterizing the resulting ignorance of the redshift distributions, and for propagating these uncertainties to uncertainties in cosmological parameters.

  15. The second-generation z (redshift) and early universe spectrometer. I. First-light observation of a highly lensed local-ulirg analog at high-z

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ferkinhoff, Carl; Brisbin, Drew; Parshley, Stephen; Nikola, Thomas; Stacey, Gordon J.; Schoenwald, Justin; Riechers, Dominik [Department of Astronomy, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853 (United States); Higdon, James L.; Higdon, Sarah J. U. [Department of Physics, Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, GA 30460 (United States); Verma, Aprajita [Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX1 3RH (United Kingdom); Hailey-Dunsheath, Steven [California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States); Menten, Karl M.; Güsten, Rolf; Weiß, Axel [Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie, Auf dem Hügel 69, D-53121 Bonn (Germany); Irwin, Kent; Cho, Hsiao M. [NIST Boulder, Boulder, CO 80305 (United States); Niemack, Michael [Department of Physics, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853 (United States); Halpern, Mark; Amiri, Mandana [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z1 (Canada); Hasselfield, Matthew, E-mail: carl.ferkinhoff@cornell.edu [Department of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544 (United States); and others

    2014-01-10

    We recently commissioned our new spectrometer, the second-generation z(Redshift) and Early Universe Spectrometer (ZEUS-2) on the Atacama Pathfinder Experiment telescope. ZEUS-2 is a submillimeter grating spectrometer optimized for detecting the faint and broad lines from distant galaxies that are redshifted into the telluric windows from 200 to 850 μm. It uses a focal plane array of transition-edge sensed bolometers, the first use of these arrays for astrophysical spectroscopy. ZEUS-2 promises to be an important tool for studying galaxies in the years to come because of its synergy with Atacama Large Millimeter Array and its capabilities in the short submillimeter windows that are unique in the post-Herschel era. Here, we report on our first detection of the [C II] 158 μm line with ZEUS-2. We detect the line at z ∼ 1.8 from H-ATLAS J091043.1–000322 with a line flux of (6.44 ± 0.42) × 10{sup –18} W m{sup –2}. Combined with its far-IR luminosity and a new Herschel-PACS detection of the [O I] 63 μm line, we model the line emission as coming from a photo-dissociation region with far-ultraviolet radiation field, G ∼ 2 × 10{sup 4} G {sub 0}, gas density, n ∼ 1 × 10{sup 3} cm{sup –3} and size between ∼0.4 and 1 kpc. On the basis of this model, we conclude that H-ATLAS J091043.1–000322 is a high-redshift analog of a local ultra-luminous IR galaxy; i.e., it is likely the site of a compact starburst caused by a major merger. Further identification of these merging systems is important for constraining galaxy formation and evolution models.

  16. The Second-generation z (Redshift) and Early Universe Spectrometer. I. First-light Observation of a Highly Lensed Local-ulirg Analog at High-z

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ferkinhoff, Carl; Brisbin, Drew; Parshley, Stephen; Nikola, Thomas; Stacey, Gordon J.; Schoenwald, Justin; Higdon, James L.; Higdon, Sarah J. U.; Verma, Aprajita; Riechers, Dominik; Hailey-Dunsheath, Steven; Menten, Karl M.; Güsten, Rolf; Weiß, Axel; Irwin, Kent; Cho, Hsiao M.; Niemack, Michael; Halpern, Mark; Amiri, Mandana; Hasselfield, Matthew; Wiebe, D. V.; Ade, Peter A. R.; Tucker, Carol E.

    2014-01-01

    We recently commissioned our new spectrometer, the second-generation z(Redshift) and Early Universe Spectrometer (ZEUS-2) on the Atacama Pathfinder Experiment telescope. ZEUS-2 is a submillimeter grating spectrometer optimized for detecting the faint and broad lines from distant galaxies that are redshifted into the telluric windows from 200 to 850 μm. It uses a focal plane array of transition-edge sensed bolometers, the first use of these arrays for astrophysical spectroscopy. ZEUS-2 promises to be an important tool for studying galaxies in the years to come because of its synergy with Atacama Large Millimeter Array and its capabilities in the short submillimeter windows that are unique in the post-Herschel era. Here, we report on our first detection of the [C II] 158 μm line with ZEUS-2. We detect the line at z ~ 1.8 from H-ATLAS J091043.1-000322 with a line flux of (6.44 ± 0.42) × 10-18 W m-2. Combined with its far-IR luminosity and a new Herschel-PACS detection of the [O I] 63 μm line, we model the line emission as coming from a photo-dissociation region with far-ultraviolet radiation field, G ~ 2 × 104 G 0, gas density, n ~ 1 × 103 cm-3 and size between ~0.4 and 1 kpc. On the basis of this model, we conclude that H-ATLAS J091043.1-000322 is a high-redshift analog of a local ultra-luminous IR galaxy; i.e., it is likely the site of a compact starburst caused by a major merger. Further identification of these merging systems is important for constraining galaxy formation and evolution models.

