arXiv subjects

F. Hammer

Publications and source records attributed to F. Hammer.

144 records · Page 8Linked to original sources

arXiv1996

CFRS XIV: Spectral Properties Of Field Galaxies Up To z = 1

The spectral properties of more than 400 CFRS galaxies and their changes over the redshift interval 0 - 1.3 are investigated. Emission line intensities and equivalent widths for accessible lines have been measured, as well as continuum color indices based on 200A wide spectral regions. Within the CFRS sample, the comoving fraction of galaxies with significant emission lines (EW(OII) > 15A) increases from ~13% locally to over 50% at z > 0.5. The fraction of luminous ( M_{B} < -20) quiescent galaxies (those without [OII] 3727 emission) decreases with redshift from 53% at z = 0.3 to 23% at z > 0.5, the latter fraction being similar to that of early type galaxies at that redshift. There is considerable evidence in the data presented here that star formation increases from z = 0 to z > 0.5 in disk galaxies. However, the absence of extremely blue colors and the presence of significant Balmer absorption suggests that the star formation is primarily taking place over long periods of time, rather than in short-duration, high-amplitude ``bursts''. There are several indications that the average metallicity and dust opacity were lower in emission-line galaxies at high redshift than those typically seen in luminous galaxies locally. Beyond z = 0.7, almost all the emission-line galaxies, including the most luminous (at 1mu at rest) ones, have colors approaching those of present-day irregular galaxies, and a third of them have indications (primarily from the strength of the 4000A break) of metallicities significantly less than solar (Z < 0.2 Z_{sun}). (abbreviated)

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arXiv1996

Detailed lensing properties of the MS2137-2353 core and reconstruction of sources

A deep HST image of the MS 2137-2353 core has revealed detailed morphological structures in two arc systems, which are modelled and well reproduced after a complete analysis of the lensing properties of the dark matter component. Latter could have a simple elliptical mass distribution with ellipticity and angular orientation similar to those of the visible and X-ray light, which suggests that the MS 2137-2353 is a relaxed cluster at z=0.313. The predicted density profile ($ρ$ $\sim$ $r^{-1.56\pm0.1}$ with $r_{c}$ $\le$ 22.5$h_{50}^{-1}$ kpc) within 150$h_{50}^{-1}$ kpc implies increasing M/L ratio with the radius, and could be in agreement with predictions from standard CDM simulations. At least two faint sources (unlensed magnitude, R=23.9 and 26, respectively) are aligned with the cluster core and are responsible of the arc systems. They have been reconstructed with details as small as 0".02 (or 160$h_{50}^{-1}$ pc in the source assumed at z= 1), one could be a nearly edge-on barred spiral galaxy, and the other has a more complex morphology, which could be related to a close interacting pair and/or to dust. They show strong signs of star formation indicated by compact HII regions well off their center. The observation of giant luminous arcs by HST could even resolve the size of giant HII regions at z$\sim$ 1.

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arXiv1996

The Canada-France Redshift Survey XII: Nature of emission-line field galaxy population up to z = 0.3

We present a spectroscopic study of the 138 field galaxies to a redshift z = 0.3 from the I-selected Canada-France Redshift Survey. 117(85%) spectra exhibit at least H alpha in emission, the remaining 21(15%) are purely absorption-line spectra. We focus our analysis on spectra with H alpha and H beta in emission, accounting for about half of this low-z sample, which we classify using emission-line ratio diagrams. Using photoionization models, we determine the extreme boundaries of H II galaxies in these diagnostic diagrams, and demonstrate that the emission-line ratios of a significant fraction of galaxies require harder photoionization sources than massive O stars. We find that about 17% of the field galaxies have emission-line ratios consistent with active galaxies, e.g., Seyfert 2 or LINERs. After correcting for stellar absorption under the Balmer lines, we conclude that the fraction of such galaxies is at least 8% of the field galaxy population at z < 0.3.

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arXiv1996

The gravitational lens CFRS14.1311 = HST 14176+5226

Ratnatunga et al. (1995) have recently proposed that an object, HST 14176+5226, in the "Groth-Westphal" HST survey strip is an "Einstein cross" gravitational lens. By chance, this object has been previously observed in the Canada-France Redshift Survey. The candidate lens, catalogued as CFRS14.1311, is an elliptical galaxy at z = 0.81. In addition, the spectrum shows a strong, spatially-extended, emission feature at 5342A that almost certainly originates from two of the four "lensed" images. We tentatively identify this emission line as Ly alpha at z =3.4. A less prominent emission feature at 6822A may be C IV 1549. Our data thus support the identification of this system as a new quadruple-image lens.

