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Title: 3D-HST: A WIDE-FIELD GRISM SPECTROSCOPIC SURVEY WITH THE HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE

Abstract

We present 3D-HST, a near-infrared spectroscopic Treasury program with the Hubble Space Telescope for studying the physical processes that shape galaxies in the distant universe. 3D-HST provides rest-frame optical spectra for a sample of {approx}7000 galaxies at 1 < z < 3.5, the epoch when {approx}60% of all star formation took place, the number density of quasars peaked, the first galaxies stopped forming stars, and the structural regularity that we see in galaxies today must have emerged. 3D-HST will cover three quarters (625 arcmin{sup 2}) of the CANDELS Treasury survey area with two orbits of primary WFC3/G141 grism coverage and two to four orbits with the ACS/G800L grism in parallel. In the IR, these exposure times yield a continuum signal-to-noise ratio of {approx}5 per resolution element at H{sub 140} {approx} 23.1 and a 5{sigma} emission-line sensitivity of {approx}5 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup -17} erg s{sup -1} cm{sup -2} for typical objects, improving by a factor of {approx}2 for compact sources in images with low sky background levels. The WFC3/G141 spectra provide continuous wavelength coverage from 1.1 to 1.6 {mu}m at a spatial resolution of {approx}0.''13, which, combined with their depth, makes them a unique resource for studying galaxy evolution. We present anmore » overview of the preliminary reduction and analysis of the grism observations, including emission-line and redshift measurements from combined fits to the extracted grism spectra and photometry from ancillary multi-wavelength catalogs. The present analysis yields redshift estimates with a precision of {sigma}(z) = 0.0034(1 + z), or {sigma}(v) Almost-Equal-To 1000 km s{sup -1}. We illustrate how the generalized nature of the survey yields near-infrared spectra of remarkable quality for many different types of objects, including a quasar at z = 4.7, quiescent galaxies at z {approx} 2, and the most distant T-type brown dwarf star known. The combination of the CANDELS and 3D-HST surveys will provide the definitive imaging and spectroscopic data set for studies of the 1 < z < 3.5 universe until the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope.« less

Authors:
 [1]; ; ; ; ; ;  [2]; ; ; ;  [3]; ; ;  [4];  [5];  [6];  [7];  [8]; ;  [9] more »; « less
  1. European Southern Observatory, Alonso de Cordova 3107, Casilla 19001, Vitacura, Santiago (Chile)
  2. Department of Astronomy, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520 (United States)
  3. Leiden Observatory, Leiden University, Leiden (Netherlands)
  4. Max Planck Institute for Astronomy (MPIA), Koenigstuhl 17, 69117 Heidelberg (Germany)
  5. Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States)
  6. Department of Physics, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, P.O. Box 413, Milwaukee, WI 53201 (United States)
  7. Steward Observatory, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721 (United States)
  8. Max-Planck-Institut fuer Extraterrestrische Physik, Giessenbachstrasse, D-85748 Garching (Germany)
  9. Astronomy Department, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064 (United States)
Publication Date:
OSTI Identifier:
22047776
Resource Type:
Journal Article
Journal Name:
Astrophysical Journal, Supplement Series
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 200; Journal Issue: 2; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); Journal ID: ISSN 0067-0049
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
79 ASTROPHYSICS, COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY; ASTRONOMY; ASTROPHYSICS; CATALOGS; DWARF STARS; GALAXIES; INFRARED SPECTRA; ORBITS; PHOTOMETRY; QUASARS; RED SHIFT; SIGNAL-TO-NOISE RATIO; SPACE; SPATIAL RESOLUTION; TELESCOPES; UNIVERSE

