Rest-frame optical and far-infrared observations of extremely bright Lyman-break galaxy candidates at z ~ 2.5
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Date
2005-09Author
Ivison, Rob
Smail, Ian
Bentz, Misty
Stevens, Jason
Menendez-Delmestre, Karin
Chapman, Scott
Blain, Andrew
Metadata
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We have investigated the rest-frame optical and far-infrared properties of a sample of extremely bright candidate Lyman-break galaxies (LBG) identified in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Their high ultraviolet luminosities and lack of strong ultraviolet emission lines are suggestive of massive starbursts, although it is possible that they are more typical luminosity LBGs which have been highly magnified by strong gravitational lensing. Alternatively, they may be an unusual class of weak-lined quasars. If the ultraviolet and submillimetre properties of these objects mirror those of less luminous, starburst LBGs, then they should have detectable rest-frame far-infrared emission. However, our submm photometry fails to detect such emission, indicating that these systems are not merely scaled-up (either intrinsically or as a result of lensing) examples of typical LBGs. In addition we have searched for the morphological signatures of strong lensing, using high-resolution, near-infrared imaging, but we find none. Instead, near-infrared spectroscopy reveals that these systems are, in fact, a rare class of broad absorption-line (BAL) quasars.
Citation
Ivison, Rob, Ian Smail, Misty Bentz, Jason Stevens, et al. 2005. "Rest-frame optical and far-infrared observations of extremely bright Lyman-break galaxy candidates at z ~ 2.5." Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 362(2): 535-541