EVIDENCE FOR SPATIALLY COMPACT Ly{alpha} EMISSION IN z = 3.1 Ly{alpha}-EMITTING GALAXIES

Journal Article · Sun Jun 20 04:00:00 EDT 2010 · Astrophysical Journal Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/716/2/L200· OSTI ID:21451067

Bond, Nicholas A; Gawiser, Eric ^[1]; Feldmeier, John J ^[2]; Matkovic, Ana; Gronwall, Caryl; Ciardullo, Robin ^[3]

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1. Physics and Astronomy Department, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ 08854-8019 (United States)
2. Department of Physics and Astronomy, Youngstown State University, Youngstown, OH 44555 (United States)
3. Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802 (United States)

We present the results of a high spatial resolution study of the line emission in a sample of z = 3.1 Ly{alpha}-emitting galaxies (LAEs) in the Extended Chandra Deep Field-South. Of the eight objects with coverage in our HST/WFPC2 narrowband imaging, two have clear detections and two are barely detected ({approx}2 {sigma}). The clear detections are within {approx}0.5 kpc of the centroid of the corresponding rest-UV continuum source, suggesting that the line-emitting gas and young stars in LAEs are spatially coincident. The brightest object exhibits extended emission with a half-light radius of {approx}1.5 kpc, but a stack of the remaining LAE surface brightness profiles is consistent with the WFPC2 point-spread function. This suggests that the Ly{alpha} emission in these objects originates from a compact ({approx}<2 kpc) region and cannot be significantly more extended than the far-UV continuum emission ({approx}<1 kpc). Comparing our WFPC2 photometry to previous ground-based measurements of their monochromatic fluxes, we find at 95% (99.7%) confidence that we cannot be missing more than 22% (32%) of the Ly{alpha} emission.

• OSTI ID: 21451067
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal Letters, Journal Name: Astrophysical Journal Letters Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 716; ISSN 2041-8205
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
BRIGHTNESS
COSMOLOGY
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
EMISSION
GALAXIES
MONOCHROMATIC RADIATION
OPTICAL PROPERTIES
PHOTOMETRY
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
RADIATIONS
RED SHIFT
RESOLUTION
SPATIAL RESOLUTION
STARS
VISIBLE RADIATION