GLOBAL STAR FORMATION RATE DENSITY OVER 0.7 < z < 1.9

Journal Article · Fri May 01 04:00:00 EDT 2009 · Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/696/1/785; COUNTRY OF INPUT: INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY (IAEA)· OSTI ID:21296170

Shim, Hyunjin ^[1]; Colbert, James; Teplitz, Harry; Yan, Lin ^[2]; Henry, Alaina; Malkan, Mattew ^[3]; McCarthy, Patrick ^[4]

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1. Department of Physics and Astronomy, FPRD, Seoul National University, Seoul (Korea, Republic of)
2. Spitzer Science Center, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA (United States)
3. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1547 (United States)
4. Observatories of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, 813 Santa Barbara Street, Pasadena, CA (United States)

We determine the global star formation rate (SFR) density at 0.7 < z < 1.9 using emission-line-selected galaxies identified in Hubble Space Telescope-Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrograph (HST-NICMOS) grism spectroscopy observations. Observing in a pure parallel mode throughout HST Cycles 12 and 13, our survey covers {approx}104 arcmin{sup 2} from which we select 80 galaxies with likely redshifted H{alpha} emission lines. In several cases, a somewhat weaker [O III] doublet emission is also detected. The H{alpha} luminosity range of the emission-line galaxy sample is 4.4 x 10{sup 41} < L(H{alpha}) < 1.5 x 10{sup 43} erg s{sup -1}. In this range, the luminosity function is well described by a Schechter function with {phi}* = (4.24 {+-} 3.55) x 10{sup -3} Mpc{sup -3}, L* = (2.88 {+-} 1.58) x 10{sup 42} erg s{sup -1}, and {alpha} = -1.39 {+-} 0.43. We derive a volume-averaged SFR density of 0.138 {+-} 0.058 M {sub sun} yr{sup -1} Mpc{sup -3} at z = 1.4 without an extinction correction. Subdividing the redshift range, we find SFR densities of 0.088 {+-} 0.056 M {sub sun} yr{sup -1} Mpc{sup -3} at z = 1.1 and 0.265 {+-} 0.174 M {sub sun} yr{sup -1} Mpc{sup -3} at z = 1.6. The overall star formation rate density is consistent with previous studies using H{alpha} when the same average extinction correction is applied, confirming that the cosmic peak of star formation occurs at z > 1.5.

• OSTI ID: 21296170
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Journal Name: Astrophysical Journal Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 696; ISSN ASJOAB; ISSN 0004-637X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS
GALAXIES
LUMINOSITY
RED SHIFT
SPECTROSCOPY
STARS
TELESCOPES