The fraction of ionizing photons that escape high-redshift galaxies sensitively determines whether galaxies reionized the early Universe. However, this escape fraction cannot be measured from ...high-redshift galaxies because the opacity of the intergalactic medium is large at high redshifts. Without methods to measure the escape fraction of high-redshift galaxies indirectly, it is unlikely that we will know what reionized the Universe. Here, we analyze the far-ultraviolet (UV) H I (Lyman series) and low-ionization metal absorption lines of nine low-redshift, confirmed Lyman continuum emitting galaxies. We use the H I covering fractions, column densities, and dust attenuations measured in a companion paper to predict the escape fraction of ionizing photons. We find good agreement between the predicted and observed Lyman continuum escape fractions (within 1.4σ) using both the H I and ISM absorption lines. The ionizing photons escape through holes in the H I, but we show that dust attenuation reduces the fraction of photons that escape galaxies. This means that the average high-redshift galaxy likely emits more ionizing photons than low-redshift galaxies. Two other indirect methods accurately predict the escape fractions: the Lyα escape fraction and the optical O III/O II flux ratio. We use these indirect methods to predict the escape fraction of a sample of 21 galaxies with rest-frame UV spectra but without Lyman continuum observations. Many of these galaxies have low escape fractions (fesc ≤ 1%), but 11 have escape fractions >1%. Future studies will use these methods to measure the escape fractions of high-redshift galaxies, enabling upcoming telescopes to determine whether star-forming galaxies reionized the early Universe.
We infer the properties of massive star populations using the far-ultraviolet stellar continua of 61 star-forming galaxies: 42 at low redshift observed with the Hubble Space Telescope and 19 at z ~ 2 ...from the MegaSaura sample. We fit each stellar continuum with a linear combination of up to 50 single-age and single-metallicity starburst99 models. From these fits, we derive light-weighted ages and metallicities, which agree with stellar wind and photospheric spectral features, and infer the spectral shapes and strengths of the ionizing continua. Inferred light-weighted stellar metallicities span 0.05–1.5 Z(sub ⊙) and are similar to the measured nebular metallicities. We quantify the ionizing continua using the ratio of the ionizing flux at 900 Å to the non-ionizing flux at 1500 Å and demonstrate the evolution of this ratio with stellar age and metallicity using theoretical single-burst models. These single-burst models only match the inferred ionizing continua of half of the sample, while the other half are described by a mixture of stellar ages. Mixed-age populations produce stronger and harder ionizing spectra than continuous star formation histories, but, contrary to previous studies that assume constant star formation, have similar stellar and nebular metallicities. Stellar population age and metallicity affect the far-UV continua in different and distinguishable ways; assuming a constant star formation history diminishes the diagnostic power. Finally, we provide simple prescriptions to determine the ionizing photon production efficiency (ξ(sub ion)) from the stellar population properties. The ξ(sub ion) inferred from the observed star-forming galaxies has a range of log(ξ(sub ion)) = 24.4–25.7 Hz erg(exp −1) that depends on the stellar population age, metallicity, star formation history, and contributions from binary star evolution. These stellar population properties must be observationally determined to accurately determine the number of ionizing photons generated by massive stars.
ABSTRACT We measure C iii 1907, C iii 1909 emission lines in 11 gravitationally lensed star-forming galaxies at z ∼ 1.6-3, finding much lower equivalent widths than previously reported for fainter ...lensed galaxies. While it is not yet clear what causes some galaxies to be strong C iii emitters, C iii emission is not a universal property of distant star-forming galaxies. We also examine C iii emission in 46 star-forming galaxies in the local universe, using archival spectra from GHRS, FOS, and STIS on HST and IUE. Twenty percent of these local galaxies show strong C iii emission, with equivalent widths < −5 . Three nearby galaxies show C iii emission equivalent widths as large as the most extreme emitters yet observed in the distant universe; all three are Wolf-Rayet galaxies. At all redshifts, strong C iii emission may pick out low-metallicity galaxies experiencing intense bursts of star formation. Such local C iii emitters may shed light on the conditions of star formation in certain extreme high-redshift galaxies.
We present rest-frame ultraviolet and optical spectroscopy of the brightest lensed galaxy yet discovered, at redshift z = 2.4. The source reveals a characteristic triple-peaked Lyman α profile that ...has been predicted in various theoretical works, but to our knowledge has not been unambiguously observed previously. The feature is well fit by a superposition of two components: a double-peak profile emerging from substantial radiative transfer, and a narrow, central component resulting from directly escaping Lyman α photons, but it is poorly fit by either component alone. We demonstrate that the feature is unlikely to contain contamination from nearby sources, and that the central peak is unaffected by radiative transfer effects except for very slight absorption. The feature is detected at signal-to-noise ratios exceeding 80 per pixel at line center, and bears strong resemblance to synthetic profiles predicted by numerical models.
We stack the rest-frame ultraviolet spectra of N = 14 highly magnified gravitationally lensed galaxies at redshifts . The resulting new composite spans , with a peak signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) of ...103 per spectral resolution element (∼100 km s−1). It is the highest S/N, highest spectral resolution composite spectrum of z ∼ 2-3 galaxies yet published. The composite reveals numerous weak nebular emission lines and stellar photospheric absorption lines that can serve as new physical diagnostics, particularly at high redshift with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). We report equivalent widths to aid in proposing for and interpreting JWST spectra. We examine the velocity profiles of strong absorption features in the composite, and in a matched composite of COS/HST galaxy spectra. We find remarkable similarity in the velocity profiles at and , suggesting that similar physical processes control the outflows across cosmic time. While the maximum outflow velocity depends strongly on ionization potential, the absorption-weighted mean velocity does not. As such, the bulk of the high-ionization absorption traces the low-ionization gas, with an additional blueshifted absorption tail extending to at least −2000 km s−1. We interpret this tail as arising from the stellar wind and photospheres of massive stars. Starburst99 models are able to replicate this high-velocity absorption tail. However, these theoretical models poorly reproduce several of the photospheric absorption features, indicating that improvements are needed to match observational constraints on the massive stellar content of star-forming galaxies at . We publicly release our composite spectra.