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arXiv1996

The CANADA-FRANCE REDSHIFT SURVEY XI: Morphology of high-redshift field galaxies from high-resolution ground-based imaging

The 143 galaxies with secure redshifts (median z = 0.62) from the 1415+52 field of the Canada-France Redshift Survey have been imaged at CFHT with median seeing of 0.67 arcseconds. Structural parameters have been derived by fitting multi-component models, and the results confirm two phenomena seen in a smaller sample of galaxies imaged with HST. First, 11% of the galaxies lie off the normal locus of colour vs. bulge fraction. This class of objects ("blue-nucleated galaxies" or BNGs) was first identified using HST observations (Schade et al. 1995, Ap J, 451, L1), where it was shown that they are associated with peculiar or asymmetric structures and mergers/interactions. The observed frequency of BNGs in this sample is 14% for 0.5 < z < 1.2 and 6% at 0.2 < z < 0.5, but the true frequency is likely to be a factor ~2 higher after corrections are made for the effect of asymmetric/peculiar structures. Second, galaxy disks at 0.5 < z < 1.1 are found to have a mean rest-frame, inclination-corrected, central surface brightness of $μ_{AB}(B)=19.8 \pm 0.1$ mag arcsec$^{-2}$, about 1.6 mag brighter than the Freeman (1970) value. At low redshift, the mean surface brightness is consistent with the Freeman value. These results are consistent with the HST observations. With larger numbers of galaxies and therefore more statistical weight, they demonstrate the capabilities, and limits, of ground-based work in the study of galaxy morphology at high redshift.

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arXiv1996

The CANADA-FRANCE REDSHIFT SURVEY XIII: The luminosity density and star-formation history of the Universe to z ~ 1

The comoving luminosity density of the Universe is estimated from the CFRS faint galaxy sample in three wavebands (2800A, 4400A and 1 micron) over the redshift range 0 < z < 1. In all three wavebands, the comoving luminosity density increases markedly with redshift. For a (q_0 = 0.5, Omega = 1.0) cosmological model, the comoving luminosity density increases as $(1+z)^{2.1 \pm 0.5}$ at 1 micron, as $(1+z)^{2.7 \pm 0.5}$ at 4400A and as $(1+z)^{3.9 \pm 0.75}$ at 2800A, these exponents being reduced by 0.43 and 1.12 for (0.05,0.1) and (-0.85,0.1) cosmological models respectively. The variation of the luminosity density with epoch can be reasonably well modelled by an actively evolving stellar population with a Salpeter initial mass function (IMF) extending to 125 M_sun, a star-formation rate declining with a power 2.5, and a turn-on of star-formation at early epochs. A Scalo (1986) IMF extending to the same mass limit produces too many long-lived low mass stars. This rapid evolution of the star-formation rate and comoving luminosity density of the Universe is in good agreement with the conclusions of Pei and Fall (1995) from their analysis of the evolving metallicity of the Universe. One consequence of this evolution is that the physical luminosity density at short wavelengths has probably declined by two orders of magnitude since z ~ 1.

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arXiv1995

The Canada France Redshift Survey VIII: Evolution of the clustering of galaxies from z~1

We have used the projected two-point correlation function, $w(r_p)$, to investigate the spatial distribution of the 591 galaxies with secure redshifts between $0 \leq z \leq 1.3$ in the five CFRS fields. The slope of the two-point correlation function for the sample as a whole is $γ=1.64\pm0.05$, very similar to the local slope, and $γ$ is therefore not strongly evolving with redshift. However, the amplitude of the correlation function decreases strongly with increasing redshift, so that at $z\approx0.6$ it is a factor of 10 lower (for $q_0=0.5$) than for a similarly-selected local galaxy population, on scales $0.1<r<2h^{-1}$ Mpc ($q_0=0.5$). As a whole, the CFRS data is adequately represented by $r_0(z=0.53)=1.33 \pm 0.09 h^{-1}$Mpc for $q_0=0.5$, and $r_0(z=0.53)=1.57 \pm 0.09 h^{-1}$Mpc for $q_0=0$. Unless the galaxy population at high redshift is quite different from any population seen locally, an unlikely possibility, then this implies growth of clustering as described by the evolutionary parameter $ε$ to be between $0 < ε< +2$. No difference in the clustering of red and blue galaxies is seen at $z \geq 0.5$, although at lower redshifts, $0.2 \leq z \leq 0.5$, blue galaxies are somewhat less strongly correlated than the redder galaxies, as seen in local samples. This effect could be the equivalent for field galaxies to the Butcher-Oemler effect seen in clusters of galaxies. The cross-correlation functions between red and blue samples have comparable amplitudes to the auto-correlation functions of each. The distribution and power spectrum of pair separations does not indicate

