skip to main content

Title: CLEAR: Emission-line Ratios at Cosmic High Noon
Abstract

We use Hubble Space Telescope Wide Field Camera 3 G102 and G141 grism spectroscopy to measure rest-frame optical emission-line ratios of 533 galaxies atz∼ 1.5 in the CANDELS LyαEmission at Reionization survey. We compare [Oiii]/Hβversus [Sii]/(Hα+ [Nii]) as an “unVO87” diagram for 461 galaxies and [Oiii]/Hβversus [Neiii]/[Oii] as an “OHNO” diagram for 91 galaxies. The unVO87 diagram does not effectively separate active galactic nuclei (AGN) and [Nev] sources from star-forming galaxies, indicating that the unVO87 properties of star-forming galaxies evolve with redshift and overlap with AGN emission-line signatures atz> 1. The OHNO diagram does effectively separate X-ray AGN and [Nev]-emitting galaxies from the rest of the population. We find that the [Oiii]/Hβline ratios are significantly anticorrelated with stellar mass and significantly correlated withlog(LHβ), while [Sii]/(Hα+ [Nii]) is significantly anticorrelated withlog(LHβ). Comparison with MAPPINGS V photoionization models indicates that these trends are consistent with lower metallicity and higher ionization in low-mass and high-star formation rate (SFR) galaxies. We do not find evidence for redshift evolution of the emission-line ratios outside of the correlations with mass and SFR. Our results suggest that the OHNO diagram of [Oiii]/Hβversus [Neiii]/[Oii] will more » be a useful indicator of AGN content and gas conditions in very high-redshift galaxies to be observed by the James Webb Space Telescope.

« less
Authors:
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Award ID(s):
1945546
Publication Date:
NSF-PAR ID:
10363236
Journal Name:
The Astrophysical Journal
Volume:
926
Issue:
2
Page Range or eLocation-ID:
Article No. 161
ISSN:
0004-637X
Publisher:
DOI PREFIX: 10.3847
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
More Like this
  1. Abstract

    We present rest-frame optical emission-line flux ratio measurements for fivez> 5 galaxies observed by the James Webb Space Telescope Near-Infared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) in the SMACS 0723 Early Release Observations. We add several quality-control and post-processing steps to the NIRSpec pipeline reduction products in order to ensure reliablerelativeflux calibration of emission lines that are closely separated in wavelength, despite the uncertainabsolutespectrophotometry of the current version of the reductions. Compared toz∼ 3 galaxies in the literature, thez> 5 galaxies have similar [Oiii]λ5008/Hβratios, similar [Oiii]λ4364/Hγratios, and higher (∼0.5 dex) [NeIII]λ3870/[OII]λ3728 ratios. We compare the observations to MAPPINGS V photoionization models and find that the measured [NeIII]λ3870/[OII]λ3728, [Oiii]λ4364/Hγ, and [Oiii]λ5008/Hβemission-line ratios are consistent with an interstellar medium (ISM) that has very high ionization (log(Q)89, units of cm s−1), low metallicity (Z/Z≲ 0.2), and very high pressure (log(P/k)89, units of cm−3). The combination of [Oiii]λ4364/Hγand [Oiii]λ(4960 + 5008)/Hβline ratios indicate very high electron temperatures of4.1<log(Te/K)<4.4, further implying metallicities ofZ/Z≲ 0.2 with the application of low-redshift calibrations for “Te-based” metallicities. These observations represent a tantalizing new view of the physical conditions of the ISM in galaxies atmore »cosmic dawn.

    « less
  2. Abstract

    We present a Keck/MOSFIRE rest-optical composite spectrum of 16 typical gravitationally lensed star-forming dwarf galaxies at 1.7 ≲z≲ 2.6 (zmean= 2.30), all chosen independent of emission-line strength. These galaxies have a median stellar mass oflog(M*/M)med=8.290.43+0.51and a median star formation rate ofSFRHαmed=2.251.26+2.15Myr1. We measure the faint electron-temperature-sensitive [Oiii]λ4363 emission line at 2.5σ(4.1σ) significance when considering a bootstrapped (statistical-only) uncertainty spectrum. This yields a direct-method oxygen abundance of12+log(O/H)direct=7.880.22+0.25(0.150.06+0.12Z). We investigate the applicability at highzof locally calibrated oxygen-based strong-line metallicity relations, finding that the local reference calibrations of Bian et al. best reproduce (≲0.12 dex) our composite metallicity at fixed strong-line ratio. At fixedM*, our composite is well represented by thez∼ 2.3 direct-method stellar mass—gas-phase metallicity relation (MZR) of Sanders et al. When comparing to predicted MZRs from the IllustrisTNG and FIRE simulations, having recalculated our stellar masses with more realistic nonparametric star formation histories(log(M*/M)med=8.920.22+0.31), we find excellent agreement with the FIRE MZR. Our composite is consistent with no metallicity evolution, atmore »fixedM*and SFR, of the locally defined fundamental metallicity relation. We measure the doublet ratio [Oii]λ3729/[Oii]λ3726 = 1.56 ± 0.32 (1.51 ± 0.12) and a corresponding electron density ofne=10+215cm3(ne=10+74cm3) when considering the bootstrapped (statistical-only) error spectrum. This result suggests that lower-mass galaxies have lower densities than higher-mass galaxies atz∼ 2.

