Skip to main content

Research Repository

Advanced Search

The Interstellar Medium in [O iii]-selected Star-forming Galaxies at z ∼ 3.2

Suzuki, Tomoko L.; Kodama, Tadayuki; Onodera, Masato; Shimakawa, Rhythm; Hayashi, Masao; Tadaki, Ken-ichi; Koyama, Yusei; Tanaka, Ichi; Sobral, David; Smail, Ian; Best, Philip N.; Khostovan, Ali A.; Minowa, Yosuke; Yamamoto, Moegi

The Interstellar Medium in [O iii]-selected Star-forming Galaxies at z ∼ 3.2 Thumbnail


Authors

Tomoko L. Suzuki

Tadayuki Kodama

Masato Onodera

Rhythm Shimakawa

Masao Hayashi

Ken-ichi Tadaki

Yusei Koyama

Ichi Tanaka

David Sobral

Philip N. Best

Ali A. Khostovan

Yosuke Minowa

Moegi Yamamoto



Abstract

We present new results from near-infrared spectroscopy with Keck/MOSFIRE of [O III]-selected galaxies at z ~ 3.2. With our H and K band spectra, we investigate the interstellar medium (ISM) conditions, such as ionization states and gas metallicities. [O III] emitters at z ~ 3.2 show a typical gas metallicity of 12 log O H 8.07 0.07 + = ( ) at * log 9.0 9. () – M M ~ 2 and 12 log O H 8.31 0.04 + = ( ) at * log 9.7 10.2 () – M M ~ when using the empirical calibration method. We compare the [O III] emitters at z ~ 3.2 with UV-selected galaxies and Lyα emitters at the same epoch and find that the [O III]-based selection does not appear to show any systematic bias in the selection of star-forming galaxies. Moreover, comparing with star-forming galaxies at z ~ 2 from the literature, our samples show similar ionization parameters and gas metallicities as those obtained by the previous studies that used the same calibration method. We find no strong redshift evolution in the ISM conditions between z ~ 3.2 and z ~ 2. Considering that the star formation rates at a fixed stellar mass also do not significantly change between the two epochs, our results support the idea that the stellar mass is the primary quantity to describe the evolutionary stages of individual galaxies at z > 2.

Citation

Suzuki, T. L., Kodama, T., Onodera, M., Shimakawa, R., Hayashi, M., Tadaki, K., …Yamamoto, M. (2017). The Interstellar Medium in [O iii]-selected Star-forming Galaxies at z ∼ 3.2. Astrophysical Journal, 849(1), Article 39. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aa8df3

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Sep 18, 2017
Online Publication Date Oct 27, 2017
Publication Date Oct 27, 2017
Deposit Date Nov 14, 2017
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Journal Astrophysical Journal
Print ISSN 0004-637X
Publisher American Astronomical Society
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 849
Issue 1
Article Number 39
DOI https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aa8df3

Files

Published Journal Article (2.5 Mb)
PDF

Copyright Statement
© 2017. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.





You might also like



Downloadable Citations