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arXiv1995

The Canada-France Redshift Survey X: The Quasar Sample

Six objects with broad emission lines and redshifts from 0.48 to 2.07 were discovered among 736 extragalactic objects in the Canada-France Redshift Survey (CFRS). Although the luminosities of half of the objects are such that they are in the Seyfert regime (M_B > -23), all would be designated as quasars in traditional surveys. Since the only selection criterion was that 17.5 < I_{AB} < 22.5, or approximately B < 23 (assuming a continuum power-law slope of alpha = -0.5), these quasars represent an unbiased, flux-limited sample. Although uncertain, the implied surface density, 200^{+120}_{-80} deg^{-2} is the highest yet measured, and is in good agreement with extrapolations from other faint surveys and the evolving luminosity function models of Boyle (1991). The distributions of the continuum properties, emission-line strengths, etc., of the quasars do not differ significantly from those of quasars selected by other means, and therefore they would have been detected in most traditional surveys. Three of the quasars may be associated with clusters or large structures of galaxies at z > 1.

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arXiv1995

The CANADA-FRANCE REDSHIFT SURVEY VI: Evolution of the galaxy luminosity function to z ~ 1

The cosmic evolution of the field galaxy population has been studied out to a redshift of z ~ 1 using a sample of 730 I-band selected galaxies, of which 591 have secure redshifts with median ~ 0.56. The tri-variate luminosity function phi(M,color,z) shows unambiguously that the population evolves and that this evolution is strongly differential with color and, less strongly, with luminosity. The luminosity function of red galaxies shows very little change in either number density or luminosity over the entire redshift range 0 < z < 1. In contrast, the luminosity function of blue galaxies shows substantial evolution at redshifts z > 0.5. By 0.5 < z < 0.75, the blue luminosity function appears to have uniformly brightened by approximately 1 mag. At higher redshifts, the evolution appears to saturate at the brightest magnitudes but continues at fainter levels leading to a steepening of the luminosity function. A significant excess of galaxies relative to the Loveday et al. (1992) local luminosity function is seen at low redshifts z < 0.2 around M(B) ~ -18$ and these galaxies may possibly represent the descendants of the evolving blue population seen at higher redshifts. The changes seen in the luminosity function are also apparent in color-magnitude diagrams constructed at different epochs and in the V/V_max statistic computed as a function of spectral type. Finally, it is argued that the picture of galaxy evolution presented here is consistent with the very much smaller samples of field galaxies that have been selected in other wavebands, and with the results of studies of galaxies selected on the basis of Mg II 2799 absorption.

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arXiv1995

THE CANADA-FRANCE REDSHIFT SURVEY IX: HST Imaging of High-Redshift Field Galaxies

HST B and I images are presented of 32 CFRS galaxies with secure redshifts in the range 0.5 < z < 1.2. These galaxies exhibit the same range of morphological types as seen locally, i.e., ellipticals, spirals and irregulars. The galaxies look far less regular in the $B$ images (rest-frame ultraviolet) than at longer wavelengths, underlining the fact that optical images of galaxies at still higher redshift should be interpreted with caution. Quantitative analyses of the galaxies yield disk sizes, bulge fractions, and colors for each component. At these redshifts, galaxy disks show clear evidence for surface brightness evolution. The mean rest-frame central surface brightness of the disks of normal late-type galaxies is mu_{AB}(B)=20.2 \pm 0.25 mag arcsec^{-2}, about 1.2 mag brighter than the Freeman (1970) value. Some degree of peculiarity is measurable in 10 (30%) of the galaxies and 4 (13%) show clear signs of interaction/mergers. There are 9 galaxies (30%) dominated by blue compact components. These components, which appear to be related to star formation, occur most often in peculiar/asymmetric galaxies (some of which appear to be interacting), but a few are in otherwise normal galaxies. Thus, of the galaxies bluer than present-day Sb, one-third are "blue nucleated galaxies", and half are late-type galaxies with disks which are significantly brighter than normal galaxies at z=0. Taken together, these two effects must be responsible for much of the observed evolution of the luminosity function of blue galaxies.

