Extended Chandra Deep Field South Research Articles

Identification and characterization of six spectroscopically confirmed massive protostructures at 2.5 < z < 4.5

ABSTRACT We present six spectroscopically confirmed massive protostructures, spanning a redshift range of 2.5 < z < 4.5 in the Extended Chandra Deep Field South (ECDFS) field discovered as part of the Charting Cluster Construction in VUDS and ORELSE (C3VO) survey. We identify and characterize these remarkable systems by applying an overdensity measurement technique on an extensive data compilation of public and proprietary spectroscopic and photometric observations in this highly studied extragalactic field. Each of these six protostructures, i.e. a large scale overdensity (volume >9000 cMpc3) of more than 2.5σδ above the field density levels at these redshifts, have a total mass Mtot ≥ 1014.8 M⊙ and one or more highly overdense (overdensity$\, \gt 5\sigma _{\delta }$) peaks. One of the most complex protostructures discovered is a massive (Mtot = 1015.1M⊙) system at z ∼ 3.47 that contains six peaks and 55 spectroscopic members. We also discover protostructures at z ∼ 3.30 and z ∼ 3.70 that appear to at least partially overlap on sky with the protostructure at z ∼ 3.47, suggesting a possible connection. We additionally report on the discovery of three massive protostructures at z = 2.67, 2.80, and 4.14 and discuss their properties. Finally, we discuss the relationship between star formation rate and environment in the richest of these protostructures, finding an enhancement of star formation activity in the densest regions. The diversity of the protostructures reported here provide an opportunity to study the complex effects of dense environments on galaxy evolution over a large redshift range in the early Universe.

The bright end of the galaxy luminosity function at z ≃ 7 from the VISTA VIDEO survey

ABSTRACT We have conducted a search for z ≃ 7 Lyman-break galaxies over 8.2 deg2 of near-infrared imaging from the Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA) Deep Extragalactic Observations (VIDEO) survey in the XMM–Newton-Large Scale Structure (XMM-LSS) and the Extended Chandra Deep Field-South (ECDF-S) fields. Candidate galaxies were selected from a full photometric redshift analysis down to a Y + J depth of 25.3 (5σ), utilizing deep auxiliary optical and Spitzer/Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) data to remove brown dwarf and red interloper galaxy contaminants. Our final sample consists of 28 candidate galaxies at 6.5 ≤ z ≤ 7.5 with −23.5 ≤ MUV ≤ −21.6. We derive stellar masses of 9.1 ≤ log10(M⋆/M⊙) ≤ 10.9 for the sample, suggesting that these candidates represent some of the most massive galaxies known at this epoch. We measure the rest-frame ultraviolet (UV) luminosity function (LF) at z ≃ 7, confirming previous findings of a gradual decline in number density at the bright end (MUV < −22) that is well described by a double power law (DPL). We show that quasar contamination in this magnitude range is expected to be minimal, in contrast to conclusions from recent pure-parallel Hubble studies. Our results are up to a factor of 10 lower than previous determinations from optical-only ground-based studies at MUV ≲ −23. We find that the inclusion of YJHKs photometry is vital for removing brown dwarf contaminants, and z ≃ 7 samples based on red optical data alone could be highly contaminated (≳50 per cent). In comparison with other robust z > 5 samples, our results further support little evolution in the very bright end of the rest-frame UV LF from z = 5–10, potentially signalling a lack of mass quenching and/or dust obscuration in the most massive galaxies in the first Gyr.

