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A star-forming galaxy at z= 5.78 in the Chandra Deep Field South
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Bunker, Andrew J., Stanway, Elizabeth R., Ellis, Richard S., McMahon, R. G. and McCarthy, Pat (2003) A star-forming galaxy at z= 5.78 in the Chandra Deep Field South. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society , Volume 342 (Number 3). L47-L51. doi:10.1046/j.1365-8711.2003.06664.x
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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-8711.2003.06664.x
Abstract
We report the discovery of a luminous z = 5.78 star-forming galaxy in the Chandra Deep Field South. This galaxy was selected as an ‘i-drop’ from the GOODS public survey imaging with the Hubble Space Telescope/Advanced Camera for Surveys (object 3 in the work of Stanway, Bunker & McMahon 2003). The large colour of (i′−z′)AB = 1.6 indicated a spectral break consistent with the Lyman α forest absorption shortward of Lyman α at z≈ 6. The galaxy is very compact (marginally resolved with ACS with a half-light radius of 0.08 arcsec, so rhl < 0.5 h−170 kpc). We have obtained a deep (5.5 h) spectrum of this z′AB = 24.7 galaxy with the DEIMOS optical spectrograph on the Keck Telescope, and here we report the discovery of a single emission line centred on 8245 Å detected at 20σ with a flux of ƒ≈ 2 × 10−17 erg cm−2 s−1. The line is clearly resolved with detectable structure at our resolution of better than 55 km s−1, and the only plausible interpretation consistent with the ACS photometry is that we are seeing Lyman α emission from a z = 5.78 galaxy. This is the highest redshift galaxy to be discovered and studied using HST data. The velocity width (ΔvFWHM = 260 km s−1) and rest-frame equivalent width (WLyαrest = 20 Å) indicate that this line is most probably powered by star formation, as an AGN would typically have larger values. The starburst interpretation is supported by our non-detection of the high-ionization N Vλ1240- Å emission line, and the absence of this source from the deep Chandra X-ray images. The star formation rate inferred from the rest-frame UV continuum is 34 h−270 M⊙ yr−1 (ΩM = 0.3, ΩΛ = 0.7). This is the most luminous starburst known at z > 5. Our spectroscopic redshift for this object confirms the validity of the i′-drop technique of Stanway et al. to select star-forming galaxies atz≈ 6.
| Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||
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| Subjects: | Q Science > QB Astronomy Q Science > QC Physics |
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| Divisions: | Faculty of Science > Physics | ||||
| Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Galaxies -- Evolution | ||||
| Journal or Publication Title: | Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society | ||||
| Publisher: | Oxford University Press | ||||
| ISSN: | 0035-8711 | ||||
| Official Date: | 1 July 2003 | ||||
| Dates: |
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| Volume: | Volume 342 | ||||
| Number: | Number 3 | ||||
| Page Range: | L47-L51 | ||||
| DOI: | 10.1046/j.1365-8711.2003.06664.x | ||||
| Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||
| Publication Status: | Published | ||||
| Funder: | Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council (Great Britain) (PPARC) |
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