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Resolved spectroscopy of gravitationally lensed galaxies: global dynamics and star-forming clumps on ∼100 pc scales at 1 < z < 4

Livermore, R.C.; Jones, T.A.; Richard, J.; Bower, R.G.; Swinbank, A.M.; Yuan, T.-T.; Edge, A.C.; Ellis, R.S.; Kewley, L.J.; Smail, I.; Coppin, K.E.K.; Ebeling, H.

Resolved spectroscopy of gravitationally lensed galaxies: global dynamics and star-forming clumps on ∼100 pc scales at 1 < z < 4 Thumbnail


Authors

R.C. Livermore

T.A. Jones

J. Richard

R.G. Bower

T.-T. Yuan

R.S. Ellis

L.J. Kewley

K.E.K. Coppin

H. Ebeling



Abstract

We present adaptive optics-assisted integral field spectroscopy around the Hα or Hβ lines of 12 gravitationally lensed galaxies obtained with VLT/SINFONI, Keck/OSIRIS and Gemini/NIFS. We combine these data with previous observations and investigate the dynamics and star formation properties of 17 lensed galaxies at 1 < z < 4. Thanks to gravitational magnification of 1.4–90 times by foreground clusters, effective spatial resolutions of 40–700 pc are achieved. The magnification also allows us to probe lower star formation rates (SFRs) and stellar masses than unlensed samples; our target galaxies feature dust-corrected SFRs derived from Hα or Hβ emission of ∼0.8–40 M⊙ yr−1, and stellar masses M* ∼ 4 × 108–6 × 1010 M⊙. All of the galaxies show velocity gradients, with 59 per cent consistent with being rotating discs and a likely merger fraction of 29 per cent, with the remaining 12 per cent classed as ‘undetermined’. We extract 50 star-forming clumps with sizes in the range 60 pc–1 kpc from the Hα (or Hβ) maps, and find that their surface brightnesses, Σclump and their characteristic luminosities, L0, evolve to higher luminosities with redshift. We show that this evolution can be described by fragmentation on larger scales in gas-rich discs, and is likely to be driven by evolving gas fractions.

Citation

Livermore, R., Jones, T., Richard, J., Bower, R., Swinbank, A., Yuan, T., …Ebeling, H. (2015). Resolved spectroscopy of gravitationally lensed galaxies: global dynamics and star-forming clumps on ∼100 pc scales at 1 < z < 4. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 450(2), 1812-1835. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stv686

Journal Article Type Article
Publication Date Jun 1, 2015
Deposit Date Oct 28, 2015
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Print ISSN 0035-8711
Electronic ISSN 1365-2966
Publisher Royal Astronomical Society
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 450
Issue 2
Pages 1812-1835
DOI https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stv686
Keywords Galaxies: high-redshift, Galaxies: kinematics and dynamics, Galaxies: star formation
Publisher URL http://ukads.nottingham.ac.uk/abs/2015MNRAS.450.1812L

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Copyright Statement
This article has been published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society ©: 2015 The Authors. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.





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