Allison L. Strom

The Lyα Properties of Faint Galaxies at z ~ 2-3 with Systemic Redshifts and Velocity Dispersions from Keck-MOSFIRE

We study the Lya profiles of 36 spectroscopically-detected Lya-emitters (LAEs) at z2-3, using Keck MOSFIRE to measure systemic redshifts and velocity dispersions from rest-frame optical nebular emission lines. The sample has a median optical magnitude R=26.0, and ranges from R23 to R>27, corresponding to rest-frame UV absolute magnitudes M_UV-22 to M_UV>-18.2. Dynamical masses range from M_dyn 3 sigma significance: brighter galaxies with larger velocity dispersions tend to have larger values of dv_Lya. We also make use of a comparison sample of 122 UV-color-selected R<25.5 galaxies at z2, all with Lya emission and systemic redshifts measured from nebular emission lines. Using the combined LAE and comparison samples for a total of 158 individual galaxies, we find that dv_Lya is anti-correlated with the Lya equivalent width with 7 sigma significance. Our results are consistent with a scenario in which the Lya profile is determined primarily by the properties of the gas near the systemic redshift; in such a scenario, the opacity to Lya photons in lower mass galaxies may be reduced if large gaseous disks have not yet developed and if the gas is ionized by the harder spectrum of young, low metallicity stars.

Reconciling the Stellar and Nebular Spectra of High-redshift Galaxies

We present a combined analysis of rest-frame far-UV (1000-2000 A) and rest-frame optical (3600-7000 A) composite spectra formed from very deep observations of a sample of 30 star-forming galaxies with z=2.4+/-0.1, selected to be representative of the full KBSS-MOSFIRE spectroscopic survey. Since the same massive stars are responsible for the observed FUV continuum and the excitation of the observed nebular emission, a self-consistent stellar population synthesis model must simultaneously match the details of the far-UV stellar+nebular continuum and-- when inserted as the excitation source in photoionization models-- account for all observed nebular emission line ratios. We find that only models including massive star binaries, having low stellar metallicity (Z_*/Z_{sun} ~ 0.1) but relatively high ionized gas-phase oxygen abundances (Z_{neb}/Z_{sun} ~ 0.5), can successfully match all of the observational constraints. We argue that this apparent discrepancy is naturally explained by highly super-solar O/Fe [4-5 times (O/Fe)_{sun}], expected for gas whose enrichment is dominated by the products of core-collapse supernovae. Once the correct ionizing spectrum is identified, photoionization models reproduce all of the observed strong emission line ratios, the direct T_e measurement of O/H, and allow accurate measurement of the gas-phase abundance ratios of N/O and C/O -- both of which are significantly sub-solar but, as for O/Fe, are in remarkable agreement with abundance patterns observed in Galactic thick disk, bulge, and halo stars with similar O/H. High nebular excitation is the rule at high-z (and rare at low-z) because of systematically shorter enrichment timescales (<<1 Gyr): low Fe/O environments produce harder (and longer-lived) stellar EUV spectra at a given O/H, enhanced by dramatic effects on the evolution of massive star binaries.

Metal-line absorption around z ≈ 2.4 star-forming galaxies in the Keck Baryonic Structure Survey

