arXivDaily arXiv每日学术速递 周一至周五更新
arXiv周末暂无论文更新,休息一下吧,周末愉快~~
arXiv 1208.3529astro-ph.CO
收藏

3<z<7暗莱曼Break星系的Keck光谱:星云发射在理解恒星形成速率和质量密度中的重要性

Keck Spectroscopy of 3<z<7 Faint Lyman Break Galaxies: The Importance of Nebular Emission in Understanding the Specific Star Formation Rate and Stellar Mass Density

Daniel P. Stark, Matthew A. Schenker, Richard S. Ellis, Brant Robertson, Ross McLure, James Dunlop

摘要:

从z>3星系的SED中推断出的物理性质对我们理解早期星系形成和星系在宇宙再电离中可能扮演的角色有影响。特别重要的是早期的恒星质量密度,它代表了早期恒星形成的积分。迄今为止报道的测量结果中出现的一个重要难题是,特定恒星形成率(sSFR)的演变速度远远低于大多数理论模型的预期。然而,支撑这些结果的观测结果仍然非常不确定,部分原因是来自强星云发射线的静止光学宽带光可能受到污染。为了量化星云辐射对宽带通量的贡献,我们研究了92个光谱确认星系的SED,这些星系的红移范围为3.8<z<5.0,因为H-α线位于Spitzer/IRAC 3.6 μ m滤波器内。我们表明,3.6微米的通量是系统地超过预期的恒星连续,我们通过拟合SED与人口合成模型。在3.1<z<3.6的对照样品中没有观察到这种过量,其中在IRAC过滤器中没有星云污染。从我们的3.6微米通量过剩的分布,我们得到一个H-α等效宽度(EW)分布。我们推断在3.8<z<5.0(270 A)处的平均静止坐标系H-α EW表明星云发射至少贡献了3.6 um通量的30%。通过我们的解析导出的EW分布,我们校正了可用的恒星质量密度,并表明sSFR在z>4时的演化速度比以前认为的更快,支持在z~2和7之间增加5倍。这种趋势更接近理论预期。鉴于我们的研究结果,我们讨论了定量验证的星云发射线强度的詹姆斯韦伯太空望远镜发射前的前景。

英文摘要:

The physical properties inferred from the SEDs of z>3 galaxies have been influential in shaping our understanding of early galaxy formation and the role galaxies may play in cosmic reionization. Of particular importance is the stellar mass density at early times which represents the integral of earlier star formation. An important puzzle arising from the measurements so far reported is that the specific star formation rates (sSFR) evolve far less rapidly than expected in most theoretical models. Yet the observations underpinning these results remain very uncertain, owing in part to the possible contamination of rest-optical broadband light from strong nebular emission lines. To quantify the contribution of nebular emission to broad-band fluxes, we investigate the SEDs of 92 spectroscopically-confirmed galaxies in the redshift range 3.8<z<5.0 chosen because the H-alpha line lies within the Spitzer/IRAC 3.6 um filter. We demonstrate that the 3.6 um flux is systematically in excess of that expected from stellar continuum, which we derive by fitting the SED with population synthesis models. No such excess is seen in a control sample at 3.1<z<3.6 in which there is no nebular contamination in the IRAC filters. From the distribution of our 3.6 um flux excesses, we derive an H-alpha equivalent width (EW) distribution. The mean rest-frame H-alpha EW we infer at 3.8<z<5.0 (270 A) indicates that nebular emission contributes at least 30% of the 3.6 um flux. Via our empirically-derived EW distribution we correct the available stellar mass densities and show that the sSFR evolves more rapidly at z>4 than previously thought, supporting up to a 5x increase between z~2 and 7. Such a trend is much closer to theoretical expectations. Given our findings, we discuss the prospects for verifying quantitatively the nebular emission line strengths prior to the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope.

机构、总结、中文摘要均由AI分析而来,可能存在错误,请以论文正文为准。

↑