The Physical Properties of Star-forming Galaxies with Strong [O iii] Lines at z = 3.25

We present an analysis of physical properties of 34 [O iii] emission-line galaxies (ELGs) at z = 3.254 ± 0.029 in the Extended Chandra Deep Field South (ECDFS). These ELGs are selected from deep narrow H2S(1) and broad K s imaging of 383 arcmin2 obtained with CFHT/WIRCam. We construct spectral energy distributions (SEDs) from U to K s to derive the physical properties of ELGs. These [O iii] ELGs are identified as starburst galaxies with strong [O iii] lines of L OIII ∼ 1042.6–1044.2 erg s−1 and have stellar masses of M * ∼ 109.0–1010.6 M ⊙ and star formation rates of ∼10–210 M ⊙ yr−1. Our results show that 24% of our sample galaxies are dusty with A V > 1 mag and EW([O iii])rest ∼ 70–500 Å, which are often missed in optically selected [O iii] ELG samples. Their rest-frame UV and optical morphologies from HST/ACS and HST/WFC3 deep imaging reveal that these [O iii] ELGs are mostly multiple-component systems (likely mergers) or compact. And 20% of them are nearly invisible in the rest-frame UV owing to heavy dust attenuation. Interestingly, we find that our sample ELGs reside in an overdensity consisting of two components: one southeast (SE) with an overdensity factor of δ gal ∼ 41 over a volume of 133 cMpc3, and the other northwest (NW) with δ gal ∼ 38 over a volume of 103 cMpc3. The two overdense substructures are expected to be virialized at z = 0 with a total mass of ∼ 1.1 × 1015 M ⊙ and ∼ 4.8 × 1014 M ⊙ and probably merge into a Coma-like galaxy cluster.

The cosmic environment overtakes the local density in shaping galaxy star formation

ABSTRACT The gas supply from the cosmic web is the key to sustain star formation in galaxies. It remains to be explored how the cosmic large-scale structure (LSS) effects on galaxy evolution at given local environments. We examine galaxy-specific star formation rate as a function of local density in a LSS at z = 0.735 in the Extended Chandra Deep Field South. The LSS is mapped by 732 galaxies with R < 24 mag and redshift at 0.72 ≤ z ≤ 0.75 collected from the literature and our spectroscopic observations with Magellan/IMACS, consisting of five galaxy clusters/groups and surrounding filaments over an area of 23.9 × 22.7 co-moving Mpc2. The spread of spectroscopic redshifts corresponds a velocity dispersion of 494 km s−1, indicating the LSS likely to be a thin sheet with a galaxy density ≳ 3.9 times that of the general field. These clusters/groups in this LSS mostly exhibit elongated morphologies and multiple components connected with surrounding filaments. Strikingly, we find that star-forming galaxies in the LSS keep star formation at the same level as field, and show no dependence on local density but stellar mass. Meanwhile, an increasing fraction of quiescent galaxies is detected at increasing local density in both the LSS and the field, consistent with the expectation that galaxy mass and local dense environment hold the key to quench star formation. Combined together, we conclude that the cosmic environment of the LSS overtakes the local environment in remaining galaxy star formation to the level of the field.

Measurements of the Dust Properties in z ≃ 1–3 Submillimeter Galaxies with ALMA

Abstract We present Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) 2 mm continuum observations of a complete and unbiased sample of 99 870 μm selected submillimeter galaxies (SMGs) in the Extended Chandra Deep Field South (ALESS). Our observations of each SMG reach average sensitivities of 53 μJy beam−1. We measure the flux densities for 70 sources, for which we obtain a typical 870 μm-to-2 mm flux ratio of 14 ± 5. We do not find a redshift dependence of this flux ratio, which would be expected if the dust emission properties of our SMGs were the same at all redshifts. By combining our ALMA measurements with existing Herschel/SPIRE observations, we construct a (biased) subset of 27 galaxies for which the cool dust emission is sufficiently well sampled to obtain precise constraints on their dust properties using simple isothermal models. Thanks to our new 2 mm observations, the dust emissivity index is well constrained and robust against different dust opacity assumptions. The median dust emissivity index of our SMGs is β ≃ 1.9 ± 0.4, consistent with the emissivity index of dust in the Milky Way and other local and high-redshift galaxies, as well as classical dust-grain model predictions. We also find a negative correlation between the dust temperature and β, similar to low-redshift observational and theoretical studies. Our results indicate that β ≃ 2 in high-redshift dusty star-forming galaxies, implying little evolution in dust-grain properties between our SMGs and local dusty galaxy samples, and suggesting that these high-mass and high-metallicity galaxies have dust reservoirs driven by grain growth in their interstellar medium.