  17. The second-generation z (redshift) and early universe spectrometer. I. First-light observation of a highly lensed local-ulirg analog at high-z

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ferkinhoff, Carl; Brisbin, Drew; Parshley, Stephen; Nikola, Thomas; Stacey, Gordon J.; Schoenwald, Justin; Riechers, Dominik; Higdon, James L.; Higdon, Sarah J. U.; Verma, Aprajita; Hailey-Dunsheath, Steven; Menten, Karl M.; Güsten, Rolf; Weiß, Axel; Irwin, Kent; Cho, Hsiao M.; Niemack, Michael; Halpern, Mark; Amiri, Mandana; Hasselfield, Matthew

    2014-01-01

    We recently commissioned our new spectrometer, the second-generation z(Redshift) and Early Universe Spectrometer (ZEUS-2) on the Atacama Pathfinder Experiment telescope. ZEUS-2 is a submillimeter grating spectrometer optimized for detecting the faint and broad lines from distant galaxies that are redshifted into the telluric windows from 200 to 850 μm. It uses a focal plane array of transition-edge sensed bolometers, the first use of these arrays for astrophysical spectroscopy. ZEUS-2 promises to be an important tool for studying galaxies in the years to come because of its synergy with Atacama Large Millimeter Array and its capabilities in the short submillimeter windows that are unique in the post-Herschel era. Here, we report on our first detection of the [C II] 158 μm line with ZEUS-2. We detect the line at z ∼ 1.8 from H-ATLAS J091043.1–000322 with a line flux of (6.44 ± 0.42) × 10 –18 W m –2 . Combined with its far-IR luminosity and a new Herschel-PACS detection of the [O I] 63 μm line, we model the line emission as coming from a photo-dissociation region with far-ultraviolet radiation field, G ∼ 2 × 10 4 G 0 , gas density, n ∼ 1 × 10 3 cm –3 and size between ∼0.4 and 1 kpc. On the basis of this model, we conclude that H-ATLAS J091043.1–000322 is a high-redshift analog of a local ultra-luminous IR galaxy; i.e., it is likely the site of a compact starburst caused by a major merger. Further identification of these merging systems is important for constraining galaxy formation and evolution models.

  18. THE MOST METAL-POOR DAMPED Lyα SYSTEMS: AN INSIGHT INTO DWARF GALAXIES AT HIGH-REDSHIFT

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cooke, Ryan J.; Pettini, Max; Jorgenson, Regina A.

    2015-01-01

    In this paper we analyze the kinematics, chemistry, and physical properties of a sample of the most metal-poor damped Lyα systems (DLAs), to uncover their links to modern-day galaxies. We present evidence that the DLA population as a whole exhibits a ''knee'' in the relative abundances of the α-capture and Fe-peak elements when the metallicity is [Fe/H] ≅ –2.0, assuming that Zn traces the buildup of Fe-peak elements. In this respect, the chemical evolution of DLAs is clearly different from that experienced by Milky Way halo stars, but resembles that of dwarf spheroidal galaxies in the Local Group. We also find a close correspondence between the kinematics of Local Group dwarf galaxies and of high-redshift metal-poor DLAs, which further strengthens this connection. On the basis of such similarities, we propose that the most metal-poor DLAs provide us with a unique opportunity to directly study the dwarf galaxy population more than ten billion years in the past, at a time when many dwarf galaxies were forming the bulk of their stars. To this end, we have measured some of the key physical properties of the DLA gas, including their neutral gas mass, size, kinetic temperature, density, and turbulence. We find that metal-poor DLAs contain a warm neutral medium with T gas ≅ 9600 K predominantly held up by thermal pressure. Furthermore, all of the DLAs in our sample exhibit a subsonic turbulent Mach number, implying that the gas distribution is largely smooth. These results are among the first empirical descriptions of the environments where the first few generations of stars may have formed in the universe

  19. ULTRA STEEP SPECTRUM RADIO SOURCES IN THE LOCKMAN HOLE: SERVS IDENTIFICATIONS AND REDSHIFT DISTRIBUTION AT THE FAINTEST RADIO FLUXES