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arXiv1995

THE CANADA-FRANCE REDSHIFT SURVEY V: Global Properties of the Sample

The photometric and spectroscopic data of the CFRS survey of objects with 17.5 < I_{AB} < 22.5 are combined and analysed. The overall completeness is 85%. The redshift histogram of the sample is presented for 591 field galaxies with secure redshifts. The median redshift is z = 0.56, and the highest redshift observed is z = 1.3; 25 galaxies have z > 1 The distributions of magnitudes and colors demonstrate that galaxies at these high redshifts have very similar colors to those observed locally. The survey thus represents a major improvement in our knowledge of field galaxies at large look-back times. Only ~1% of the galaxies are as compact as stars (on images with FWHM ~ 0.9") and comparisons of the photometric and spectroscopic data show that only one galaxy was initially incorrectly classified spectroscopically as a star, and only two stars were misclassified as galaxies. It is demonstrated that the redshift distributions in the five fields are statistically consistent with each other, once the reduction in the effective number of independent galaxies due to small-scale clustering in redshift is taken into account. The photometric properties of the spectroscopically-unidentified objects indicate that most are likely to be galaxies rather than stars. At least half of these must have the same redshift distribution as the identified galaxies, and a combination of magnitudes, colors and compactness of the remaining unidentified galaxies is used to predict their redshifts. The majority are probably ordinary galaxies at the high redshift end of our sample, including some quiescent galaxies at z > 1.0, rather than some new or unusual population.

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arXiv1995

The CANADA-FRANCE REDSHIFT SURVEY I: Introduction to the Survey, Photometric Catalogs and Surface Brightness Selection Effects

The Canada-France Redshift Survey has been undertaken to provide a large well-defined sample of faint galaxies at high redshift in which the selection criteria match as closely as possible those of samples of nearby galaxies. The survey is designed to have a median redshift of z ~ 0.6 corresponding to a look-back time of half the present age of the Universe for Omega ~ 1. Such a survey can then be used for studying many different aspects of the evolution of galaxies over the interval 0 < z < 1. In this paper we describe the selection of the fields, the multicolor imaging observations and the construction and validation of the photometric catalogs. Particular attention is paid to quantifying the unavoidable selection effects in surface brightness and their impact on the survey is assessed in the context of the properties of known populations of galaxies. The photometric catalogs contain several thousand objects brighter than I_{AB}< 22.5 and are essentially complete for central surface brightnesses as faint as $μ_{AB}(I)$ $\sim$ 24.5 mag arcsec$^{-2}$. This should be sufficient to include both normal surface brightness galaxies and prototypes of extreme low surface brightness galaxies.

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arXiv1995

THE CANADA-FRANCE REDSHIFT SURVEY II: Spectroscopic Program; Data for the 0000-00 and 1000+25 Fields

This paper describes the methods used to obtain the spectroscopic data and construct redshift catalogs for the Canada-France deep Redshift Survey (CFRS). The full data set consists of more than one thousand spectra, of objects with 17.5 < I_{AB} < 22.5, obtained from deep multi-slit data with the MARLIN and MOS-SIS spectrographs at the CFHT. The final spectroscopic catalog contains 200 stars, 591 galaxies with secure redshifts in the range 0 < z < 1.3, 6 QSOs, and 146 objects with very uncertain or unknown redshifts, leading to an overall success rate of identification of 85%. Additionally, 67 objects affected by observational problems have been placed in a supplemental list. We describe here the instrumental set up, and the observing procedures used to efficiently gather this large data set. New optimal ways of packing spectra on the detector to significantly increase the multiplexing gain offered by multi-slit spectroscopy are described. Dedicated data reduction procedures have been developed under the IRAF environment to allow for fast and accurate processing. Very strict procedures have been followed to establish a reliable list of final spectroscopic measurements. Fully independent processing of the data has been carried out by three members of the team for each data set associated with a multi-slit mask, and final redshifts were assigned only after the careful comparison of the three independent measurements. A confidence class scheme was established. We strongly emphasize the benefits of such procedures. Finally, we present the spectroscopic data obtained for 303 objects in the 0000-00 and 1000+25 fields. The success rate in spectroscopic identification is

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arXiv1995

THE CANADA-FRANCE REDSHIFT SURVEY III: "Single Emission Line" Objects, Analysis of Repeat Observations, and Spectroscopic Identifications in the 1415+52 and 2215+00 Fields

This paper is one of a series describing the Canada-France Redshift Survey (CFRS). It is shown how the shape of the continuum around the emission line can be used to distinguish between [OII] 3727 at z > 0.76 and H$α$ at low redshift in spectra for which only a single isolated emission line is visible. Based on this, [OII] 3727 is most likely to be the emission line in most of the single emission line galaxies in the CFRS. The statistics of the repeated observations are analyzed to derive an empirical calibration of the reliability of the spectroscopic identifications in the CFRS, to determine how often additional observations could lead to the identification of an initially unidentified object and to provide an estimate of the internal velocity accuracy. Finally, the results of spectroscopic observations of 413 objects in the 1415+52 and 2215+00 CFRS survey fields are presented.

