A Possible Forest of Emission Lines from Proto-galaxies

Abstract

The possibility of detecting proto-galaxies in the UV band is pointed out, assuming that galaxy formation occured at z $\sim 5-6$. It is shown that the diffuse gas in collapsing galaxy sized objects with temperatures $\sim 10^{6\pm 0.5}$ K, and with a modest amount of metallicity, should copiously produce emission lines from highly ionized Iron atoms. The expected luminosity from models of galaxy formation is compared with the sensitivity of HST.

arXiv comment7 pages (4 figs, available upon request). (To appear in MNRAS pink pages)