In this paper we present preliminary spectroscopic results from a small-area faint K-excess (KX) survey, and compare KX selection against UVX selection. The aim of the KX method is to produce complete samples of QSOs that are flux-limited in the K band, in order to minimize any selection bias in samples of QSOs from the effects of reddening and extinction. Using the photometric catalogue of the ESO Imaging Survey Chandra Deep Field South (48arcmin^2^) we have identified compact objects with J-K colours redder than the stellar sequence that are brighter than K=19.5. We have obtained spectra of 33 candidates, using the LDSS++ spectrograph on the Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT). Amongst the 11 bluer candidates, with V-J<3, three are confirmed as QSOs. Identification of the 22 redder candidates with V-J>=3 is substantially incomplete, but so far no reddened QSOs have been found. Near-infrared spectroscopy will be more effective in identifying some of these targets. Only two UVX (U-B<-0.2) sources brighter than K=19.5 are found that are not also KX selected. These are both identified as galactic stars. Thus KX selection appears to select all UVX QSOs. The surface density of QSOs in the blue subsample (V-J<3) at K<=19.5 is 325^+136^_-177_{deg}^-2^. Because identification of the red subsample (V-J>=3) is substantially incomplete, the 2{sigma} upper limit on the density of reddened QSOs is large, <1150{deg}^-2^. As anticipated, at these faint magnitudes the KX sample includes several compact galaxies. Of the 14 with measured redshifts, there are roughly equal numbers of early- and late-type objects. Nearly all the early-type galaxies are found in a single structure at z=0.66.
We report the discovery of 64 luminous infrared galaxies, based on new observations of 20 square degrees from the LAMOST Complete Spectroscopic Survey of Pointing Area at the Southern Galactic Cap and the WISE 22um catalog from the AllWISE Data Release. Half of them are classified as late-type spirals and the others are classified as peculiar/compact galaxies. The peculiar/compact galaxies tend to exhibit higher luminosities and lower stellar masses. We also separate AGNs from HII galaxies in a simple way by examining LAMOST spectra. Those cases show that host AGNs are easily distinguished from others in the mid-infrared color-color diagrams.
The Las Campanas Infrared Survey, based on broadband optical and near-infrared photometry, is designed to robustly identify a statistically significant and representative sample of evolved galaxies at redshifts z>1. We have completed an H-band imaging survey over 1.1{deg}^2^ of sky in six separate fields. The average 5{sigma} detection limit in a 4" diameter aperture is H~20.8. Here we describe the design of the survey, the observation strategies, data-reduction techniques, and object identification procedures. We present sample near-infrared and optical photometric catalogs for objects identified in two survey fields. The optical images of the Hubble Deep Field-South region obtained from the literature reach 5{sigma} detection thresholds in a 4" diameter aperture of U~24.6, B~26.1, V~25.6, R~25.1, and I~24.2mag. The optical images of the Chandra Deep Field-South region obtained from our own observations reach 5 {sigma} detection thresholds in a 4" diameter aperture of V~26.8, R~26.2, I~25.3, and z'~23.7mag. We perform object detection in all bandpasses and identify>~54000 galaxies over 1408 arcmin^2^ of sky in the two fields. Of these galaxies, ~14000 are detected in the H band and ~2000 have the colors of evolved galaxies, I-H >~3, at z>~1.
We present deep Keck spectroscopy, using the Deep Imaging Multi-Object Spectrograph and the Low-Resolution Imaging Spectrometer spectrographs, of a large and representative sample of 67 extremely red objects (EROs) to H=20.5 in three fields (SSA22, Chandra Deep Field South and NTT Deep Field) drawn from the Las Campanas Infrared Survey (LCIRS). Using the colour cut (I-H)>3.0 (Vega magnitudes) adopted in earlier papers in this series, we verify the efficiency of this selection for locating and studying distant old sources. Spectroscopic redshifts are determined for 44 sources, of which only two are contaminating low-mass stars. When allowance is made for incompleteness, the spectroscopic redshift distribution closely matches that predicted earlier on the basis of photometric data.
We derive photometric redshifts from 17-band optical to mid-infrared photometry of 78 robust radio, 24um and Spitzer IRAC counterparts to 72 of the 126 submillimetre galaxies (SMGs) selected at 870um by LABOCA observations in the Extended Chandra Deep Field-South (ECDF-S). We test the photometric redshifts of the SMGs against the extensive archival spectroscopy in the ECDF-S.
An analysis of 44GHz Very Large Array observations of the z=1.574 radio-loud quasar 3C 318 has revealed emission from the redshifted J=1-->0 transition of the CO molecule and spatially resolved the 6.3kpc radio jet associated with the quasar at 115GHz rest frame. The continuum-subtracted line emitter is spatially offset from the quasar nucleus by 0.33arcsec (2.82kpc in projection). This spatial offset has a significance of >8{sigma} and, together with a previously published -400km/s velocity offset measured in the J=2-->1 CO line relative to the systemic redshift of the quasar, rules out a circumnuclear starburst or molecular gas ring and suggests that the quasar host galaxy is either undergoing a major merger with a gas-rich galaxy or is otherwise a highly disrupted system. If the merger scenario is correct, then the event may be in its early stages, acting as the trigger for both the young radio jets in the quasar and a starburst in the merging galaxy. The total molecular gas mass in the spatially offset line emitter as measured from the ground-state CO line MH_2_=3.7(+/-0.4)x10^10^ ({alpha}CO/0.8)M_{sun}_. Assuming that the line emitter can be modelled as a rotating disc, an inclination-dependent upper limit is derived for its dynamical mass M_dyn_sin^2^(i)<3.2x10^9^M_{sun}_, suggesting that for MH2 to remain less than M_dyn_ the inclination angle must be i<16{deg}. The far-infrared and CO luminosities of 246 extragalactic systems are collated from the literature for comparison. The high molecular gas content of 3C 318 is consistent with that of the general population of high-redshift quasars and submillimetre galaxies.
