Internal Kinematics of Distant Field Galaxies

Statistics – Methodology

Scientific paper

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Faint Blue Galaxies

Scientific paper

We study faint blue field galaxies in two complementary ways by targeting red-shifted, broadened emission lines: (1) a detailed study of a small but representative sample using resolved images that reveal the internal kinematics of individual galaxies, and analyzing effects like ionized gas distribution and galaxy inclination that tend to bias the results obtained from spatially unresolved galaxy spectra; and (2) a study of a spatially unresolved but statistically complete sample within our color, magnitude, and redshift cuts. In order to facilitate comparison of distant and local galaxies, we have developed a methodology to study distant galaxies in as much detail as is customary for nearby galaxies, using state-of-the-art data. The ultimate goal of such a comparison is to determine the amount of evolution of the mass-to-light ratio of individual galaxies and to thereby constrain models of galaxy formation and evolution. In a followup to our recent multifiber spectroscopic study of the linewidth-vs-luminosity relation in faint blue galaxies at < z>~ 0.25 (Rix et al. 1997, MNRAS, 285, 779), we have carried out a detailed study of the internal kinematics of 10 distant (z = 0.30[-]0.44), faint (B = 20[-]24), blue (B-R <= 1.2) field galaxies using the Rutgers Fabry-Perot (RFP) instrument on the Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory's 4-meter telescope. In deriving rotation speeds from fiber spectra, we had to rely on large and somewhat uncertain statistical corrections for the effects of non-uniform gas distribution, disk inclination, shape of the rotation curve, and seeing. Using fitting disk models to the RFP datacube, complemented by surface photometry and isophotal shapes derived from high angular resolution Hubble Space Telescope Wide Field/Planetary Camera-2 images in the F814W ('I') or F555W ('V') Band and deep H-Band (1.6 μm) images obtained with the Near InfraRed Camera on the Keck 10-meter telescope, the RFP study addresses these issues directly and yields reliable estimates of the rotation speed on a galaxy-by-galaxy basis. The preliminary indication from this pilot study based on 9 'normal' emission line galaxies is that the I-Band linewidth-luminosity relation at < z> = 0.35 is consistent with that measured for local galaxy samples.

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