Directly imaging damped Lyman α galaxies at z &gt; 2 - I. Methodology and first results★

Fumagalli, Michele; O’Meara, John M.; Prochaska, J. Xavier; Kanekar, Nissim

doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2010.17113.x

Cited by 35 publications

(50 citation statements)

References 90 publications

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“…With a flux of f r = (16 ± 1) × 10 −20 erg s −1 cm −2 Å −1 measured in an image generated from the MUSE cube convolved with the SDSS r-band filter, galaxy G is forming stars at a rate of 3.7 ± 0.2 M yr −1 , when adopting the calibration described in Fumagalli et al (2010) and neglecting internal dust extinction. The impact parameter between the quasar sightline and galaxy G is 19.1 ± 0.5 kpc, sufficiently large to make it quite unlikely that we are probing directly the galaxy interstellar medium in absorption.…”

Section: Properties Of the Detected Galaxiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The quasar field J025518.58 + 004847.6 is one of the six fields selected from the parent sample of quasars included in our imaging survey designed to probe the in situ star formation rate (SFR) of high-redshift DLAs (O'Meara et al 2006;Fumagalli et al 2010Fumagalli et al , 2014Fumagalli et al , 2015. The six fields have been selected to host DLAs at z > 3, the redshift for which Lyα enters the wavelength range covered by MUSE, with no other constraints on the physical properties of the absorbing gas (e.g.…”

Section: Data Acquisition and Reductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Witnessing galaxy assembly in an extended z≈3 structure

Fumagalli

Mackenzie

Trayford

et al. 2017

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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We present new observations acquired with the Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer instrument on the Very Large Telescope in a quasar field that hosts a high columndensity damped Lyα absorber (DLA) at z ≈ 3.25. We detect Lyα emission from a nebula at the redshift of the DLA with line luminosity (27 ± 1) × 10 41 erg s −1 , which extends over 37±1 kpc above a surface brightness limit of 6×10 −19 erg s −1 cm −2 arcsec −2 at a projected distance of 30.5±0.5 kpc from the quasar sightline. Two clumps lie inside this nebula, both with Lyα rest-frame equivalent width > 50 Å and with relative lineof-sight velocities aligned with two main absorption components seen in the DLA spectrum. In addition, we identify a compact galaxy at a projected distance of 19.1 ± 0.5 kpc from the quasar sightline. The galaxy spectrum is noisy but consistent with that of a star-forming galaxy at the DLA redshift. We argue that the Lyα nebula is ionized by radiation from star formation inside the two clumps, or by radiation from the compact galaxy. In either case, these data imply the presence of a structure with size 50 kpc inside which galaxies are assembling, a picture consistent with galaxy formation in groups and filaments as predicted by cosmological simulations such as the eagle simulations.

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Section: Properties Of the Detected Galaxiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Data Acquisition and Reductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Witnessing galaxy assembly in an extended z≈3 structure

Fumagalli

Mackenzie

Trayford

et al. 2017

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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“…However, it is possible to measure the SFRs of DLAs at lower column densities at high redshift using the double DLA technique described in Section 1. This technique was used to search for emission from typical DLAs atz 2 3 - (Fumagalli et al 2010, and no emission from the DLAs was detected.…”

Section: Comparison With Double Dla Measurementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…One can then conduct a sensitive search for emission from the lowerredshift source, as the higher-redshift system blocks all light from the QSO (Steidel & Hamilton 1992;O'Meara et al 2006;Fumagalli et al 2010Fumagalli et al , 2014). An unbiased search for DLA host galaxies using this technique yielded no confirmed detections in a sample of 32 DLAs, and the stack of all measurements yielded an SFR limit of  - M 0.3 yr 1 within 2 kpc from the QSO position .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

THE STAR FORMATION RATE EFFICIENCY OF NEUTRAL ATOMIC-DOMINATED HYDROGEN GAS IN THE OUTSKIRTS OF STAR-FORMING GALAXIES FROM z ∼ 1 TO z ∼ 3