We study metal absorption around 854 z ≈ 2.4 star-forming galaxies taken from the Keck Baryonic Structure Survey. The galaxies examined in this work lie in the fields of 15 hyperluminous background quasi-stellar objects, with galaxy impact parameters ranging from 35 proper kpc (pkpc) to 2 proper Mpc (pMpc). Using the pixel optical depth technique, we present the first galaxy-centred 2D maps of the median absorption by O VI, N V, C IV, C III, and Si IV, as well as updated results for H I. At small galactocentric radii we detect a strong enhancement of the absorption relative to randomly located regions that extend out to at least 180 pkpc in the transverse direction, and ±240 km s^(−1) along the line of sight (LOS, ∼1 pMpc in the case of pure Hubble flow) for all ions except N V. For C IV (and H I) we detect a significant enhancement of the absorption signal out to 2 pMpc in the transverse direction, corresponding to the maximum impact parameter in our sample. After normalizing the median absorption profiles to account for variations in line strengths and detection limits, in the transverse direction we find no evidence for a sharp drop-off in metals distinct from that of H I. We argue instead that non-detection of some metal-line species in the extended circumgalactic medium is consistent with differences in the detection sensitivity. Along the LOS, the normalized profiles reveal that the enhancement in the absorption is more extended for O VI, C IV, and Si IV than for H I. We also present measurements of the scatter in the pixel optical depths, covering fractions, and equivalent widths as a function of projected galaxy distance. Limiting the sample to the 340 galaxies with redshifts measured from nebular emission lines does not decrease the extent of the enhancement along the LOS compared to that in the transverse direction. This rules out redshift errors as the source of the observed redshift-space anisotropy and thus implies that we have detected the signature of gas peculiar velocities from infall, outflows, or virial motions for H I, O VI, C IV, C III, and Si IV.

THE SPECTROSCOPIC PROPERTIES OF Lyα-EMITTERS AT z ∼ 2.7: ESCAPING GAS AND PHOTONS FROM FAINT GALAXIES*

We present a spectroscopic survey of 318 faint (R ~ 27, L ~ 0.1 L*), Lyα-emission-selected galaxies (LAEs) in regions centered on the positions of hyperluminous QSOs (HLQSOs) at 2.5 ν_(sec). Further observations, including deep spectroscopy in the observed near-IR, will further probe the evolution and enrichment of these galaxies in the context of their gaseous environments.

Nebular Emission Line Ratios in z ≃ 2–3 Star-forming Galaxies with KBSS-MOSFIRE: Exploring the Impact of Ionization, Excitation, and Nitrogen-to-Oxygen Ratio

We present a detailed study of the rest-optical (3600-7000 Angstrom) nebular spectra of ~380 star-forming galaxies at z~2-3 obtained with Keck/MOSFIRE as part of the Keck Baryonic Structure Survey (KBSS). The KBSS-MOSFIRE sample is representative of star-forming galaxies at these redshifts, with stellar masses M*=10^9-10^11.5 M_sun and star formation rates SFR=3-1000 M_sun/yr. We focus on robust measurements of many strong diagnostic emission lines for individual galaxies: [O II]3727,3729, [Ne III]3869, H-beta, [O III]4960,5008, [N II]6549,6585, H-alpha, and [S II]6718,6732. Comparisons with observations of typical local galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and between subsamples of KBSS-MOSFIRE show that high-redshift galaxies exhibit a number of significant differences in addition to the well-known offset in log([O III]/H-beta) and log([N II]/H-alpha). We argue that the primary difference between H II regions in z~2.3 galaxies and those at z~0 is an enhancement in the degree of nebular excitation, as measured by [O III]/H-beta and R23=log[([O III]+[O II])/H-beta]. At the same time, KBSS-MOSFIRE galaxies are ~10 times more massive than z~0 galaxies with similar ionizing spectra and have higher N/O (likely accompanied by higher O/H) at fixed excitation. These results indicate the presence of harder ionizing radiation fields at fixed N/O and O/H relative to typical z~0 galaxies, consistent with Fe-poor stellar population models that include massive binaries, and highlight a population of massive, high-specific star formation rate galaxies at high-redshift with systematically different star formation histories than galaxies of similar stellar mass today.

The Rest-frame Optical Spectroscopic Properties of Lyα-emitters at z~2.5: The Physical Origins of Strong Lyα Emission