A Spitzer survey of Deep Drilling Fields to be targeted by the Vera C. Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time

ABSTRACT The Vera C. Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) will observe several Deep Drilling Fields (DDFs) to a greater depth and with a more rapid cadence than the main survey. In this paper, we describe the ‘DeepDrill’ survey, which used the Spitzer Space Telescope Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) to observe three of the four currently defined DDFs in two bands, centred on 3.6 and 4.5 μm. These observations expand the area that was covered by an earlier set of observations in these three fields by the Spitzer Extragalactic Representative Volume Survey (SERVS). The combined DeepDrill and SERVS data cover the footprints of the LSST DDFs in the Extended Chandra Deep Field–South (ECDFS) field, the ELAIS-S1 field (ES1), and the XMM-Large-Scale Structure Survey field (XMM-LSS). The observations reach an approximate 5σ point-source depth of 2 μJy (corresponding to an AB magnitude of 23.1; sufficient to detect a 10$^{11} \, \mathrm{M}_{\odot}$ galaxy out to z ≈ 5) in each of the two bands over a total area of $\approx 29\,$ deg2. The dual-band catalogues contain a total of 2.35 million sources. In this paper, we describe the observations and data products from the survey, and an overview of the properties of galaxies in the survey. We compare the source counts to predictions from the Shark semi-analytic model of galaxy formation. We also identify a population of sources with extremely red ([3.6]−[4.5] >1.2) colours which we show mostly consists of highly obscured active galactic nuclei.

The ATLAS 9.0 GHz survey of the extended Chandra Deep Field South: the faint 9.0 GHz radio population

ABSTRACT We present a new image of the 9.0 GHz radio emission from the extended Chandra Deep Field South. A total of 181 h of integration with the Australia Telescope Compact Array has resulted in a 0.276 deg2 image with a median sensitivity of ∼20 µJy beam−1 rms, for a synthesized beam of 4.0 × 1.3 arcsec. We present a catalogue of the 9.0 GHz radio sources, identifying 70 source components and 55 individual radio galaxies. Source counts derived from this sample are consistent with those reported in the literature. The observed source counts are also generally consistent with the source counts from simulations of the faint radio population. Using the wealth of multiwavelength data available for this region, we classify the faint 9 GHz population and find that 91 per cent are radio-loud active galactic nuclei (AGNs), 7 per cent are radio-quiet AGNs, and 2 per cent are star-forming galaxies. The 9.0 GHz radio sources were matched to 5.5 and 1.4 GHz sources in the literature and we find a significant fraction of flat or inverted spectrum sources, with 36 per cent of the 9 GHz sources having $\alpha _{5.5\,\mathrm{ GHz}}^{9.0\,\mathrm{ GHz}}$ > −0.3 (for S ∝ να). This flat or inverted population is not well reproduced by current simulations of radio source populations.

ALMA Reveals Potential Evidence for Spiral Arms, Bars, and Rings in High-redshift Submillimeter Galaxies

Abstract We present subkiloparsec-scale mapping of the 870 μm ALMA continuum emission in six luminous (L IR ∼ 5 × 1012 L ⊙) submillimeter galaxies (SMGs) from the ALESS survey of the Extended Chandra Deep Field South. Our high-fidelity 0.″07-resolution imaging (∼500 pc) reveals robust evidence for structures with deconvolved sizes of ≲0.5–1 kpc embedded within (dominant) exponential dust disks. The large-scale morphologies of the structures within some of the galaxies show clear curvature and/or clump-like structures bracketing elongated nuclear emission, suggestive of bars, star-forming rings, and spiral arms. In this interpretation, the ratio of the “ring” and “bar” radii (1.9 ± 0.3) agrees with that measured for such features in local galaxies. These potential spiral/ring/bar structures would be consistent with the idea of tidal disturbances, with their detailed properties implying flat inner rotation curves and Toomre-unstable disks (Q < 1). The inferred one-dimensional velocity dispersions (σ r ≲ 70–160 km s−1) are marginally consistent with the limits implied if the sizes of the largest structures are comparable to the Jeans length. We create maps of the star formation rate density (ΣSFR) on ∼500 pc scales and show that the SMGs are able to sustain a given (galaxy-averaged) ΣSFR over much larger physical scales than local (ultra)luminous infrared galaxies. However, on 500 pc scales, they do not exceed the Eddington limit set by radiation pressure on dust. If confirmed by kinematics, the potential presence of nonaxisymmetric structures would provide a means for net angular momentum loss and efficient star formation, helping to explain the very high star formation rates measured in SMGs.

