Probing Individual Star Forming Regions Within Strongly Lensed Galaxies at z > 1
arXiv:1409.4660 · doi:10.1017/S1743921314009806
Abstract
Star formation occurs on physical scales corresponding to individual star forming regions, typically of order ~100 parsecs in size, but current observational facilities cannot resolve these scales within field galaxies beyond the local universe. However, the magnification from strong gravitational lensing allows us to measure the properties of these discrete star forming regions within galaxies in the distant universe. New results from multi-wavelength spectroscopic studies of a sample of extremely bright, highly magnified lensed galaxies are revealing the complexity of star formation on sub-galaxy scales during the era of peak star formation in the universe. We find a wide range of properties in the rest-frame UV spectra of individual galaxies, as well as in spectra that originate from different star forming regions within the same galaxy. Large variations in the strengths and velocity structure of Lyman-alpha and strong P Cygni lines such as C IV, and MgII provide new insights into the astrophysical relationships between extremely massive stars, the elemental abundances and physical properties of the nebular gas those stars ionize, and the galactic-scale outflows they power.
arXiv comment4 pages, 3 figures. To be published in the Proceedings of IAU Symposium 309. For more details and closely related work see also arXiv:1310.6695 and arXiv:1406.3356
References in corpus (17)
- Rest-Frame Ultraviolet Spectra of z~3 Lyman Break Galaxies
- New Observations of the Interstellar Medium in the Lyman Break Galaxy MS 1512-cB58
- The Ultraviolet Spectrum of the Gravitationally Lensed Galaxy `The Cosmic Horseshoe': A Close-up of a Star-forming Galaxy at z = 2
- The Physical Conditions, Metallicity and Metal Abundance Ratios In a Highly Magnified Galaxy at z = 3.6252
- Gemini/GMOS Spectroscopy of 26 Strong Lensing Selected Galaxy Cluster Cores
- A Study of Interstellar Gas and Stars in the Gravitationally Lensed Galaxy `The Cosmic Eye' from Rest-Frame Ultraviolet Spectroscopy
- The Physical Conditions of a Lensed Star-forming Galaxy at z=1.7
- A Magnified View of the Kinematics and Morphology of RCSGA 032727-132609: Zooming in on a Merger at z=1.7
- Source Plane Reconstruction of The Bright Lensed Galaxy RCSGA 032727-132609
- The Redshift Distribution of Giant Arcs in the Sloan Giant Arcs Survey
- Turning Back the Clock: Inferring the History of the Eight O'clock Arc
- Two Lensed z~3 Lyman Break Galaxies Discovered in the SDSS Giant Arcs Survey
- Broadband Photometry of 105 Giant Arcs: Redshift Constraints and Implications for Giant Arc Statistics
- A bright, spatially extended lensed galaxy at z = 1.7 behind the cluster RCS2 032727-132623
- Resolved Star Formation on Sub-galactic Scales in a Merger at z=1.7
- Two Lensed Lyman-alpha Emitting Galaxies at z~5
- On the lack of correlation between Mg II 2796, 2803 Angstrom and Lyman alpha emission in lensed star-forming galaxies