Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics – Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2011-02-08
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics
Accepted to MNRAS letters
Scientific paper
The observational frontiers for the detection of high-redshift galaxies have recently been pushed to unimaginable distances with the record-holding Lyman Alpha Emitter (LAE) UDFy-38135539 discovered at redshift z=8.6. However, the physical nature and the implications of this discovery have yet to be assessed. By selecting galaxies with observed luminosities similar to UDFy-38135539 in state-of-the-art cosmological simulations tuned to reproduce the large scale properties of LAEs, we bracket the physical nature of UDFy-38135539: it has a star formation rate ~ 2.7-3.7 solar masses/yr, it contains ~ 10^{8.3-8.7} solar mass of stars 50-80 Myr old, with stellar metallicity ~ 0.03-0.12 of the solar value. For any of the simulated galaxies to be visible as a LAE in the observed range, the intergalactic neutral hydrogen fraction at z=8.6 must be <= 0.2 and extra ionizing radiation from sources clustered around UDFy-38135539 is necessary. Finally, we predict that there is a 70% (15%) probability of detecting at least 1 such source from JWST (HST/WFC3) observations in a physical radius ~ 0.4 Mpc around UDFy-38135539.
Dayal Pratika
Ferrara Andrea
No associations
LandOfFree
Ancient giants: on the farthest galaxy at z=8.6 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 Ancient giants: on the farthest galaxy at z=8.6, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Ancient giants: on the farthest galaxy at z=8.6 will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-649630