The NuSTAR Extragalactic Surveys: Unveiling Rare, Buried AGNs and Detecting the Contributors to the Peak of the Cosmic X-Ray Background

Abstract We report on the results of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) detection by NuSTAR performed in three extragalactic survey fields (COSMic Evolutionary Survey field (COSMOS), Ultra Deep Survey (UDS), and Extended Chandra Deep Field-South (ECDFS)) in three hard bands, namely H1 (8–16 keV), H2 (16–24 keV), and VH (35–55 keV). The aggregated area of the surveys is ∼2.7 deg2. While a large number of sources is detected in the H1 band (72 at the 97% level of reliability), the H2 band directly probing close to the peak of the Cosmic X-ray Background (CXB) returns four significant detections, and two tentative (although not significant) detections are found in the VH-band. All of the sources detected above 16 keV are also detected at lower energies. We compute the integral number counts for sources in such bands, which show broad consistency with population-synthesis models of the CXB. We furthermore identify two Compton-thick AGNs, one in the COSMOS field, associated with a hard and faint Chandra source, and one in the UDS field, never detected in the X-ray band before. Both sources are at the same redshift z ∼ 1.25, which shifts their Compton-hump into the H1 band, and were previously missed in the usually employed NuSTAR bands, confirming the potential for using the H1 band to discover obscured AGNs at z > 1 in deep surveys.

Deep Extragalactic VIsible Legacy Survey (DEVILS): motivation,design, and target catalogue

The Deep Extragalactic VIsible Legacy Survey (DEVILS) is a large spectroscopic campaign at the Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT) aimed at bridging the near and distant Universe by producing the highest completeness survey of galaxies and groups at intermediate redshifts ($0.3<z<1.0$). Our sample consists of $\sim$60,000 galaxies to Y$<$21.2mag, over $\sim$6deg$^{2}$ in three well-studied deep extragalactic fields (Cosmic Origins Survey field, COSMOS, Extended Chandra Deep Field South, ECDFS and the X-ray Multi-Mirror Mission Large-Scale Structure region, XMM-LSS - all Large Synoptic Survey Telescope deep-drill fields). This paper presents the broad experimental design of DEVILS. Our target sample has been selected from deep Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA) Y-band imaging (VISTA Deep Extragalactic Observations, VIDEO and UltraVISTA), with photometry measured by ProFound. Photometric star/galaxy separation is done on the basis of NIR colours, and has been validated by visual inspection. To maximise our observing efficiency for faint targets we employ a redshift feedback strategy, which continually updates our target lists, feeding back the results from the previous night's observations. We also present an overview of the initial spectroscopic observations undertaken in late 2017 and early 2018.

An ALMA survey of CO in submillimetre galaxies: companions, triggering, and the environment in blended sources