We introduce Project MegaSaura: the Magellan Evolution of Galaxies Spectroscopic and Ultraviolet Reference Atlas. MegaSaura comprises medium-resolution, rest-frame ultraviolet spectroscopy of N = 15 ...bright gravitationally lensed galaxies at redshifts of 1.68 < z < 3.6, obtained with the MagE spectrograph on the Magellan telescopes. The spectra cover the observed-frame wavelength range 3200 < λo < 8280 ; the average spectral resolving power is R = 3300. The median spectrum has a signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) = 21 per resolution element at 5000 . As such, the MegaSaura spectra have superior S/N and wavelength coverage compared to what COS/HST provides for starburst galaxies in the local universe. This paper describes the sample, the observations, and the data reduction. We compare the measured redshifts for the stars, the ionized gas as traced by nebular lines, and the neutral gas as traced by absorption lines; we find the expected bulk outflow of the neutral gas, and no systemic offset between the redshifts measured from nebular lines and the redshifts measured from the stellar continuum. We provide the MegaSaura spectra to the astronomical community through a data release.
Arc Statistics Meneghetti, M.; Bartelmann, M.; Dahle, H. ...
Space science reviews,
08/2013, Volume:
177, Issue:
1-4
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
The existence of an
arc statistics
problem was at the center of a strong debate in the last fifteen years. With the aim to clarify if the optical depth for
giant
gravitational arcs by galaxy clusters ...in the so called concordance model is compatible with observations, several studies were carried out which helped to significantly improve our knowledge of strong lensing clusters, unveiling their extremely complex internal structure. In particular, the abundance and the frequency of strong lensing events like gravitational arcs turned out to be a potentially very powerful tool to trace the structure formation. However, given the limited size of observational and theoretical data-sets, the power of arc statistics as a cosmological tool has been only minimally exploited so far. On the other hand, the last years were characterized by significant advancements in the field, and several cluster surveys that are ongoing or planned for the near future seem to have the potential to make arc statistics a competitive cosmological probe. Additionally, recent observations of anomalously large Einstein radii and concentrations in galaxy clusters have reinvigorated the debate on the arc statistics problem. In this paper, we review the work done so far on arc statistics, focussing on what is the lesson we learned and what is likely to improve in the next years.
ABSTRACT
We present spatially resolved Echelle spectroscopy of an intervening Mg ii–Fe ii–Mg i absorption-line system detected at zabs = 0.73379 towards the giant gravitational arc PSZ1 ...G311.65–18.48. The absorbing gas is associated with an inclined disc-like star-forming galaxy, whose major axis is aligned with the two arc-segments reported here. We probe in absorption the galaxy’s extended disc continuously, at ≈3 kpc sampling, from its inner region out to 15× the optical radius. We detect strong ($W_0^{2796}\gt 0.3$Å) coherent absorption along 13 independent positions at impact parameters D = 0–29 kpc on one side of the galaxy, and no absorption at D = 28–57 kpc on the opposite side (all de-lensed distances at zabs). We show that (1) the gas distribution is anisotropic; (2) $W_0^{2796}$, $W_0^{2600}$, $W_0^{2852}$, and the ratio $W_0^{2600}\!/W_0^{2796}$, all anticorrelate with D; (3) the $W_0^{2796}$–D relation is not cuspy and exhibits significantly less scatter than the quasar-absorber statistics; (4) the absorbing gas is co-rotating with the galaxy out to D ≲ 20 kpc, resembling a ‘flat’ rotation curve, but at D ≳ 20 kpc velocities decline below the expectations from a 3D disc-model extrapolated from the nebular O ii emission. These signatures constitute unambiguous evidence for rotating extra-planar diffuse gas, possibly also undergoing enriched accretion at its edge. Arguably, we are witnessing some of the long-sought processes of the baryon cycle in a single distant galaxy expected to be representative of such phenomena.
We present the results of work involving a statistically complete sample of 34 galaxy clusters, in the redshift range 0.15 = z = 0.3 observed with Chandra. We investigate the luminosity-mass (LM) ...relation for the cluster sample, with the masses obtained via a full hydrostatic mass analysis. We utilize a method to fully account for selection biases when modelling the LM relation, and find that the LM relation is significantly different from the relation modelled when not account for selection effects. We find that the luminosity of our clusters is 2.2 plus or minus 0.4 times higher (when accounting for selection effects) than the average for a given mass and its mass is 30 per cent lower than the population average for a given luminosity. Equivalently, using the LM relation measured from this sample without correcting for selection biases would lead to the underestimation by 40 percent of the average mass of a cluster with a given luminosity. Comparing the hydrostatic masses to mass estimates determined from the YX parameter, we find that they are entirely consistent, irrespective of the dynamical state of the cluster.
This paper investigates vertically integrated equilibrium models for CO2 storage. We pay particular attention to the importance of including the effect of fine‐scale capillary forces in the ...integrated equations. This aspect has been neglected in previous work, where the fluids are segregated by a sharp interface. Our results show that the fine‐scale capillary forces lead to qualitative and quantitative alterations of the integrated equations. Interestingly, while such forces are dispersive on the fine scale, they lead to self‐sharpening of the solution on the integrated scale. We discuss these aspects for injection, leakage, and long‐term migration through the application by comparison to common sharp interface models proposed in the literature.
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