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CONSTRAINING STELLAR PROPERTIES OF INTERVENING DAMPED Ly{alpha} AND Mg II ABSORBING GALAXIES TOWARD GRB 050730

Journal Article · · Astronomical Journal (New York, N.Y. Online)
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4]
  1. Subaru Telescope, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, 650 North A'ohoku Place, Hilo, HI 96720 (United States)
  2. Faculty of Industrial Science and Technology, Tokyo University of Science, 102-1 Tomino, Oshamambe, Hokkaido 049-3514 (Japan)
  3. Institute of Astronomy, School of Science, University of Tokyo, 2-21-1 Osawa, Mitaka, Tokyo 181-0015 (Japan)
  4. Optical and Infrared Astronomy Division, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, 2-21-1 Osawa, Mitaka, Tokyo 181-8588 (Japan)

We performed multiband deep imaging of the field around GRB 050730 to identify the host galaxies of intervening absorbers, which consist of a damped Ly{alpha} absorption (DLA) system at z{sub abs} = 3.564, a sub-DLA system at z{sub abs} = 3.022, and strong Mg II absorption systems at z{sub abs} = 1.773 and 2.253. Our observations were performed after the gamma-ray burst afterglow had disappeared. Thus, our imaging survey has a higher sensitivity to the host galaxies of the intervening absorbers than the normal imaging surveys in the direction of QSOs, for which the QSO glare tends to hide the foreground galaxies. In this deep imaging survey, we could not detect any unambiguous candidates for the host galaxies of the intervening absorbers. Using the 3{sigma} upper limit of the flux in the optical to mid-infrared observing bands, which corresponds to the UV to optical bands in the rest frame of the intervening absorbers, we constrained the star formation rates and stellar masses of the hosts. We estimated the star formation rates for the intervening absorbers to be {approx}< 2.5 M{sub Sun} yr{sup -1} for z > 3 DLAs and {approx}< 1.0 M{sub Sun} yr{sup -1} for z {approx} 2 Mg II systems. Their stellar masses are estimated to be several times 10{sup 9} M{sub Sun} or smaller for all intervening galaxies. These properties are comparable to dwarf galaxies, rather than the massive star-forming galaxies commonly seen in the z > 2 galaxy surveys based on emission-line selection or color selection.

OSTI ID:
22034364
Journal Information:
Astronomical Journal (New York, N.Y. Online), Journal Name: Astronomical Journal (New York, N.Y. Online) Journal Issue: 3 Vol. 144; ISSN 1538-3881
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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