A faint star-forming system viewed through the lensing cluster abell 2218: first light at Z 5.6?
Sep, 200111 pages
Published in:
- Astrophys.J.Lett. 560 (2001) L119
e-Print:
- astro-ph/0109249 [astro-ph]
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Abstract: (arXiv)
We discuss the physical nature of a remarkably faint pair of Lyman alpha-emitting images discovered close to the giant cD galaxy in the lensing cluster Abell 2218 (z=0.18) during a systematic survey for highly-magnified star-forming galaxies beyond z=5. A well-constrained mass model suggests the pair arises via a gravitationally-lensed source viewed at high magnification. Keck spectroscopy confirms the lensing hypothesis and implies the unlensed source is a very faint (I~30) compact (<150 pc) and isolated object at z=5.576 whose optical emission is substantially contained within the Lyman alpha emission line: no stellar continuum is detectable. The available data suggest the source is a promising candidate for an isolated ~10^6 solar mass system seen producing its first generation of stars close to the epoch of reionization.References(25)
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