We present ALMA observations of the mid-J 12CO emission from six single-dish selected 870-micron sources in the Extended Chandra Deep Field-South (ECDFS) and UKIDSS Ultra-Deep Survey (UDS) fields. These six single-dish submillimetre sources were selected based on previous ALMA continuum observations, which showed that each comprised a blend of emission from two or more individual submillimetre galaxies (SMGs), separated on 5--10 arcsec scales. The six single-dish submillimetre sources targeted correspond to a total of 14 individual SMGs, of which seven have previously-measured robust optical/near-infrared spectroscopic redshifts, which were used to tune our ALMA observations. We detect CO(3-2) or CO(4-3) at z=2.3--3.7 in seven of the 14 SMGs, and in addition serendipitously detect line emission from three gas-rich companion galaxies, as well as identify four new 3.3-mm selected continuum sources in the six fields. Joint analysis of our CO spectroscopy and existing data suggests that 64 \pm 18% of the SMGs in blended submillimetre sources are unlikely to be physically associated. However, three of the SMG fields (50%) contain new, serendipitously-detected CO-emitting (but submillimetre-faint) sources at similar redshifts to the 870-micron selected SMGs we targeted. These data suggest that the SMGs inhabit overdense regions, but that these are not sufficiently overdense on ~100 kpc scales to influence the source blending given the short lifetimes of SMGs. We find that 21 \pm 12% of SMGs have spatially-distinct and kinematically-close companion galaxies (~8--150 kpc and <~300 km/s), which may have enhanced their star-formation via gravitational interactions.

Searching for the 3.5 keV Line in the Deep Fields with Chandra: The 10 Ms Observations

Abstract We report a systematic search for an emission line around 3.5 keV in the spectrum of the cosmic X-ray background using a total of ∼10 Ms Chandra observations toward the COSMOS Legacy and Extended Chandra Deep Field South survey fields. We find marginal evidence of a feature at an energy of ∼3.51 keV with a significance of 2.5–3σ, depending on the choice of statistical treatment. The line intensity is best fit at (8.8 ± 2.9) × 10−7 ph cm−2 s−1 when using a simple Δχ 2 or ph cm−2 s−1 when Markov chain Monte Carlo is used. Based on our knowledge of Chandra and the reported detection of the line by other instruments, an instrumental origin for the line remains unlikely. We cannot, however, rule out a statistical fluctuation, and in that case our results provide a 3σ upper limit at 1.85 × 10−6 ph cm−2 s−1. We discuss the interpretation of this observed line in terms of the iron line background, S xvi charge exchange, as well as potentially being from sterile neutrino decay. We note that our detection is consistent with previous measurements of this line toward the Galactic center and can be modeled as the result of sterile neutrino decay from the Milky Way for the dark matter distribution modeled as a Navarro–Frenk–White profile. For this case, we estimate a mass m ν ∼ 7.01 keV and a mixing angle sin2(2θ) = (0.83–2.75) × 10−10. These derived values are in agreement with independent estimates from galaxy clusters, the Galactic center, and M31.

An ALMA Survey of Submillimeter Galaxies in the Extended Chandra Deep Field South: Spectroscopic Redshifts

Abstract We present spectroscopic redshifts of mJy submillimeter galaxies (SMGs), which have been identified from the ALMA follow-up observations of 870 μm detected sources in the Extended Chandra Deep Field South (the ALMA-LESS survey). We derive spectroscopic redshifts for 52 SMGs, with a median of z = 2.4 ± 0.1. However, the distribution features a high-redshift tail, with ∼23% of the SMGs at . Spectral diagnostics suggest that the SMGs are young starbursts, and the velocity offsets between the nebular emission and UV ISM absorption lines suggest that many are driving winds, with velocity offsets of up to 2000 km s−1. Using the spectroscopic redshifts and the extensive UV-to-radio photometry in this field, we produce optimized spectral energy distributions (SEDs) using Magphys, and use the SEDs to infer a median stellar mass of = (6 ± 1)× 1010 M for our SMGs with spectroscopic redshift. By combining these stellar masses with the star formation rates (measured from the far-infrared SEDs), we show that SMGs (on average) lie a factor of ∼5 above the so-called “main sequence” at . We provide this library of 52 template fits with robust and uniquely well-sampled SEDs as a resource for future studies of SMGs, and also release the spectroscopic catalog of ∼2000 (mostly infrared-selected) galaxies targeted as part of the spectroscopic campaign.