We present initial results of a deep near-IR spectroscopic survey covering the 15 fields of the Keck Baryonic Structure Survey using the recently commissioned MOSFIRE spectrometer on the Keck 1 telescope. We focus on a sample of 251 galaxies with redshifts 2.0<z<2.6, star formation rates (SFRs) 2<~SFR<~200 M_{sun}_/yr, and stellar masses 8.6<log(M_*_/M_{sun}_)<11.4, with high-quality spectra in both H- and K-band atmospheric windows. We show unambiguously that the locus of z~2.3 galaxies in the "BPT" nebular diagnostic diagram exhibits an almost entirely disjointed, yet similarly tight, relationship between the line ratios [N II] {lambda}6585/H{alpha} and [O III]/H{beta} as compared to local galaxies. Using photoionization models, we argue that the offset of the z~2.3 BPT locus relative to that at z~0 is caused by a combination of harder stellar ionizing radiation field, higher ionization parameter, and higher N/O at a given O/H compared to most local galaxies, and that the position of a galaxy along the z~2.3 star-forming BPT locus is surprisingly insensitive to gas-phase oxygen abundance. The observed nebular emission line ratios are most easily reproduced by models in which the net stellar ionizing radiation field resembles a blackbody with effective temperature T_eff_=50000-60000 K, the gas-phase oxygen abundances lie in the range 0.2<Z/Z_{sun}_<1.0, and the ratio of gas-phase N/O is close to the solar value. We critically assess the applicability at high redshift of commonly used strong line indices for estimating gas-phase metallicity, and consider the implications of the small intrinsic scatter of the empirical relationship between excitation-sensitive line indices and M_*_(i.e., the "mass-metallicity" relation) at z=~2.3.
Astronomers have yet to establish whether high-mass protostars form from high-mass prestellar cores, similar to their lower-mass counterparts, or from lower-mass fragments at the heart of a pre-protostellar cluster undergoing large-scale collapse. Part of the uncertainty is due to a shortage of envelope structure data on protostars of a few tens of solar masses, where we expect to see a transition from intermediate-mass star formation to the high-mass process. We sought to derive the masses, luminosities, and envelope density profiles for eight sources in Cygnus-X, whose mass estimates in the literature placed them in the sampling gap. Combining these sources with similarly evolved sources in the literature enabled us to perform a meta-analysis of protostellar envelope parameters over six decades in source luminosity. We performed spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting on archival broadband photometric continuum data from 1.2 to 850 microns, to derive bolometric luminosities for our eight sources plus initial mass and radius estimates for modelling density and temperature profiles with the radiative transfer package Transphere. The envelope masses, densities at 1000AU, outer envelope radii, and density power law indices as functions of bolometric luminosity all follow established trends in the literature spanning six decades in luminosity. Most of our sources occupy an intermediate to moderately high range of masses and luminosities, which helps more firmly establish the continuity between low- and high-mass star formation mechanisms. Our density power law indices are consistent with observed values in literature, which show no discernible trends with luminosity. Finally, we show that the trends in all of the envelope parameters for high-mass protostars are statistically indistinguishable from trends in the same variables for low- and intermediate-mass protostars.
Submillimeter Array observations of the Young Stellar Object L1489IRS (IRAS 04016+2610). These include images of the continuum at 267 GHz (1.12 mm) and line emission of the HCO+ J=3-2 transition at 267.55762 GHz. The HCO+ image is available in two different (u,v)-weighting schemes, natural and uniform, optimizing for S/N and resolution respectively. The continuum image is only available in uniform weighting. The synthesized beam size is 1".
The results of spectral observations of the region of massive star formation L379IRS3 (IRAS 18265-1517) are presented. The observations were carried out with the 30-m Pico Veleta radio telescope (Spain) at seven frequencies in the 1-mm, 2-mm, and 3-mm wavelength bands. Lines of 24 molecules were detected, from simple diatomic or triatomic species to complex eight- or nine-atom compounds such as CH_3_OCHO or CH_3_OCH_3_. Rotation diagrams constructed from methanol and methyl cyanide lines were used to determine the temperature of the quiescent gas in this region, which is about 40-50K. In addition to this warm gas, there is a hot component that is revealed through high-energy lines of methanol and methyl cyanide, molecular lines arising in hot regions, and the presence of H_2_O masers and Class II methanol masers at 6.7GHz, which are also related to hot gas. One of the hot regions is probably a compact hot core, which is located near the southern submillimeter peak and is related to a group of methanol masers at 6.7GHz. High-excitation lines at other positions may be associated with other hot cores or hot post-shock gas in the lobes of bipolar outflows. The rotation diagrams can be use to determine the column densities and abundances of methanol (10^-9^) and methyl cyanide (about 10^-11^) in the quiescent gas. The column densities of A- and E-methanol in L379IRS3 are essentially the same. The column densities of other observed molecules were calculated assuming that the ratios of the molecular level abundances correspond to a temperature of 40 K. The molecular composition of the quiescent gas is close to that in another region of massive star formation, DR21(OH). The only appreciable difference is that the column density of SO2 in L379IRS3 is at least a factor of 20 lower than the value in DR21(OH). The SO_2_/CS and SO2/OCS abundance ratios, which can be used as chemical clocks, are lower in L379IRS3 than in DR21(OH), suggesting that L379IRS3 is probably younger than DR21(OH).