THE zCOSMOS-SINFONI PROJECT. I. SAMPLE SELECTION AND NATURAL-SEEING OBSERVATIONS
- INAF-OAPD, Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, Vicolo Osservatorio 5, I-35122 Padova (Italy)
- Max-Planck-Institut fuer Extraterrestrische Physik, Giessenbachstrasse, D-85748 Garching (Germany)
- Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri (OAF), INAF-Firenze, Largo E. Fermi 5, I-50125 Firenze (Italy)
- Institute of Astronomy, Department of Physics, Eidgenossische Technische Hochschule, ETH Zurich CH-8093 (Switzerland)
- INAF-Bologna, Via Ranzani, I-40127 Bologna (Italy)
- CEA-Saclay, DSM/DAPNIA/Service d'Astrophysique, F-91191 Gif-Sur Yvette Cedex (France)
- Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation, University of Portsmouth, Dennis Sciama Building, Burnaby Road, PO1 3HE Portsmouth (United Kingdom)
- IAP, 98bis bd Arago, F-75014 Paris (France)
- Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106 (United States)
- Aerospace Research Laboratories, Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems, Redondo Beach, CA 90278 (United States)
The zCOSMOS-SINFONI project is aimed at studying the physical and kinematical properties of a sample of massive z {approx} 1.4-2.5 star-forming galaxies, through SINFONI near-infrared integral field spectroscopy (IFS), combined with the multiwavelength information from the zCOSMOS (COSMOS) survey. The project is based on one hour of natural-seeing observations per target, and adaptive optics (AO) follow-up for a major part of the sample, which includes 30 galaxies selected from the zCOSMOS/VIMOS spectroscopic survey. This first paper presents the sample selection, and the global physical characterization of the target galaxies from multicolor photometry, i.e., star formation rate (SFR), stellar mass, age, etc. The H{alpha} integrated properties, such as, flux, velocity dispersion, and size, are derived from the natural-seeing observations, while the follow-up AO observations will be presented in the next paper of this series. Our sample appears to be well representative of star-forming galaxies at z {approx} 2, covering a wide range in mass and SFR. The H{alpha} integrated properties of the 25 H{alpha} detected galaxies are similar to those of other IFS samples at the same redshifts. Good agreement is found among the SFRs derived from H{alpha} luminosity and other diagnostic methods, provided the extinction affecting the H{alpha} luminosity is about twice that affecting the continuum. A preliminary kinematic analysis, based on the maximum observed velocity difference across the source and on the integrated velocity dispersion, indicates that the sample splits nearly 50-50 into rotation-dominated and velocity-dispersion-dominated galaxies, in good agreement with previous surveys.
- OSTI ID:
- 22004500
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 743, Issue 1; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0004-637X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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