Extinction Correction Significantly Influences the Estimate of the Lyα Escape Fraction

Abstract The Lyα escape fraction is a key measure to constrain the neutral state of the intergalactic medium and then to understand how the universe was fully reionized. We combine deep narrowband imaging data from the custom-made filter NB393 and the filter centered at 2.14 μm to examine the Lyα emitters and Hα emitters at the same redshift z = 2.24. The combination of these two populations allows us to determine the Lyα escape fraction at z = 2.24. Over an area of 383 arcmin2 in the Extended Chandra Deep Field South (ECDFS), 124 Lyα emitters are detected down to NB393 = 26.4 mag at the 5σ level, and 56 Hα emitters come from An et al. Of these, four have both Lyα and Hα emissions (LAHAEs). We also collect the Lyα emitters and Hα emitters at z = 2.24 in the COSMOS field from the literature, and increase the number of LAHAEs to 15 in total. About one-third of them are AGNs. We measure the individual/volumetric Lyα escape fraction by comparing the observed Lyα luminosity/luminosity density to the extinction-corrected Hα luminosity/luminosity density. We revisit the extinction correction for Hα emitters using the Galactic extinction law with color excess for nebular emission. We also adopt the Calzetti extinction law together with an identical color excess for stellar and nebular regions to explore how the uncertainties in extinction correction affect the estimate of individual and global Lyα escape fractions. In both cases, an anti-correlation between the Lyα escape fraction and dust attenuation is found among the LAHAEs, suggesting that dust absorption is responsible for the suppression of the escaping Lyα photons. However, the estimated Lyα escape fraction of individual LAHAEs varies by up to ∼3 percentage points between the two methods of extinction correction. We find the global Lyα escape fraction at z = 2.24 to be (3.7 ± 1.4)% in the ECDFS. The variation in the color excess of the extinction causes a discrepancy of ∼1 percentage point in the global Lyα escape fraction.

The AT-LESS CO(1-0) survey of submillimetre galaxies in the Extended Chandra Deep Field South: First results on cold molecular gas in galaxies at z ∼ 2

We present the first results from our on-going Australia Telescope Compact Array survey of CO(1-0) in ALMA-identified submillimetre galaxies in the Extended Chandra Deep Field South. Strong detections of CO(1-0) emission from two submillimetre galaxies, ALESS 122.1 (z = 2.0232) and ALESS 67.1 (z = 2.1230), were obtained. We estimate gas masses of M_gas ~ 1.3 \times 10^{11} M_odot and M_gas ~ 1.0 \times 10^{11} M_\odot for ALESS 122.1 and ALESS 67.1, respectively, adopting alpha_CO = 1.0. Dynamical mass estimates from the kinematics of the CO(1-0) line yields M_dyn (sin i)^2 = 2.1 +- 1.1 \times 10^{11} M_odot and (3.2 +- 0.9) \times 10^{11} M_\odot for ALESS 122.1 and ALESS 67.1, respectively. This is consistent with the total baryonic mass estimates of these two systems. We examine star formation efficiency using the L_FIR versus L'_CO(1-0) relation for samples of local ULIRGs and LIRGs, and more distant star-forming galaxies, with CO(1-0) detections. We find some evidence of a shallower slope for ULIRGs and SMGs compared to less luminous systems, but a larger sample is required for definite conclusions. We determine gas-to-dust ratios of 170 +- 30 and 140 +- 30 for ALESS 122.1 and ALESS 67.1, respectively, showing ALESS 122.1 has an unusually large gas reservoir. By combining the 38.1 GHz continuum detection of ALESS 122.1 with 1.4 and 5.5 GHz data, we estimate that the free-free contribution to radio emission at 38.1 GHz is 34 +- 17 microJy, yielding a star formation rate (1400 +- 700 M_\odot yr^{-1}) consistent with that from the infrared luminosity.

