| Authors | Bayliss, Matthew B.; Rigby, Jane R.; Sharon, Keren; Wuyts, Eva; Florian, Michael; Gladders, Michael D.; Johnson, Traci; Oguri, Masamune |
| Abstract | We present optical and near-IR imaging and spectroscopy of SGAS J105039.6+001730, a strongly lensed galaxy at z = 3.6252 magnified by >30×, and derive its physical properties. We measure a stellar mass of log(M */M ☉) = 9.5 ± 0.35, star formation rates from [O II] λλ3727 and Hβ of 55 ± 25 and 84 ± 24 M ☉ yr-1, respectively, an electron density of ne <= 103 cm-2, an electron temperature of Te <= 14,000 K, and a metallicity of 12 + log(O/H) = 8.3 ± 0.1. The strong C III] λλ1907,1909 emission and abundance ratios of C, N, O, and Si are consistent with well-studied starbursts at z ~ 0 with similar metallicities. Strong P Cygni lines and He II λ1640 emission indicate a significant population of Wolf-Rayet stars, but synthetic spectra of individual populations of young, hot stars do not reproduce the observed integrated P Cygni absorption features. The rest-frame UV spectral features are indicative of a young starburst with high ionization, implying either (1) an ionization parameter significantly higher than suggested by rest-frame optical nebular lines, or (2) differences in one or both of the initial mass function and the properties of ionizing spectra of massive stars. We argue that the observed features are likely the result of a superposition of star forming regions with different physical properties. These results demonstrate the complexity of star formation on scales smaller than individual galaxies, and highlight the importance of systematic effects that result from smearing together the signatures of individual star forming regions within galaxies. Based on observations from the Magellan Telescopes at Las Campanas Observatory, from Gemini Observatory, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under a cooperative agreement with the NSF on behalf of the Gemini partnership: the United States, Canada, Chile, Australia, Brazil and Argentina, with additional supporting data obtained at the Subaru telescope, which is operated by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, and on observations made with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, obtained from the MAST data archive at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS 5-26555. These observations are associated with program No. GO13003. |
