HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE WFC3 EARLY RELEASE SCIENCE: EMISSION-LINE GALAXIES FROM INFRARED GRISM OBSERVATIONS
- Astrophysics Science Division, Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 665, Greenbelt, MD 20771 (United States)
- Space Telescope European Coordinating Facility, Karl Schwarzschild Str. 2, D 85748 Garching (Germany)
- School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287 (United States)
- Department of Astronomy, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22904-4325 (United States)
- Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD 21218 (United States)
- International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research, University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA 6009 (Australia)
- Observatories of the Carnegie Institute of Washington, Pasadena, CA 91101 (United States)
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521 (United States)
- Department of Astronomy, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195-1580 (United States)
- Department of Astronomy, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003 (United States)
- School of Physics and Astronomy, Cardiff University, Cardiff, CF24 3AA (United Kingdom)
- Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Australian National University, ACT 2611 (Australia)
We present grism spectra of emission-line galaxies (ELGs) from 0.6 to 1.6 {mu}m from the Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) on the Hubble Space Telescope. These new infrared grism data augment previous optical Advanced Camera for Surveys G800L 0.6-0.95 {mu}m grism data in GOODS-South from the PEARS program, extending the wavelength coverage well past the G800L red cutoff. The Early Release Science (ERS) grism field was observed at a depth of two orbits per grism, yielding spectra of hundreds of faint objects, a subset of which is presented here. ELGs are studied via the H{alpha}, [O III], and [O II] emission lines detected in the redshift ranges 0.2 {approx}< z {approx}< 1.4, 1.2 {approx}< z {approx}< 2.2, and 2.0 {approx}< z {approx}< 3.3, respectively, in the G102 (0.8-1.1 {mu}m; R {approx_equal} 210) and G141 (1.1-1.6 {mu}m; R {approx_equal} 130) grisms. The higher spectral resolution afforded by the WFC3 grisms also reveals emission lines not detectable with the G800L grism (e.g., [S II] and [S III] lines). From these relatively shallow observations, line luminosities, star formation rates, and grism spectroscopic redshifts are determined for a total of 48 ELGs to m A{sub B(F098M)} {approx_equal} 25 mag. Seventeen GOODS-South galaxies that previously only had photometric redshifts now have new grism-spectroscopic redshifts, in some cases with large corrections to the photometric redshifts ({Delta}z {approx_equal} 0.3-0.5). Additionally, one galaxy had no previously measured redshift but now has a secure grism-spectroscopic redshift, for a total of 18 new GOODS-South spectroscopic redshifts. The faintest source in our sample has a magnitude m{sub AB(F098M)}= 26.9 mag. The ERS grism data also reflect the expected trend of lower specific star formation rates for the highest mass galaxies in the sample as a function of redshift, consistent with downsizing and discovered previously from large surveys. These results demonstrate the remarkable efficiency and capability of the WFC3 NIR grisms for measuring galaxy properties to faint magnitudes and redshifts to z {approx}> 2.
- OSTI ID:
- 21583273
- Journal Information:
- Astronomical Journal (New York, N.Y. Online), Vol. 141, Issue 1; Other Information: DOI: 10.1088/0004-6256/141/1/14; ISSN 1538-3881
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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