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Probing Reionization at z ≳ 7 with HST's Near-Infrared Grisms

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 August 2016

Kasper B. Schmidt  and
The GLASS Team
Kasper B. Schmidt
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, 93106-9530, USA
The GLASS Team
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, 93106-9530, USA
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Abstract

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The epoch of reionization, i.e. the phase transition of the inter-galactic medium from neutral to fully ionized, is essential for our understanding of the evolution of the Universe and the formation of the first stars and galaxies. The Grism Lens-Amplified Survey from Space (GLASS) has obtained spectra of ten thousands of objects in and behind 10 massive galaxy clusters, including the six Hubble Frontier Fields. The grism spectroscopy from GLASS results in hundreds of spectra of z ≳ 7 galaxy candidates. Taking advantage of the lensing magnification from the foreground clusters, the GLASS spectra reaches unprecedented depths in the near-infrared with observed flux limits of ~ 5 × 10−18erg/s/cm2 before correcting for the lens magnification. This has resulted in several Lyα detections at z ~ 7 and tight limits on the emission line fluxes for non-detections. From an ensemble of different photometric selections, we have assembled more than 150 z ≳ 7 galaxy candidates from six of the ten GLASS clusters. Among these more than 20 objects show emission lines consistent with being Lyα at z ≳ 7. The spatial extent of Lyα estimated from a stack of the most promising Lyα emitters at 〈z〉 = 7.2 is consistent with the spatial extent of the UV continuum emission. From the stack we obtain upper limits on the emission line ratios between prominent rest-frame UV emission lines, finding that fCIV/fLyα ≲ 0.32 and fCIII]/fLyα ≲ 0.23 in good agreement with values published in the literature.

Keywords

infrared: galaxiestechniques: spectroscopicgalaxies: high-redshiftgalaxies: intergalactic mediumline: identification
Type
Contributed Papers
Information
Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union , Volume 11 , Symposium S319: Galaxies at High Redshift and Their Evolution Over Cosmic Time , August 2015 , pp. 49 - 52
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2016 

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