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Afonso, J.; Bizzocchi, L.; Grossi, M.; Messias, H.; Fernandes, C. A. C. [Observatorio Astronomico de Lisboa, Faculdade de Ciencias, Universidade de Lisboa, Tapada da Ajuda, 1349-018 Lisbon (Portugal); Ibar, E.; Ivison, R. J. [UK Astronomy Technology Centre, Royal Observatory, Edinburgh EH9 3HJ (United Kingdom); Simpson, C. [Astrophysics Research Institute, Liverpool John Moores University, Twelve Quays House, Egerton Wharf, Birkenhead CH41 1LD (United Kingdom); Chapman, S.; Gonzalez-Solares, E. [Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0HA (United Kingdom); Jarvis, M. J. [Centre for Astrophysics, Science and Technology Research Institute, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, Herts AL10 9AB (United Kingdom); Rottgering, H. [Leiden Observatory, Leiden University, Oort Gebouw, P.O. Box 9513, 2300 RA Leiden (Netherlands); Norris, R. P. [CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science, P.O. Box 76, Epping, NSW 1710 (Australia); Dunlop, J.; Best, P. [SUPA, Institute for Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, Blackford Hill, Edinburgh EH9 3HJ (United Kingdom); Pforr, J. [Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation, University of Portsmouth, Dennis Sciama Building, Burnaby Road, Portsmouth PO1 3FX (United Kingdom); Vaccari, M. [Department of Astronomy, University of Padova, vicolo Osservatorio 3, 35122 Padova (Italy); Seymour, N. [Mullard Space Science Laboratory, UCL, Holmbury St Mary, Dorking, Surrey RH5 6NT (United Kingdom); Farrah, D. [Astronomy Centre, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9QH (United Kingdom); Huang, J.-S., E-mail: jafonso@oal.ul.pt [Department of Astrophysics, Oxford University, Keble Road, Oxford OX1 3RH (United Kingdom); and others

    2011-12-20

    Ultra steep spectrum (USS) radio sources have been successfully used to select powerful radio sources at high redshifts (z {approx}> 2). Typically restricted to large-sky surveys and relatively bright radio flux densities, it has gradually become possible to extend the USS search to sub-mJy levels, thanks to the recent appearance of sensitive low-frequency radio facilities. Here a first detailed analysis of the nature of the faintest USS sources is presented. By using Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope and Very Large Array radio observations of the Lockman Hole at 610 MHz and 1.4 GHz, a sample of 58 USS sources, with 610 MHz integrated fluxes above 100 {mu}Jy, is assembled. Deep infrared data at 3.6 and 4.5 {mu}m from the Spitzer Extragalactic Representative Volume Survey (SERVS) are used to reliably identify counterparts for 48 (83%) of these sources, showing an average total magnitude of [3.6]{sub AB} = 19.8 mag. Spectroscopic redshifts for 14 USS sources, together with photometric redshift estimates, improved by the use of the deep SERVS data, for a further 19 objects, show redshifts ranging from z = 0.1 to z = 2.8, peaking at z {approx} 0.6 and tailing off at high redshifts. The remaining 25 USS sources, with no redshift estimate, include the faintest [3.6] magnitudes, with 10 sources undetected at 3.6 and 4.5 {mu}m (typically [3.6] {approx}> 22-23 mag from local measurements), which suggests the likely existence of higher redshifts among the sub-mJy USS population. The comparison with the Square Kilometre Array Design Studies Simulated Skies models indicates that Fanaroff-Riley type I radio sources and radio-quiet active galactic nuclei may constitute the bulk of the faintest USS population, and raises the possibility that the high efficiency of the USS technique for the selection of high-redshift sources remains even at the sub-mJy level.

  20. Hard X-ray spectral investigations of gamma-ray bursts 120521C and 130606A at high-redshift z ˜ 6

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yasuda, T.; Urata, Y.; Enomoto, J.; Tashiro, M. S.

    2017-04-01

    This study presents a temporal and spectral analysis of the prompt emission of two high-redshift gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), 120521C at z ˜ 6 and 130606A at z ˜ 5.91, using data obtained from the Swift-XRT/BAT and the Suzaku-WAM simultaneously. Based on follow-up XRT observations, the longest durations of the prompt emissions were approximately 80 s (120521C) and 360 s (130606A) in the rest-frames of the two GRBs. These objects are thus categorized as long-duration GRBs; however, the durations are short compared with the predicted duration of GRBs originating from first-generation stars. Because of the wide bandpass of the instruments, covering the ranges 15 keV-5 MeV (BAT-WAM) and 0.3 keV-5.0 MeV (XRT-BAT-WAM), we could successfully determine the νFν peak energies E_peak^src in the rest-frame and isotropic-equivalent radiated energies Eiso; E^src_peak = 682^{+845}_{-207} keV and E_iso = (8. 25^{+2.24}_{-1.96}) × 10^{52} erg for 120521C, and E^src_peak = 1209^{+553}_{-304} keV and E_iso = (2.82^{+0.17}_{-0.71}) × 10^{53} erg for 130606A. These obtained characteristic parameters are in accordance with the well-known relationship between E_peak^src and Eiso (Amati relationship). In addition, we examined the relationships between E_peak^src and the 1-s peak luminosity, Lp, and between E_peak^src and the geometrical corrected radiated energy, Eγ, and confirmed the E_peak^src-Lp (Yonetoku) and E_peak^src-Eγ (Ghirlanda) relationships. The results imply that these high-redshift GRBs at z ˜ 6, which are expected to have radiated during the reionization epoch, have properties similar to those of low-redshift GRBs regarding X-ray prompt emission.