Morphologies of the Most Extreme High-Redshift Mid-IR-Luminous Galaxies

Physics

Scientific paper

Rate now

  [ 0.00 ] – not rated yet Voters 0   Comments 0

Details

Scientific paper

The formative phase of the most massive galaxies may be extremely luminous, characterized by intense star- and AGN-formation. Till now, few such galaxies have been unambiguously identified at high redshift, restricting us to the study of low-redshift ultraluminous infrared galaxies as possible analogs. We have recently discovered a sample of objects which may indeed represent this early phase in galaxy formation, and are undertaking an extensive multiwavelength study of this population. These objects are bright at mid-IR wavelengths F[24um]>0.8mJy, but deep ground based imaging suggests extremely faint and in some cases extended optical counterparts R~24-27. Deep K-band images show barely resolved galaxies. Mid-infrared spectroscopy with Spitzer/IRS reveals that they have redshifts z ~ 2-2.5, suggesting bolometric luminosities ~10^13-14Lsun! We propose to obtain deep ACS F814W and NIC2 F160W images of these sources and their environs in order to determine kpc-scale morphologies and surface photometry for these galaxies. The proposed observations will help us determine whether these extreme objects are merging systems, massive obscured starbursts with obscuration on kpc scales! or very reddened locally obscured AGN hosted by intrinsically low-luminosity galaxies.

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

Morphologies of the Most Extreme High-Redshift Mid-IR-Luminous Galaxies 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 Morphologies of the Most Extreme High-Redshift Mid-IR-Luminous Galaxies, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Morphologies of the Most Extreme High-Redshift Mid-IR-Luminous Galaxies will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

     

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1792965

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