Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Jan 2012
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2012aas...21942419c&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #219, #424.19
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Scientific paper
HETDEX will map the power spectrum of 0.8 million blindly discovered Lyman-alpha Emitting Galaxies (LAE) using a revolutionary new array of massively replicated fiber-fed spectrographs dubbed the Visible Integral-Field Replicable Unit Spectrograph (VIRUS). In the era of the Hobby-Eberly Telescope wide-field upgrade and VIRUS, the current Low Resolution Spectrograph (LRS) must be replaced with a fiber instrument. We discuss the development of the second generation LRS (LRS2), which is a multi-channel instrument based on the VIRUS design. In its current design phase, it is fed by a 287 fiber microlens coupled integral field unit that covers 7” x 12” with 0.62” resolution. The instrument covers 3720 Å to 4700 Å at R ≈ 1900 and 4600 Å to 7000 Å at R ≈1200. With the purpose of making the instrument ideal for follow-up observations of LAE in the HETDEX survey, we discuss the science drivers for selecting the instrument's spectral resolution. We test the utility of the instrument and pilot a future study with LRS2 by presenting R ≈ 2000 spectra taken with the VIRUS prototype spectrograph (VIRUS-P) in a high-resolution mode at the McDonald Observatory Harlan J. Smith 2.7 m telescope. These LAE were originally discovered in the HETDEX Pilot Survey and their Lyman-alpha line profiles are constrained by near-infrared observations of rest-frame optical emission lines that set the systemic redshift of the galaxies. We discuss the velocity offsets of the Lyman-alpha line from the systemic line center and compare the line profiles to theoretical predictions and to similar observations for Lyman-break galaxies. Our observations provide an example of how LRS2 can be used to probe Lyman-alpha emission in 2 < z < 3 star forming galaxies.
Adams Jeffrey
Chonis Taylor S.
Finkelstein Steven L.
Gebhardt Karl
HETDEX Collaboration
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