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arXiv1995

THE CANADA-FRANCE REDSHIFT SURVEY IV: Spectroscopic Selection Effects and 0300+00 Field Spectroscopic Data

Possible surface brightness selection effects in the redshift catalogs of the Canada-France Redshift Survey are investigated through comparisons of subsamples of the data. Our analyses demonstrate that the securing of redshifts is independent of possible biases arising from surface brightness effects and/or differing galaxy morphologies and orientations. The unusual geometry of the mask designs for our spectroscopic observations also do not produce any significant bias. There is however a bias at the highest and lowest redshifts, especially for absorption-line galaxies at z > 1 and z < 0.2, due to the adopted spectral range (4250A to 8500A). Apart from the latter, we conclude that our sample of identified galaxies is an unbiased subsample of the original photometric catalogue and is essentially limited by I-band flux density ($17.5 \leq I_{AB} \leq 22.5$). Finally, spectroscopic data for 273 objects in the 0300+00 CFRS field are presented.

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arXiv1995

The Canada-France Redshift Survey VII: Optical counterparts of microJansky radiosources

Deep imaging and spectroscopy have been carried out for optical counterparts of a complete sample of S$>$16 $μ$Jy radiosources during the course of the Canada-France Redshift Survey (CFRS). All 36 sources but two have been optically identified, and spectra have been obtained for 23 of them. The objects brighter than $I_{AB}<$22.5 for which we have spectra reveal three populations dominating the $μ$Jy radio counts: z$>$0.7 early-type galaxies with radio emission powered by an AGN, intermediate redshift post-starburst galaxies, and lower redshift blue emission-line objects. From their radio and optical properties, it is argued that the 11 objects fainter than $I_{AB}>$22.5 are mostly at z$>$1, and one half of them are probably early-type galaxies. We conclude that $\sim$40 per cent of the $μ$Jy sources are likely to be at z $>$1. Between one third and one half of the luminous ellipticals in this field beyond z = 0.7 show moderately powerful radio emission (P $\sim$ 5 10$^{23}$ W Hz$^{-1}$) which is at least 10 times more powerful than seen in local samples, and probably reflects evolution of the activity in their nuclei. Only one classical starburst galaxy is identified in the sample; the rest of the blue emission-line objects show optical and radio activity more typical of low power AGNs than starbursts. The number of post-starbursts at $μ$Jy levels is considerably higher than the surface density of mJy starburst galaxies, suggesting the latter are the parent population of the former. While starburst galaxies are considered to be major contributors to the mJy radiosources counts, the majority of the $μ$Jy radio sources appear to be related to AGN activity rather than to normal star

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arXiv1994

Nature of Field Galaxies in the (z<0.3) Universe from the CFRS Survey

We present the first detailed spectroscopic study of field galaxies up to z=0.3 from the I-magnitude limited CFRS sample. In this complete sample, we find that about half of the objects are blue emission-line galaxies. Using line ratio diagram and photoionization models, we show that in roughly half of these emission-line galaxies, ionization by hot stars cannot account for the observed line ratios. Their spectra have properties intermediate between Seyfert 2 galaxies and low-ionization nuclear emission-line regions (LINERs). Their number density (about 20%) relative to the total number of galaxies up to z=0.3, is much larger than the number density (2%) of active galactic nuclei (AGN) in the local Universe. Thus, the observed excess of blue galaxies in counts down to B=24 cannot be mainly due to starburst galaxies, as was previously thought. This result can shed a new light on the nature of the overabundant population of blue galaxies at low redshifts.

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arXiv1994

Surveys for Z>1 Field Galaxies; David Crampton

In the course of the comprehensive CFRS redshift survey to I = 22.5 with the CFHT MOS/SIS spectrograph, we have observed ~25 field galaxies with z > 1. However, it is clear that almost an equal number, predominantly red galaxies, have likely been missed largely because of limitations in the observed wavelength range. The properties of the observed galaxies and the reasons for the presumed incompleteness are briefly discussed in this contribution, and strategies for improving our methods of observing high redshift galaxies are explored. In particular, it is demonstrated that sky subtraction to the required limiting magnitude is possible even with very low spectral resolution, and that new IR arrays and new optical designs for multi-object spectrographs will allow us to easily reach field galaxies at z > 1.

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