DISCOVERY OF A GIANT Ly{alpha} EMITTER NEAR THE REIONIZATION EPOCH
- Observatories of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, 813 Santa Barbara Street, Pasadena, CA 91101 (United States)
- Department of Astronomy, School of Science, University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-0033 (Japan)
- Department of Astronomy, University of Arizona, 933 N Cherry Avenue, Rm. N204, Tucson, AZ 85721-0065 (United States)
- Research Center for Space and Cosmic Evolution, Ehime University, 2-5 Bunkyo-cho, Matsuyama 790-8577 (Japan)
- Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology, Stanford University, 2575 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025 (United States)
- Department of Astronomy, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853 (United States)
- Optical and Infrared Astronomy Division, National Astronomical Observatory, Mitaka, Tokyo 181-8588 (Japan)
- Nobeyama Radio Observatory, Minamimaki, Minamisaku, Nagano 384-1305 (Japan)
- Subaru Telescope, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, 650 North A'ohoku Place, Hilo, HI 96720 (United States)
- Astronomical Institute, Graduate School of Science, Tohoku University, Aramaki, Aoba, Sendai 980-8578 (Japan)
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of British Columbia, 6224 Agricultural Road, Vancouver V6T 1Z1 (Canada)
- SUPA Institute for Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, Royal Observatory, Edinburgh EH9 3HJ (United Kingdom)
We report the discovery of a giant Ly{alpha} emitter (LAE) with a Spitzer/Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) counterpart near the reionization epoch at z = 6.595. The giant LAE is found from the extensive 1 deg{sup 2} Subaru narrowband survey for z = 6.6 LAEs in the Subaru/XMM-Newton Deep Survey (SXDS) field, and subsequently identified by deep spectroscopy of Keck/DEIMOS and Magellan/IMACS. Among our 207 LAE candidates, this LAE is not only the brightest narrowband object with L(Ly{alpha}) = 3.9 {+-} 0.2 x 10{sup 43} erg s{sup -1} in our survey volume of 10{sup 6} Mpc{sup 3}, but also a spatially extended Ly{alpha} nebula with the largest isophotal area whose major axis is at least {approx_equal}3''. This object is more likely to be a large Ly{alpha} nebula with a size of {approx}>17 kpc than to be a strongly lensed galaxy by a foreground object. Our Keck spectrum with medium-high spectral and spatial resolutions suggests that the velocity width is v {sub FWHM} = 251 {+-} 21 km s{sup -1}, and that the line-center velocity changes by {approx_equal}60 km s{sup -1} in a 10 kpc range. The stellar mass and star formation rate are estimated to be 0.9-5.0 x 10{sup 10} M {sub sun} and >34 M {sub sun} yr{sup -1}, respectively, from the combination of deep optical to infrared images of Subaru, UKIDSS-Ultra Deep Survey, and Spitzer/IRAC. Although the nature of this object is not yet clearly understood, this could be an important object for studying cooling clouds accreting onto a massive halo, or forming-massive galaxies with significant outflows contributing to cosmic reionization and metal enrichment of intergalactic medium.
- OSTI ID:
- 21300710
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 696, Issue 2; Other Information: DOI: 10.1088/0004-637X/696/2/1164; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0004-637X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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