2006/09/18 by Soheila Gharanfoli, Varsha P. Kulkarni, Mark R. Chun +1
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #Barred spiral galaxy #Emission spectrum #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Galaxy #Interacting galaxy #Lenticular galaxy #Metallicity #Redshift #Spectral line #Spectroscopy #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1086/509618
published as Astron.J.133:130-138,2007 · 24 pages, 7 figures, 2 tables, accepted for publication in AJ
arxiv created 2006/09/18 · openalex publication_date 2006/12/05 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06
We present Keck LRIS spectra of a candidate damped Lyα (DLA) galaxy toward the QSO 3C 196 ( z em = 0.871). The DLA absorption system has a redshift of z DLA = 0.437, and a galaxy at 1.5'' from the QSO has been identified in high-resolution imaging with WFPC2 on board the Hubble Space Telescope . We have detected emission lines of [O II] λ3727, Hβ, [O III] λ5007, Hα, and [N II] λ6584 at the absorption redshift. Based on the emission lines, we have found the redshift of the galaxy to be z em = 0.4376 ± 0.0006. The emission lines also enabled us to calculate the extinction-corrected luminosities and metallicity indicators using established indices based on line strengths of different emission lines. These indicators suggest that the interstellar medium of the DLA galaxy has a high metallicity comparable to or perhaps twice as much as solar [i.e., 12 + log(O/H) = 8.98 ± 0.07]. Based on the strengths of Hα and on the reddening derived from the relative strengths of Hα and Hβ, the star formation rate is 4.7 ± 0.8 M ⊙ yr -1 . This places the galaxy in the range of gas-rich spiral galaxies.