KILOPARSEC-SCALE DUST DISKS IN HIGH-REDSHIFT LUMINOUS SUBMILLIMETER GALAXIES

ABSTRACT We present high-resolution (0.″16) 870 μm Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) imaging of 16 luminous ( ) submillimeter galaxies (SMGs) from the ALESS survey of the Extended Chandra Deep Field South. This dust imaging traces the dust-obscured star formation in these galaxies on ∼1.3 kpc scales. The emission has a median effective radius of R e = 0.″24 ± 0.″02, corresponding to a typical physical size of 1.8 ± 0.2 kpc. We derive a median Sérsic index of n = 0.9 ± 0.2, implying that the dust emission is remarkably disk-like at the current resolution and sensitivity. We use different weighting schemes with the visibilities to search for clumps on 0.″12 (∼1.0 kpc) scales, but we find no significant evidence for clumping in the majority of cases. Indeed, we demonstrate using simulations that the observed morphologies are generally consistent with smooth exponential disks, suggesting that caution should be exercised when identifying candidate clumps in even moderate signal-to-noise ratio interferometric data. We compare our maps to comparable-resolution Hubble Space Telescope -band images, finding that the stellar morphologies appear significantly more extended and disturbed, and suggesting that major mergers may be responsible for driving the formation of the compact dust disks we observe. The stark contrast between the obscured and unobscured morphologies may also have implications for SED fitting routines that assume the dust is co-located with the optical/near-IR continuum emission. Finally, we discuss the potential of the current bursts of star formation to transform the observed galaxy sizes and light profiles, showing that the descendants of these SMGs are expected to have stellar masses, effective radii, and gas surface densities consistent with the most compact massive ( 1–2 × 1011 ) early-type galaxies observed locally.

Lyα EMITTER GALAXIES AT z ∼ 2.8 IN THE EXTENDED CHANDRA DEEP FIELD SOUTH. I. TRACING THE LARGE-SCALE STRUCTURE VIA Lyα IMAGING∗

ABSTRACT We present a narrowband survey with three adjacent filters for z = 2.8–2.9 Lyman alpha (Lyα) emitter (LAE) galaxies in the Extended Chandra Deep Field South (ECDFS), along with spectroscopic follow-up. With a complete sample of 96 LAE candidates in the narrowband NB466, we confirm the large-scale structure at z ∼ 2.8 suggested by previous spectroscopic surveys. Compared to the blank field detected with the other two narrowband filters NB470 and NB475, the LAE-density excess in NB466 (900 arcmin2) is ∼ 6.0 ± 0.8 times the standard deviation expected at z ∼ 2.8, assuming a linear bias of 2. The overdense large-scale structure in NB466 can be decomposed into four protoclusters, whose overdensities (each within an equivalent comoving volume 153 Mpc3) relative to the blank field (NB470+NB475) are in the range of 4.6–6.6. These four protoclusters are expected to evolve into a Coma-like cluster (M ≥ 1015 M ⊙) at z ∼ 0. We also investigate the various properties of LAEs at z = 2.8–2.9 and their dependence on the environment. The average star formation rates derived from the Lyα, rest-frame UV, and X-ray bands are ∼4, 10, and &lt;16 M ⊙ yr−1, respectively, implying a Lyα escape fraction of 25% ≲ ≲ 40% and a UV continuum escape fraction of ≳ 62% for LAEs at z ∼ 2.8. The Lyα photon density calculated from the integrated Lyα luminosity function in the overdense field (NB466) is ∼50% higher than that in the blank field (NB470+NB475), and more bright LAEs are found in the overdense field. The three brightest LAEs, including a quasar at z = 2.81, are all detected in the X-ray band and in NB466. These three LAE-active galactic nuclei contribute an extra 20%–30% Lyα photon density compared to other LAE galaxies. Furthermore, we find that LAEs in overdense regions have larger equivalent width values, bluer U − B and V − R (∼2–3σ) colors compared with those in lower density regions, indicating that LAEs in overdense regions are younger and possible less dusty. We conclude that the structure at z ∼ 2.8 in the ECDFS field is a very significant and rare density peak similar to the SSA22 protocluster, and narrowband imaging is an efficient method of detecting and studying such structures in the high-z universe.

