We report the discovery of a Lyman α emitting galaxy at z = 6.518. The single line was found in the 43 arcmin2 VLT/FORS field by slitless spectroscopy limited to the atmospheric window at λ ˜ 9100 Å (sampling Lyα at 6.4 < z < 6.6). Its counterpart is undetected in a deep I band image and the line has an asymmetric appearance in a deeper follow-up spectrum. There are no plausible line identifications except for Lyα with a flux of 1.9× 10-17 erg cm-2 s-1 and rest frame equivalent width >80 Å. The lower limit to the star formation rate density at z = 6.5 derived from our complete sample is 5×10-4 Msun yr-1 Mpc-3, consistent with measurements in the Subaru Deep Field and Hubble Ultra Deep Field but approximately ten times higher than in the Large Area Lyman Alpha survey. This Lyα emitter is among the very small sample of highest redshift galaxies known.
A Lyman a emitter at z = 6.5 found with slitless spectroscopy
FERRARA, ANDREA;
2004
Abstract
We report the discovery of a Lyman α emitting galaxy at z = 6.518. The single line was found in the 43 arcmin2 VLT/FORS field by slitless spectroscopy limited to the atmospheric window at λ ˜ 9100 Å (sampling Lyα at 6.4 < z < 6.6). Its counterpart is undetected in a deep I band image and the line has an asymmetric appearance in a deeper follow-up spectrum. There are no plausible line identifications except for Lyα with a flux of 1.9× 10-17 erg cm-2 s-1 and rest frame equivalent width >80 Å. The lower limit to the star formation rate density at z = 6.5 derived from our complete sample is 5×10-4 Msun yr-1 Mpc-3, consistent with measurements in the Subaru Deep Field and Hubble Ultra Deep Field but approximately ten times higher than in the Large Area Lyman Alpha survey. This Lyα emitter is among the very small sample of highest redshift galaxies known.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