We present the rest-frame optical spectroscopic properties of 60 faint (R_(AB) ~ 27; L ~ 0.1 L_*) Lyα-selected galaxies (LAEs) at z ≈ 2.56. These LAEs also have rest-UV spectra of their Lyα emission line morphologies, which trace the effects of interstellar and circumgalactic gas on the escape of Lyα photons. We find that the LAEs have diverse rest-optical spectra, but their average spectroscopic properties are broadly consistent with the extreme low-metallicity end of the populations of continuum-selected galaxies selected at z ≈ 2–3. In particular, the LAEs have extremely high [O iii] λ5008/Hβ ratios (log([O iii]/Hβ) ~ 0.8) and low [N ii] λ6585/Hα ratios (log([N ii]/Hα) < 1.15). Coupled with a detection of the [O iii] λ4364 auroral line, these measurements indicate that the star-forming regions in faint LAEs are characterized by high electron temperatures (T_e ≈ 1.8 × 10^4 K), low oxygen abundances (12 + log(O/H) ≈ 8.04, Z_(neb) ≈ 0.22Z_⊙), and high excitations with respect to their more luminous continuum-selected analogs. Several of our faintest LAEs have line ratios consistent with even lower metallicities, including six with 12 + log(O/H) ≈ 6.9–7.4 (Z_(neb) ≈ 0.02–0.05Z_⊙). We interpret these observations in light of new models of stellar evolution (including binary interactions) that have been shown to produce long-lived populations of hot, massive stars at low metallicities. We find that strong, hard ionizing continua are required to reproduce our observed line ratios, suggesting that faint galaxies are efficient producers of ionizing photons and important analogs of reionization-era galaxies. Furthermore, we investigate the physical trends accompanying Lyα emission across the largest current sample of combined Lyα and rest-optical galaxy spectroscopy, including both the 60 KBSS-Lyα LAEs and 368 more luminous galaxies at similar redshifts. We find that the net Lyα emissivity (parameterized by the Lyα equivalent width) is strongly correlated with nebular excitation and ionization properties and weakly correlated with dust attenuation, suggesting that metallicity plays a strong role in determining the observed properties of these galaxies by modulating their stellar spectra, nebular excitation, and dust content.

Detection of hot, metal-enriched outflowing gas around z ≈ 2.3 star-forming galaxies in the Keck Baryonic Structure Survey

We use quasar absorption lines to study the physical conditions in the circumgalactic medium of redshift z ≈ 2.3 star-forming galaxies taken from the Keck Baryonic Structure Survey (KBSS). In Turner et al. (2014) we used the pixel optical depth technique to show that absorption by Hi and the metal ions OvI, Nv, CIv, CIII and SiIv is strongly enhanced within │Δv│≾. 170 km s^(-1) and projected distances │d│≾. 180 proper kpc from sightlines to the background quasars. Here we demonstrate that the OvI absorption is also strongly enhanced at fixed HI, CIv, and SiIv optical depths, and that this enhancement extends out to ~ 350 km s^(-1). At fixed HI the increase in the median OvI optical depth near galaxies is 0.3-0.7 dex and is detected at 2-3-σ confidence for all seven HI bins that have log_(10) T_(HI) ≥ -1.5. We use ionisation models to show that the observed strength of OvI as a function of HI is consistent with enriched, photoionised gas for pixels with T_(HI) ≳ 10. However, for pixels with T_(HI) ≾ 1 this would lead to implausibly high metallicities at low densities if the gas were photoionised by the background radiation. This indicates that the galaxies are surrounded by gas that is sufficiently hot to be collisionally ionised (T > 10^5 K) and that a substantial fraction of the hot gas has a metallicity ≳ 10^(-1) of solar. Given the high metallicity and large velocity extent (out to ~ 1.5 x v_(circ)) of this gas, we conclude that we have detected hot, metal enriched outflows arising from star-forming galaxies.

A High Fraction of Lyα-Emitters Among Galaxies with Extreme Emission Line Ratios at z ~ 2