Rafelski

Gardner

Fumagalli

et al. 2016

ApJ

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Current observational evidence suggests that the star formation rate (SFR) efficiency of neutral atomic hydrogen gas measured in damped Lyα systems (DLAs) atz 3 is more than 10 times lower than predicted by the Kennicutt-Schmidt (KS) relation. To understand the origin of this deficit, and to investigate possible evolution with redshift and galaxy properties, we measure the SFR efficiency of atomic gas atz 1,z 2, andz 3 around star-forming galaxies. We use new robust photometric redshifts in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field to create galaxy stacks in these three redshift bins, and measure the SFR efficiency by combining DLA absorber statistics with the observed rest-frame UV emission in the galaxies' outskirts. We find that the SFR efficiency of H I gas at > z 1 is ∼1%-3% of that predicted by the KS relation. Contrary to simulations and models that predict a reduced SFR efficiency with decreasing metallicity and thus with increasing redshift, we find no significant evolution in the SFR efficiency with redshift. Our analysis instead suggests that the reduced SFR efficiency is driven by the low molecular content of this atomic-dominated phase, with metallicity playing a secondary effect in regulating the conversion between atomic and molecular gas. This interpretation is supported by the similarity between the observed SFR efficiency and that observed in local atomic-dominated gas, such as in the outskirts of local spiral galaxies and local dwarf galaxies.

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“…During the past 25 years, several deep-imaging campaigns have been carried out, but only with limited success (e.g. Smith et al 1989;Djorgovski et al 1996;Le Brun et al 1997;Fynbo et al 1999;Warren et al 2001;Møller et al 2002;Fumagalli et al 2010; see also Bouché et al 2012). Up to now, only about 17 sub-DLA and DLA galaxies have been identified below the redshift of unity (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Galaxy counterparts of intervening high-zsub-DLAs/DLAs and Mg ii absorbers towards gamma-ray bursts

Schulze

Fynbo

Milvang-Jensen

et al. 2012

A&A

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We present the first search for galaxy counterparts of intervening high-z (2 < z < 3.6) sub-damped Lyα absorbers (sub-DLAs) and DLAs towards gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). Our final sample comprises five intervening sub-DLAs and DLAs in four GRB fields. To identify candidate galaxy counterparts of the absorbers we used deep optical-and near-infrared imaging, and low-, mid-and highresolution spectroscopy acquired with 6-m to 10-m class telescopes, the Hubble and the Spitzer Space Telescopes. Furthermore, we used the spectroscopic information and spectral-energy-distribution fitting techniques to study them in detail. Our main result is the detection and spectroscopic confirmation of the galaxy counterpart of the intervening DLA at z = 3.096 in the field of GRB 070721B (z GRB = 3.6298) as proposed by other authors. We also identify good candidates for the galaxy counterparts of the two strong Mg ii absorbers at z = 0.6915 and 1.4288 towards GRB 050820A (z GRB = 2.615). The properties of the detected DLA galaxy are typical for Lyman-break galaxies (LBGs) at similar redshifts; a young, highly star-forming galaxy that shows evidence for a galactic outflow. This supports the hypothesis that a DLA can be the gaseous halo of an LBG. In addition, we report a redshift coincidence of different objects associated with metal lines in the same field, separated by 130-161 kpc. The high detection rate of three correlated structures on a length scale as short as ∼150 kpc in two pairs of lines of sight is intriguing. The absorbers in each of these are most likely not part of the same gravitationally bound structure. They more likely represent groups of galaxies.

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Directly imaging damped Lyman α galaxies at z > 2 - I. Methodology and first results★

Cited by 35 publications

References 90 publications

Witnessing galaxy assembly in an extended z≈3 structure

Witnessing galaxy assembly in an extended z≈3 structure

THE STAR FORMATION RATE EFFICIENCY OF NEUTRAL ATOMIC-DOMINATED HYDROGEN GAS IN THE OUTSKIRTS OF STAR-FORMING GALAXIES FROM z ∼ 1 TO z ∼ 3

Galaxy counterparts of intervening high-zsub-DLAs/DLAs and Mg ii absorbers towards gamma-ray bursts

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