Spectroscopic Confirmation of Monster Galaxies at 3<z<4 with Keck- NIRSPEC

Physics

Scientific paper

Rate now

  [ 0.00 ] – not rated yet Voters 0   Comments 0

Details

Scientific paper

One of the most fundamental questions regarding galaxy formation and evolution is when and how the most massive galaxies formed. Recent studies find that the number density of the most massive galaxies evolves little from z=4 to z ~ 1.5, contrary to the predictions from galaxy formation models, with the largest disagreement at 3 < z < 4. The discovery of a large, unexpected population of extremely massive galaxies at 3 < z < 4 is supported by the 0.5 deg.^2 NEWFIRM Medium-Band Survey (NMBS), a NOAO Survey program using medium band-width filters in the NIR to obtain high-accuracy photometric redshifts. Despite the unique depth and wavelength coverage of the NMBS, the existence of these galaxies is still intensely controversial. We propose to use NIRSPEC on Keck to obtain spectroscopic redshifts for the brightest ~50% of a large, unique, and homogeneous sample of 14 very massive galaxies at 3 < z < 4 selected from the NMBS. In 2 nights, NIRSPEC will provide continuum and emission line detections in the K-band allowing us to 1) spectroscopically confirm the existence of galaxies at 33×10^11 M_&sun;; 2) determine their AGN fraction; and 3) quantify the emission line contamination to the photometry.

No associations

LandOfFree

Say what you really think

Search LandOfFree.com for scientists and scientific papers. Rate them and share your experience with other people.

Rating

Spectroscopic Confirmation of Monster Galaxies at 3<z<4 with Keck- NIRSPEC does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Spectroscopic Confirmation of Monster Galaxies at 3<z<4 with Keck- NIRSPEC, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Spectroscopic Confirmation of Monster Galaxies at 3<z<4 with Keck- NIRSPEC will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

     

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1134421

  Search
All data on this website is collected from public sources. Our data reflects the most accurate information available at the time of publication.