Star-forming galaxies form a sequence in the [O III] λ5007/Hβ versus [N II] λ6584/Hɑ diagnostic diagram, with low-metallicity, highly ionized galaxies falling in the upper left corner. Drawing from a large sample of UV-selected star-forming galaxies at z ~ 2 with rest-frame optical nebular emission line measurements from Keck-MOSFIRE, we select the extreme ~5% of the galaxies lying in this upper left corner, requiring log([NII]/Hβ) ⩽ -1.1 and log([O III]/Hβ) ⩾/0.75. These cuts identify galaxies with 12 + log(O/H ≾ 8.0, when oxygen abundances are measured via the O3N2 diagnostic. We study the Lyα properties of the resulting sample of 14 galaxies. The mean (median) rest-frame Lyα equivalent width is 39 (36) A, and 11 of the 14 objects (79%) are Lyα emitters (LAEs) with W_(Lyα) > 20 A. We compare the equivalent width distribution of a sample of 522 UV-selected galaxies at 2.0 < z < 2.6 identified without regard to their optical line ratios; this sample has mean (median) Lyα equivalent width −1 (−4) A, and only 9% of these galaxies qualify as LAEs. The extreme galaxies typically have lower attenuation at Lyα than those in the comparison sample and have ~50% lower median oxygen abundances. Both factors are likely to facilitate the escape of Lyα: in less dusty galaxies Lyα photons are less likely to be absorbed during multiple scatterings, while the harder ionizing spectrum and higher ionization parameter associated with strong, low-metallicity star formation may reduce the covering fraction or column density of neutral hydrogen, further easing Lyα escape. The use of nebular emission line ratios may prove useful in the identification of galaxies with low opacity to Lyα photons across a range of redshifts.

SN Refsdal: Classification as a luminous and blue SN 1987A-like type II supernova

We have acquired Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and Very Large Telescope near-infrared spectra and images of supernova (SN) Refsdal after its discovery as an Einstein cross in fall 2014. The HST light curve of SN Refsdal has a shape consistent with the distinctive, slowly rising light curves of SN 1987A-like SNe, and we find strong evidence for a broad Hα P-Cygni profile and Na I D absorption in the HST grism spectrum at the redshift (z = 1.49) of the spiral host galaxy. SNe IIn, largely powered by circumstellar interaction, could provide a good match to the light curve of SN Refsdal, but the spectrum of a SN IIn would not show broad and strong Hα and Na I D absorption. From the grism spectrum, we measure an Hα expansion velocity consistent with those of SN 1987A-like SNe at a similar phase. The luminosity, evolution, and Gaussian profile of the Hα emission of the WFC3 and X-shooter spectra, separated by ~2.5 months in the rest frame, provide additional evidence that supports the SN 1987A-like classification. In comparison with other examples of SN 1987A-like SNe, photometry of SN Refsdal favors bluer B − V and V − R colors and one of the largest luminosities for the assumed range of potential magnifications. The evolution of the light curve at late times will provide additional evidence about the potential existence of any substantial circumstellar material. Using MOSFIRE and X-shooter spectra, we estimate a subsolar host-galaxy metallicity (8.3 ± 0.1 dex and <8.4 dex, respectively) near the explosion site.

A comparison of observed and simulated absorption from H I, C IV, and Si IV around z ≈ 2 star-forming galaxies suggests redshift–space distortions are due to inflows

We study H I and metal-line absorption around z ≈ 2 star-forming galaxies by comparing an analysis of data from the Keck Baryonic Structure Survey to mock spectra generated from the Evolution and Assembly of Galaxies and their Environments (EAGLE) cosmological, hydrodynamical simulations. We extract sightlines from the simulations and compare the properties of the absorption by H I, C IV, and Si IV around simulated and observed galaxies using pixel optical depths. We mimic the resolution, pixel size, and signal-to-noise ratio of the observations, as well as the distributions of impact parameters and galaxy redshift errors. We find that the EAGLE reference model is in excellent agreement with the observations. In particular, the simulation reproduces the high metal-line optical depths found at small galactocentric distances, the optical depth enhancements out to impact parameters of 2 proper Mpc, and the prominent redshift–space distortions which we find are due to peculiar velocities rather than redshift errors. The agreement is best for halo masses ∼10^(12.0) M⊙, for which the observed and simulated stellar masses also agree most closely. We examine the median ion mass-weighted radial gas velocities around the galaxies, and find that most of the gas is infalling, with the infall velocity depending on halo rather than stellar mass. From this, we conclude that the observed redshift–space distortions are predominantly caused by infall rather than outflows.