SEDeblend: a new method for deblending spectral energy distributions in confused imaging

For high-redshift submillimetre or millimetre sources detected with single dish telescopes, interferometric follow-up has shown that many are multiple submm galaxies blended together. Confusion-limited Herschel observations of such targets are also available, and these sample the peak of their spectral energy distribution in the far-infrared. Many methods for analysing these data have been adopted, but most follow the traditional approach of extracting fluxes before model spectral energy distributions are fit, which has the potential to erase important information on degeneracies among fitting parameters and glosses over the intricacies of confusion noise. Here, we adapt the forward-modelling method that we originally developed to disentangle a high-redshift strongly-lensed galaxy group, in order to tackle this problem in a more statistically rigorous way, by combining source deblending and SED fitting into the same procedure. We call this method "SEDeblend." As an application, we derive constraints on far-infrared luminosities and dust temperatures for sources within the ALMA follow-up of the LABOCA Extended Chandra Deep Field South Submillimetre Survey. We find an average dust temperature for an 870 micron-selected sample of (33.9+-2.4) K for the full survey. When selection effects of the sample are considered, we find no evidence that the average dust temperature evolves with redshift.

THE 2 Ms CHANDRA DEEP FIELD-NORTH SURVEY AND THE 250 Ks EXTENDED CHANDRA DEEP FIELD-SOUTH SURVEY: IMPROVED POINT-SOURCE CATALOGS

ABSTRACT We present improved point-source catalogs for the 2 Ms Chandra Deep Field-North (CDF-N) and the 250 ks Extended Chandra Deep Field-South (E-CDF-S) Surveys, implementing a number of recent improvements in Chandra source-cataloging methodology. For CDF-N/E-CDF-S, we provide a main catalog that contains 683/1003 X-ray sources detected with wavdetect at a false-positive probability threshold of 10−5 that also satisfy a binomial-probability source-selection criterion of /P &lt; 0.002. Such an approach maximizes the number of reliable sources detected: a total of 196/275 main-catalog sources are new compared to the Alexander et al. CDF-N/Lehmer et al. E-CDF-S main catalogs. We also provide CDF-N/E-CDF-S supplementary catalogs that consist of 72/56 sources detected at the same wavdetect threshold and having P of 0.004–0.1/0.002–0.1 and mag counterparts. For all CDF-N and E-CDF-S sources, including the newly detected ones (these being generally fainter and more obscured), we determine X-ray source positions utilizing centroid and matched-filter techniques; we also provide multiwavelength identifications, apparent magnitudes of counterparts, spectroscopic and/or photometric redshifts, basic source classifications, and estimates of observed active galactic nucleus and galaxy source densities around respective field centers. Simulations show that both the CDF-N and E-CDF-S main catalogs are highly reliable and reasonably complete. Background and sensitivity analyses indicate that the on-axis mean flux limits reached represent a factor of –2.0 improvement over the previous CDF-N and E-CDF-S limits. We make our data products publicly available.

Compact radio cores in radio-quiet active galactic nuclei

The mechanism of radio emission in radio-quiet (RQ) active galactic nuclei (AGN) is still debated and might arise from the central AGN, from star formation activity in the host, or from either of these sources. A direct detection of compact and bright radio cores embedded in sources that are classified as RQ can unambiguously determine whether a central AGN significantly contributes to the radio emission. We search for compact, high-surface-brightness radio cores in RQ AGNs that are caused unambiguously by AGN activity. We used the Australian Long Baseline Array to search for compact radio cores in four RQ AGNs located in the Extended Chandra Deep Field South (ECDFS). We also targeted four radio-loud (RL) AGNs as a control sample. We detected compact and bright radio cores in two AGNs that are classified as RQ and in one that is classified as RL. Two RL AGNs were not imaged because the quality of the observations was too poor. We report on a first direct evidence of radio cores in RQ AGNs at cosmological redshifts. Our detections show that some of the sources that are classified as RQ contain an active AGN that can contribute significantly (about 50% or more) to the total radio emission.