    « less
  3. Abstract

    We present a multiwavelength analysis of the galaxy cluster SPT-CL J0607-4448 (SPT0607), which is one of the most distant clusters discovered by the South Pole Telescope atz= 1.4010 ± 0.0028. The high-redshift cluster shows clear signs of being relaxed with well-regulated feedback from the active galactic nucleus (AGN) in the brightest cluster galaxy (BCG). Using Chandra X-ray data, we construct thermodynamic profiles and determine the properties of the intracluster medium. The cool-core nature of the cluster is supported by a centrally peaked density profile and low central entropy (K0=189+11keV cm2), which we estimate assuming an isothermal temperature profile due to the limited spectral information given the distance to the cluster. Using the density profile and gas cooling time inferred from the X-ray data, we find a mass-cooling rateṀcool=10060+90Myr−1. From optical spectroscopy and photometry around the [Oii] emission line, we estimate that the BCG star formation rate isSFR[OII]=1.70.6+1.0Myr−1, roughly two orders of magnitude lower than the predicted mass-cooling rate. In addition, using ATCA radio data at 2.1 GHz, we measure a radio jet powerPcav=3.21.3+2.1×1044erg s−1, which is consistent withmore »the X-ray cooling luminosity (Lcool=1.90.5+0.2×1044erg s−1withinrcool= 43 kpc). These findings suggest that SPT0607 is a relaxed, cool-core cluster with AGN-regulated cooling at an epoch shortly after cluster formation, implying that the balance between cooling and feedback can be reached quickly. We discuss the implications for these findings on the evolution of AGN feedback in galaxy clusters.

    « less
  4. Abstract

    We combine our dynamical modeling black-hole mass measurements from the Lick AGN Monitoring Project 2016 sample with measured cross-correlation time lags and line widths to recover individual scale factors,f, used in traditional reverberation-mapping analyses. We extend our sample by including prior results from Code for AGN Reverberation and Modeling of Emission Lines (caramel) studies that have utilized our methods. Aiming to improve the precision of black-hole mass estimates, as well as uncover any regularities in the behavior of the broad-line region (BLR), we search for correlations betweenfand other AGN/BLR parameters. We find (i) evidence for a correlation between the virial coefficientlog10(fmean,σ)and black-hole mass, (ii) marginal evidence for a similar correlation betweenlog10(frms,σ)and black-hole mass, (iii) marginal evidence for an anticorrelation of BLR disk thickness withlog10(fmean,FWHM)andlog10(frms,FWHM), and (iv) marginal evidence for an anticorrelation of inclination angle withlog10(fmean,FWHM),log10(frms,σ), andlog10(fmean,σ). Last, we find marginal evidence for a correlation between line-profile shape, when using the root-mean-square spectrum,log10(FWHM/σ)rms, and the virial coefficient,log10(frms,σmore »stretchy='false'>), and investigate how BLR properties might be related to line-profile shape usingcaramelmodels.

    « less
  5. Abstract

    We present a detection of 21 cm emission from large-scale structure (LSS) between redshift 0.78 and 1.43 made with the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment. Radio observations acquired over 102 nights are used to construct maps that are foreground filtered and stacked on the angular and spectral locations of luminous red galaxies (LRGs), emission-line galaxies (ELGs), and quasars (QSOs) from the eBOSS clustering catalogs. We find decisive evidence for a detection when stacking on all three tracers of LSS, with the logarithm of the Bayes factor equal to 18.9 (LRG), 10.8 (ELG), and 56.3 (QSO). An alternative frequentist interpretation, based on the likelihood ratio test, yields a detection significance of 7.1σ(LRG), 5.7σ(ELG), and 11.1σ(QSO). These are the first 21 cm intensity mapping measurements made with an interferometer. We constrain the effective clustering amplitude of neutral hydrogen (Hi), defined asHI103ΩHIbHI+fμ2, where ΩHiis the cosmic abundance of Hi,bHiis the linear bias of Hi, and 〈fμ2〉 = 0.552 encodes the effect of redshift-space distortions at linear order. We findHI=1.510.97+3.60for LRGs (z=more »0.84),HI=6.763.79+9.04for ELGs (z= 0.96), andHI=1.680.67+1.10for QSOs (z= 1.20), with constraints limited by modeling uncertainties at nonlinear scales. We are also sensitive to bias in the spectroscopic redshifts of each tracer, and we find a nonzero bias Δv= − 66 ± 20 km s−1for the QSOs. We split the QSO catalog into three redshift bins and have a decisive detection in each, with the upper bin atz= 1.30 producing the highest-redshift 21 cm intensity mapping measurement thus far.

    « less