Citation Formats

Brammer, Gabriel B, Van Dokkum, Pieter G, Skelton, Rosalind E, Nelson, Erica, Bezanson, Rachel, Leja, Joel, Lundgren, Britt, Franx, Marijn, Fumagalli, Mattia, Patel, Shannon, Labbe, Ivo, Rix, Hans-Walter, Schmidt, Kasper B, Da Cunha, Elisabete, Kriek, Mariska, Erb, Dawn K, Fan, Xiaohui, Foerster Schreiber, Natascha, Illingworth, Garth D, Magee, Dan, and others, and. 3D-HST: A WIDE-FIELD GRISM SPECTROSCOPIC SURVEY WITH THE HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE. United States: N. p., 2012. Web. doi:10.1088/0067-0049/200/2/13.
Brammer, Gabriel B, Van Dokkum, Pieter G, Skelton, Rosalind E, Nelson, Erica, Bezanson, Rachel, Leja, Joel, Lundgren, Britt, Franx, Marijn, Fumagalli, Mattia, Patel, Shannon, Labbe, Ivo, Rix, Hans-Walter, Schmidt, Kasper B, Da Cunha, Elisabete, Kriek, Mariska, Erb, Dawn K, Fan, Xiaohui, Foerster Schreiber, Natascha, Illingworth, Garth D, Magee, Dan, & others, and. 3D-HST: A WIDE-FIELD GRISM SPECTROSCOPIC SURVEY WITH THE HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE. United States. https://doi.org/10.1088/0067-0049/200/2/13
Brammer, Gabriel B, Van Dokkum, Pieter G, Skelton, Rosalind E, Nelson, Erica, Bezanson, Rachel, Leja, Joel, Lundgren, Britt, Franx, Marijn, Fumagalli, Mattia, Patel, Shannon, Labbe, Ivo, Rix, Hans-Walter, Schmidt, Kasper B, Da Cunha, Elisabete, Kriek, Mariska, Erb, Dawn K, Fan, Xiaohui, Foerster Schreiber, Natascha, Illingworth, Garth D, Magee, Dan, and others, and. 2012. "3D-HST: A WIDE-FIELD GRISM SPECTROSCOPIC SURVEY WITH THE HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE". United States. https://doi.org/10.1088/0067-0049/200/2/13.
@article{osti_22047776,
title = {3D-HST: A WIDE-FIELD GRISM SPECTROSCOPIC SURVEY WITH THE HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE},
author = {Brammer, Gabriel B and Van Dokkum, Pieter G and Skelton, Rosalind E and Nelson, Erica and Bezanson, Rachel and Leja, Joel and Lundgren, Britt and Franx, Marijn and Fumagalli, Mattia and Patel, Shannon and Labbe, Ivo and Rix, Hans-Walter and Schmidt, Kasper B and Da Cunha, Elisabete and Kriek, Mariska and Erb, Dawn K and Fan, Xiaohui and Foerster Schreiber, Natascha and Illingworth, Garth D and Magee, Dan and others, and},
abstractNote = {We present 3D-HST, a near-infrared spectroscopic Treasury program with the Hubble Space Telescope for studying the physical processes that shape galaxies in the distant universe. 3D-HST provides rest-frame optical spectra for a sample of {approx}7000 galaxies at 1 < z < 3.5, the epoch when {approx}60% of all star formation took place, the number density of quasars peaked, the first galaxies stopped forming stars, and the structural regularity that we see in galaxies today must have emerged. 3D-HST will cover three quarters (625 arcmin{sup 2}) of the CANDELS Treasury survey area with two orbits of primary WFC3/G141 grism coverage and two to four orbits with the ACS/G800L grism in parallel. In the IR, these exposure times yield a continuum signal-to-noise ratio of {approx}5 per resolution element at H{sub 140} {approx} 23.1 and a 5{sigma} emission-line sensitivity of {approx}5 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup -17} erg s{sup -1} cm{sup -2} for typical objects, improving by a factor of {approx}2 for compact sources in images with low sky background levels. The WFC3/G141 spectra provide continuous wavelength coverage from 1.1 to 1.6 {mu}m at a spatial resolution of {approx}0.''13, which, combined with their depth, makes them a unique resource for studying galaxy evolution. We present an overview of the preliminary reduction and analysis of the grism observations, including emission-line and redshift measurements from combined fits to the extracted grism spectra and photometry from ancillary multi-wavelength catalogs. The present analysis yields redshift estimates with a precision of {sigma}(z) = 0.0034(1 + z), or {sigma}(v) Almost-Equal-To 1000 km s{sup -1}. We illustrate how the generalized nature of the survey yields near-infrared spectra of remarkable quality for many different types of objects, including a quasar at z = 4.7, quiescent galaxies at z {approx} 2, and the most distant T-type brown dwarf star known. The combination of the CANDELS and 3D-HST surveys will provide the definitive imaging and spectroscopic data set for studies of the 1 < z < 3.5 universe until the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope.},
doi = {10.1088/0067-0049/200/2/13},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/22047776}, journal = {Astrophysical Journal, Supplement Series},
issn = {0067-0049},
number = 2,
volume = 200,
place = {United States},
year = {Fri Jun 01 00:00:00 EDT 2012},
month = {Fri Jun 01 00:00:00 EDT 2012}
}