Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
Sep 1994
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1994a%26a...289...54v&link_type=abstract
Astronomy and Astrophysics (ISSN 0004-6361), vol. 289, no. 1, p. 54-60
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
42
Images, Line Spectra, Radio Galaxies, Radio Spectra, Red Shift, Starburst Galaxies, Visible Spectrum, Brightness Distribution, Extinction, Flux Density, Image Analysis, Photoionization, Spectrum Analysis
Scientific paper
We report the discovery of a distant galaxy at a redshift z = 2.34 with a peculiar emission line spectrum. It is an ultra steep spectrum radio source and identified with an object of R-magnitude 22.7. The optical spectrum is highly anomalous with a flux ratio of Ly-alpha to NV lambda 1240 of 1.1, a factor of approximately 30 smaller than that for a typical high-redshift radio galaxy. Ly-alpha is weak and NV lambda 1240 is strong when compared with CIV lambda 1549, HeII lambda 1640 and CIII lambda 1909. The spectrum resembles that of the z = 2.29 IRAS galaxy F10214 + 4724. Possible mechanisms for simultaneously depressing Ly-alpha and enhancing NV are considered. The relatively large NV/CIV ratio indicates that the line-emitting gas is overabundant in nitrogen. We conclude that TX0211-122 is likely to be undergoing a massive starburst in the central region, possibly as the result of the passage of the radio jet. The vigorous starburst would produce (1) the dust responsible for attenuating the central Ly-alpha emission and (2) a relative overabundance of nitrogen. The NV lambda 1240 emission can be produced either by shocks or by photoionization. Shocks could be due to supernovae from the starburst or from the passage of the radio jet and photoionization could be due to the youngest stars and the Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN). The peculiar spectrum of TX0211-122 is further evidence that radio jets may trigger vigorous star formation in high-redshift galaxies.
Bremer Malcolm N.
Chambers Kenneth C.
Macchetto Ferdinando
Miley George K.
Ojik van R.
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